Join us to collectively imagine new ways of caring

Futures of Care is our collaborative, multi-arts programme exploring radical care, taking place across East Kent and online. Our programme started in 2021 when we partnered with Creative Estuary, Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), Pie Factory Music, Dover Smart Project, The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge and others to examine what taking care of ourselves and each other means in today’s changing world. Through listening and creative collaboration, the programme collectively imagined new ways of caring.

In November 2022 we built upon our learnings from the first Futures of Care projects and held our first Care Lab online. Care Lab explored caring practices for people working in the creative industries with artists, producers, community organisations and funders. From the rich and varied contributions to these sessions, we created a Blueprint for Care.

Our collaboration with Kent Refugee Action Network went on to win a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Award for Civic Arts Organisations. The prize money is being invested in our ongoing partnership with KRAN.

Our current Futures of Care work involves a deeply embedded multi-year programme with KRAN. The partners are currently appointing four young producers, who will be in ‘plan, explore, initiate’ phase for the rest of the year, and then moving into creation and delivery in 2024.

We have also commissioned three social engaged artists to co-design objects that evoke an immersive experience of Kent’s coastline. Part of our Radical Gifting programme, this involves collaborating with socially isolated individuals in their home to foster wellbeing and generate interconnectedness.

Check out our previous Futures of Care projects:

Immerse yourself in Sea of the Unseeable, in partnership with KRAN and artist Jamshid Maylanchi.

Experience how Soft Fascination brought Forest Bathing out of the woods and into the homes of people experiencing social isolation.

See East Kent from the perspectives of three queer zine makers living on the coast as part of our Queer Zines of Care on the Kent Coast project.

Reflect on the importance of reciprocal care with artist Henry James Garrett, who collaborated with three community pantries in We Keep Each Other Fed.

Check out our collaborative Manifesto of Care created with KRAN, Pie Factory Music and artist Soofiya right at the start of our Futures of Care journey.

Two people in front of an illustration decal of a smiling jam jar with text reading:
We Keep Each Other Fed by Henry James Garrett
Two women at a table looking at and holding a shell, examining it's colour and texture.
Radical Gifting Collaboration Session
A photo of seven people standing in front of a large artwork suspended behind them. The group have their arms around each other and are all smiling at the camera.
Sea of the Unseeable by Young people from KRAN and artist Jamshid Maylanchi
Photo of some of the audience at the zine reading, sat watching Dre Spisto introduce the commission and artists. Behind them are shelves full of books.
Queer Zines of Care by Bob Chicalors, Ray Felix Carter, and Greta Sharp
A group of people sitting around a table looking at a cardboard box of items from a forest setting. One person is standing and speaking to the table.
Soft Fascination by Selina Thompson
Futures of Care by Soofiya
Group 930