Academy of Care
Academy of Care is a platform dedicated to exploring the theme of CARE within the CULTURAL field, opening up new perspectives on PARTICIPATION and ACCESSIBILITY, and fostering cultural spaces and practices that are increasingly conscious, open and KIND.
The project promotes the social value of the arts and artistic practices, with the aim of strengthening the transformative potential of cultural experiences — in terms of both individual and collective wellbeing — by nurturing relationships, spaces and cultural organisations that are sustainable, open and accessible. The project took the form of a four-day laboratory for cultural workers (both individual practitioners and organisations) who wished to explore and integrate care as a daily practice within their work, with the support of local and national speakers and guests.
A few months later, the community formed around Academy of Care was invited to a second gathering: Controvento. Microfesta della cura e della gentilezza (Against the Current. A Micro-Festival of Care and Kindness), a collective, proximity-based initiative designed to promote kindness, listening and empathy as micro-political practices of care and relational justice. During a day of activities open to all, we explored care as a transformative practice that moves against the mainstream.
*Care is understood as an ongoing attentiveness and mindful concern for others — human, non-human or material — that involves both feeling and action. The term encompasses everything that contributes to the wellbeing of someone or something else.
