Empower Creativity: Support the vision of Utopia Feni

If you’re reading this, you might already know about this journey called Utopia Feni. If not, this is our *briefest* overview of the last ten years.

My name is Raeesah Islam and I have been working on this concept since 2012. It started when I was in school in London and was inspired to create a hypothetical brand that would provide opportunity to help teach creatives the value of their creativity primarily in my father’s village in Feni, Bangladesh.

The idea eventually transformed into an ethical sourcing brand and into a nonprofit to serve Feni and creatives close to our home-base in Virginia Beach.

I completed my educational journey with limitations because of my ongoing autoimmune complications before I returned home to Virginia in 2014. I decided home was the vacation I needed all along and that the ground was fertile for what I wanted my life to look like in a more developed city.

Going into 2015, I returned from a trip from Bangladesh that reaffirmed my dream. The dream of teaching a community that their creativity could give them the life that they were told would be impossible to have.

long story short, my health was at risk again and I developed a severe case of meningitis which thankfully I recovered from after months of IV medications and isolation. I needed something to inspire me to get up again so I began dreaming of what life would be like with Utopia Feni.

That was the dream that healed me and kept me inspired for the past decade.

In these last 10 years, we’ve created our atmosphere completely DIY- completely from scratch with the help of friends and later a community built on the power of creativity.

We began hosting art shows, open mic nights, and festivals to include every kind of artist we could because we wanted a place to feel easily included if it aligned. I realized personally that home needed just as much support as a small village in Bangladesh.

We did establish our art program in Feni in December of 2017 which served middle school students in the Nizkunjara village until March 2020 when the pandemic hit. Since then, the health and political climate are what have been preventing us from restoring the program which we hope to re-establish in 2025, our official 10th year of Utopia Feni.

Before we can truly get back to the purity of our mission, we have to get back on our feet after a decade of getting off the ground and winging it enough to get this far. Utopia Feni has helped many artists find power in their work and being themselves because that’s what we were made for.

Trying is the most impressive journey we can start. If I wasn’t taught I had a gift, I don’t think I’d have the proof in myself to be who I am today. As someone who’s felt underestimated because of all of the adversities that could make me perceived as inferior, being authentic in my art was what made me the leader I can be. Everyone who has ever felt that way deserves that realization too. We aim to do right by everyone we cross paths with even if it takes some time.

I want to carry this dream forward and continue creating opportunities out of thin air for new creatives that need somewhere to know they can make it happen too.

Over the next days, weeks, months, year- we truly hope to raise this amount to get back fully on our feet after years of wading. We will be sharing throwback stories, success stories, horror stories, and moments of learning and teaching through this experience. We will also be sharing our vision for YR10 and more to come. Every dollar will go towards stabilizing our current position for years to come.

It would mean the world if everyone who has ever even been slightly touched by Utopia Feni could share their support through donating or sharing their story to inspire others to support as well. Our goal is to reach $10,000 through this fundraiser.

Utopia Feni is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all contributions will be tax deductible. Thank you for the time & energy it took to get here.

With Love,

Raeesah & Utopia Feni