154 Victoria St. S, Suite #2, Kitchener, ON

Collectively Empowered Installation #6

16″ x 20″ Multimedia Collage with LED Light Fixtures

About Marit Collective

Marit Collective is a social organization that encourages a culture of depth and thoughtfulness through exploring personal insight and human connection. We create space for respectful discussion and consciousness-raising within our own groups and community, working at the personal level to foster more empathy and awareness of each other. We believe that individual shifts in understanding can lead to larger societal evolution in an increasingly polarized world.

Our home, the Causerie, is a place to listen, learn, and connect across perspectives. With this space, we are working to build a community centred around thoughtful discussion & deeper consideration of complex issues through sharing ideas and personal points-of-view.

The Causerie initiative has many facets. We run speaker series on social issues and are expanding into practical workshops. As well, we provide social events including casual music jams, conversations over coffee and lunch, intimate concerts, potlucks, craft groups & vendor markets, and retro dance parties. We pull in key Waterloo Region community members as our presenters to highlight local initiatives and tap into the abundance of passionate, involved, & creative people embedded in our area.  

We want to help break down divisions in society by working at an approachable level to create an authentic community willing to explore issues of our time with curiosity & respect — as we’ve seen discussions online often turn heated & divisive, so we feel it is crucial to provide physical, human-to-human space in which to talk to each other. Our goal is to make the Causerie a place of belonging so that people can feel comfortable in doing the work to listen, learn, and share across personal perspectives.

Our model relies on people who value the intersection of thoughtful, complex issues & human connection to support the space and resources we provide here through their membership. We also invite other community organizations and individuals to use our space at affordable rates.