what will we discuss?
Handle with Care | Culture for Social Well-being international get-together invites practitioners, organisations and institutions, policy-makers, thinkers, researchers, activists and artivists from the cultural, social and health sectors working on topics related to care, well-being, health and culture.
The multitude of crises our societies are facing today, including the climate and social injustice, wars, pandemic, economic and political upheavals in and beyond Europe, requires an urgent cultural response: a response rooted in care for the planet and communities, care for each other. To navigate these uncertainties, we are in search of a compass, a sense of direction towards a sustainable, democratic, caring future. The Handle with Care | Culture for Social Well-being gathering aims to collectively explore the significance of care as an ethical and political obligation for our societies and the role culture and cultural professionals can play in this. It will specifically discuss the evidence on the role of culture in improving health and well-being. How can culture and participation in the cultural life of communities nourish the sense of social and individual well-being?
Lars Ebert, Secretary General of Culture Action Europe (CAE): “The 2023 edition of Beyond the Obvious gathering focuses on urgent topics of well-being, mental, social and planetary health and ethics of care. While discussing the evidence of the role of culture in improving health and well-being, this international “unconference” also creates spaces to talk about the politics of well-living and care, including health, well-being and labour conditions in the cultural field. We are delighted to be debating care for community and care for the planet in Elefsina, which is the European Capital of Culture in 2023, a focal point of our (post-)industrial realities and birthplace of the ancient Greek myth of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and fertility of the land and her daughter, Persephone. A story about love, care and longing.”
|