so very virtual - 01.28.2026
reading, a retreat, and RestFest 🛋️
so very virtual is a free newsletter featuring opportunities, events, and resources that are fully virtual, remote, or hybrid with an online option.
🔍 Please look into events and opportunities to decide whether they are right for you. Send any concerns to theeclarel@substack.com.
📋 To submit a listing, email theeclarel@substack.com.
📚 If you’re new, start with this pandemic resource roundup.
Thanks for reading!
Action Alerts 🔔
Steps to support a better world
Check out these Resources for Creative Troublemakers in and beyond Minnesota.
Fill out this Covid Conscious Communities Survey.
Virtual Events 🎟
Gatherings that are either fully online or hybrid with an online option
Thursdays on the Stoop: How to Find a Story Worth Telling with Blue Stoop — Thursday, January 29th from 4:00 to 5:00 PM ET // Free
Access Playground Vol.1 with Infinite Flow Dance — Thursday, January 29th from 7:00 to 8:30 PM ET // $41 to $104 including fees
How to Fest (w/ RestFest Film Festival Founder, Bec Miriam) with RestFest Film Festival — January 31st at 12:00 PM PT / 3:00 PM ET // Free with optional donation
Da Black Queers Be Writing - Spring Sessions with HomeGrown Visions Arts Collaborative — January through May // Free
Beloved: How to Write a Love Letter with Yasmine Ameli — Sunday, February 1st from 2:00 to 5:00 PM ET // $100 - $150
The Mind of Soil: Soil Chemistry with The Soil Keepers with Social Ecologies— Begins February 1st // $440 including fees
Filmmaker Panel: Inside / Outside Program with RestFest Film Festival — February 2nd at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET // Free with optional donation
Creative Coworking with Blue Stoop — Wednesday, February 4th from 3:30 to 5:30 PM ET // Free
Thursdays on the Stoop: Outspoken—Reading for an Audience with Blue Stoop — Thursday, February 5th from 4:00 to 5:00 PM ET // Free
Polish Like a Pro: Self-Editing Strategies for Aspiring Authors with Pipeline Artists — Wednesday, February 4th at 7:00 PM ET // $35
LARB Publishing Workshop 2026 Information Sessions with Los Angeles Review of Books — February 5th through 17th // Free
NEW YEAR / NEW PLAYS: Adaptation Masterclass with Lauren Gunderson — February 7th from 1:00 to 3:30 PM ET // $40 to $80.21
dreaming our futures + embodying our dreams: a crip ritual opera (w/ alexa dexa) with RestFest Film Festival — February 7th at 12:00 PM PT / 3:00 PM ET // Pay-what-you-can with a suggested price of $3 to $33
EQUITY: A Virtual Staged Reading with Ongoing Pandemic Theater — Saturday, February 7th from 4:00 to 5:45 PM ET // Pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $10
Visual Poetry: multidimensional technologies for expression and access (w/ Lohitha Kethu) with RestFest Film Festival — February 8th at 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET // Tiered pricing from $6 to $25, full scholarships available upon request
Filmmaker Panel: Reverberation / Held Program with RestFest Film Festival — February 9th at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET // Free with optional donation
Experimental Analog Filmmaking & Eco-processing: Artist Talk with Brittney Appleby with RestFest Film Festival — February 11th at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET // Sliding scale from $5 to $15, full scholarships available upon request
Awakening Liberation: Anti-Oppressive Counseling for Collective Healing with GoodWerk Counseling — February 11th at 6:30 PM ET // Free
Crip Film Club (co-presented w/ the remote body) with RestFest Film Festival — February 12th at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET // Pay-what-you-can beginning at $1, full scholarships available
Free Love Story Generator with GrubStreet — February 12th from 6:00 to 7:00 PM ET // Free
Shape the Future Art & Writing Salon: A Revolution of Love with Intelligent Mischief — Saturday, February 14th from 6:00 to 8:30 PM ET // Sliding scale from $22 to $55
Trans-gressing Genre and Community Filmmaking: a conversation w/ Transgender filmmakers Sammy Holden & Althea Eccles with RestFest Film Festival — February 14th at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET // Pay-what-you-can beginning at $4, full scholarships available
Neuroqueer Lyric Workshop with The Remote Body — Friday, February 20th at 2:30 PM ET // £5.00 to £20.00
Indigenous perspectives on decolonizing death care: Speaking back to colonial oppressions with A Sacred Passing — February 21st from 12:00 to 1:30 PM PT // Free
Fear/Desire: Writing Queer Erotic Horror That Subverts with Abode Press — Sunday, February 22nd from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM CT // $25+ with $10 for writers in need
Unpolitics Working Meeting 2026A — February 23rd through 27th from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM ET // Free
Art Writing, Writing Art with Katie Kitamura with GrubStreet — February 26th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM ET // $35 with scholarships available
The Body of Soil: Soil Geology with The Soil Keepers with Social Ecologies — Begins March 8th // Starting at $405 including fees
Snakes and Spirals: Using Repetition in Poetry with Blue Stoop — Begins March 11th // $200 with financial aid available
30 Days / 30 Poems with Yasmine Ameli — Begins Saturday, March 28th // $450 to $550
Online Opportunities 🛋
Fellowships, jobs, programs, and more
Spring Satire Workshop with Diverse as F**K x The Onion — Apply by January 30th.
Last Huzzah Cohort with Unicorn Authors Club — Apply by February 10th.
2026 Virtual Summer Retreat with Abode Press — Apply by March 7th.
Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI) Leadership Academy with Austistic Self Advocacy Network — Apply by Sunday, March 8th.
Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop — Apply by March 15th.
Rest Craft Conjure Fellowship with jaamil olawale kosoko — Apply by March 15th.
Remote Resources 📘
Support and info for these pandemic times
"What's Up With COVID and What We Can Do About It: 2026 Edition", zine from Hazel Newlevant
Kids’ Zone Covid-Conscious Magazine: Issue 18 from World Health Network
DUAL: The True Cost of Care from New Disabled South
I Still Wear A Mask Every Day, And Here’s What I Wish The Rest Of The World Would Understand from Jada Gomez
How Universities Are Shutting Out Disabled Students and Staff from Lygia Navarro
At the intersection of eating disorders & money from Queer & Trans Wealth
WGFestival 2025 Recordings from The Writers Guild Foundation
About Justin
Justin Clarel is a Black queer writer, performer, and educator creating vibrant stories for a better world. They are most proud of their work with sketch comedy team The Rhubarbs, original works for stage and screen, and love for musical theatre. Keep up with their adventures at @theeclarel and theeclarel.com.