In an effort to increase gender and racial equity in STEM fields, many have created educational spaces specifically for women, LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities. Broadly speaking it is understood that organizations address systemic disparities in technical fields by increasing access to science and technical learning environments, and educational materials, in welcoming settings. However a growing number of researchers have found that access is not enough to address the still striking disparities that exist in these domains. Instead, studies reveal that critical components for retaining girls and diverse populations in STEM fields must include qualities of belonging and cultural responsiveness to perform effective interventions. For this talk I will illustrate a recipe for belonging in technical learning environments developed by TECHNE, a creative technical learning initiative working towards equity in electronic music. TECHNE cultivates environments of belonging and inclusion by including ingredients from social justice movements that organize against interlocking forces that marginalize populations based on race, gender, class, and sexuality. TECHNE combines these components with creative strategies to ferment collective action, social identity formation, and distributed learning, and highlight poetic, messy emergence. These critical tactics are designed to support students as they negotiate new terrains and fundamentally perform the critical interventions that advocates are working towards.

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