Pens and Dragons CIC is a joint partner collaboration between Brightlingsea Literary Festival and Brightlingsea Gamers’ Guild to create a permanent centre for creativity and story-telling called The Dragon's Nest.
The "Pens" aspect is the book shop, the gallery wall and related creative activities. The "Dragons" aspect is the geek activities that take place, such as Dungeons and Dragons, board games, wargaming, etc. The two aspects share creativity and story-telling, and use similar resources (lots of shelves and tables!). It's also a pragmatic "marriage of convenience" because Brightlingsea is a small town, and couldn't sustain a bookshop, a gallery, or a geek culture cafe as separate entities. Pens and Dragons uses tabletop activities, such as writing, playing board games, making art, and roleplay gaming to reduce loneliness and build community.
Money raised will go towards our core costs, predominantly rent, so we can sustain our centre and keep our u18s activities free and our activities at a low cost.