Care Game: How we care

Our world is one in which carelessness reigns.
The Care Manifesto

This summer, we are delighted to invite you to join The Care Game: How do you care?

As today’s summer solstice marks a season of growth and reflection, join us in seeding, cultivating, and harvesting gardens of personal stories and shared insights about the nature and necessity of care in an increasingly perilous and careless world.

Embark on a transformative journey that encourages you to explore creative pathways for positive change by nurturing care in all its possibilities through the creativity and wisdom of arts and culture. Engage with thought-provoking prompts, creative exercises, and discussions designed to inspire and challenge your perspectives about the interconnectedness of giving and receiving care in collaboration with others in the community.

There are four steps to the game. You may step in or out at any point.

1. Learn about The Care Game

Update: The video will now be released on Friday, July 12, 2024.

On Wednesday, July 10, 2024, you can expect to learn what The Care Game is all about. Watch an accessible informational video that unveils the essence of this unique journey. Learn how you can contribute to a collective dialogue on care, creativity, and community. Stay tuned for the link to video which will be shared here on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. This video will use plain language, will include image descriptions, and closed captions.

2. Meet our Care Fellow

After viewing the video, apply to join us at one four online sessions on Wednesdays, July 17 and 24, 2024 at 12 noon and 1 pm Eastern. These one-on-one sessions will delve into personal explorations of care with ArtsPond’s Disability Care Fellow Alex Haagaard, Founder Jessa Agilo, and special guests. Up to four individuals or small groups will be invited to participate with an honouraria of $250 each for 2 hours of self-reflection, the one-hour meeting, plus one hour of follow-up and communications. These sessions offer a unique opportunity to gain insights and inspiration on how care relates to your life and career from diverse perspectives. Participants will also be invited to make suggestions and recommendations on how entities like ArtsPond can help strengthen care in your life and communities. While all are encouraged to apply, we are especially interested in the perspectives of d/Deaf and disabled communities. CART, ASL or LSQ, and English to French interpretation will be available upon request.

3. Play the Care Game

Register to join us for a free, participatory public session where careseekers and caregivers unite to play The Care Game: How do you care? on Wednesday, July 31, from 1 to 2:15 pm Eastern. Engage in collaborative activities designed to foster empathy, creativity, and collective action towards social change. This inclusive event invites everyone to contribute their unique experiences and ideas, shaping a future where care thrives. Participants will be prompted to think about the ways in which you already engage in caring practices, what kinds of care you desire for yourself and others, and where care fits into the futures you imagine. The session will be hosted in English with CART and ASL available upon request. Facilitators will be announced soon, including members of ArtsPond’s Care Team and special guests from the community.

4. Share how you care

Throughout the month of August 2024, participants and the wider community are invited to share the stories and ideas that we have grown together about care in and through arts and culture using the hashtags #HowWeCare or #CommentNousSoignons on social media. Our hope is that these postings will be taken forward to plant new gardens with even more diverse seeds and acts of care.

What do we mean by care? 

At ArtsPond, we think of care as an essential seed for positive social change – the materials and actions that individuals, communities, and ecosystems need to receive so that they can move beyond purely surviving to deeply thriving.

The events of the past several years have surfaced the fragility of our personal and shared planetary ecosystems. Just as environmental exploitation leaves shorelines vulnerable to erosion, social injustices weaken relationships and cultures of care, and leaves communities at great risk from the impacts of crises like pandemic disruptions and effects of climate change. But care is tenacious. Even in the least hospitable conditions, it adapts and puts down roots and tendrils where it can.