Daily Inspiration: Meet Lynn Ferguson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lynn Ferguson.

Hi Lynn, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
After the LA fires, my husband Mark and I recognised that we were tired of feeling scared. and that the whole atmosphere of fear and threat and loneliness that we were becoming almost accustomed to in the city, and in the world in general, did not serve us. We are both firm believers that most people are actually brilliant and that we needed a space to allow people to talk about stuff other than the constant barrage of fear porn streaming through all the news outlets and bombarding us on our electronic devices.
So we set up Fish and Bear – an event where people (often complete strangers) would meet and tell stories – and nobody would know in advance what stories they were going to tell.
It worked like a dream. It turns out people really are pretty brilliant.
Our first venue was Macleods in Van Nuys, where it worked like a dream, but parking was an issue. So we moved to Church of the Valley and set up a regular Tuesday evening. Since then we’ve also set up regular Sunday event in Burbank, and another Tuesday evening event in Venice. We’ve been asked to set up in Carlsbad, in New Jersey, Montenegro, Scotland and in London, but our next port of call will be West Hollywood.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ugh. That word ‘storytelling”. As soon as you say it, so many people assume it means something performative, or prepared, or that you’ll have to stand up and present a story, and literally nothing could be further from the truth.
At Fish and Bear, people literally come in and take a seat, and when it’s their turn will answer a prompt and say something about themselves. Most of the time though, is spent listening.
We work from the principle that “nobody ever can or ever will see the world exactly as you do” so in Fish & Bear, no story is a bad story. Each person’s contribution is a piece of wisdom shared.

We are constantly on the look out for good places to host Fish and Bear events. We need a private room with a quiet space that can seat up to 30 people – and adequate parking.
We’d love to find a space that also served food or drinks as the event at Mcleods had a very family dinner feel and that worked brilliantly.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Career wise, I’m best described as an entertainment mongrel, as my career is all over the place. I trained as a
classical actor at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire, and promptly sullied my classical training by hosting my own stand up club in London. I’ve performed in all sorts of places as a stand up and as an actor picking up several Edinburgh Fringe Festival awards along the way. Once I started writing, I wrote three series of my own sitcom for the BBC, along with a cluster of plays before coming over to LA to work as a staff writer at the Late Late Show and and as a script consultant with Pixar on the Academy Award-winning movie Brave. Probably I’m best known for being the voice of the Scottish chicken, Mac, in Chicken Run. I still dabble in all sorts of stuff and have published 3 (about to be four) books based on my weekly blog called Notes from the Valley.

What makes you happy?
Despite the world going to Hell on a handcart, I am personally pretty happy. I live in the valley with my husband, two sons, one dog, 9 chickens, one rabbit and about 40,000 bees. I consider myself very lucky – most of the time.

Developing Fish & Bear was about recognizing that I find it difficult to be truly happy when I know there are others struggling. As very brainy Roman philosopher, Lucretius, said, “We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing each other.”

The continually growing community around Fish and Bear brings me joy even on a bad day. One older lady told a story about being sad because the wall of her home had been spraypainted and she couldn’t reach to get rid of it, and within a week three people whom she only knew from our events had turned up to clean it. That genuinely made me happy. Or when I walk into an event before it starts and and see the diversity of people who sit around chatting like old friends. Our youngest is 17. Our eldest 86. They come from different places and different perspectives. Yet on one thing we agree: most people are brilliant, and Lucretius was right.

Pricing:

• $20

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Fishandbear.net
• Instagram: fishandbearnet
• Facebook: Fish And Bear
• Other: lynnfergy,com