Curating the Village: Open Sessions is a two-day gathering of artists, curators, and cultural workers exploring caregiving as both a lived experience and a working condition. Spanning rest, performance, workshops, and conversation, the program brings together perspectives on caring for children, parents, elders, neighbours, the dying, and broader communities.

Developed through an ongoing research-creation initiative, Curating the Village approaches care not only as a subject, but as a force that reshapes how artistic and curatorial work is organized, timed, and sustained. Marked by interruption, exhaustion, and relational obligation, caregiving challenges dominant expectations of productivity, availability, and coherence in cultural labour.

While “care” circulates widely in contemporary arts discourse, it is still rarely accommodated structurally within programming or institutional time. Through short offerings, shared food, and collective discussion, Open Sessions considers what shifts when care is approached not simply as a trending theme, but as a method—one that foregrounds interdependence, negotiation, and the conditions that make work possible.

Program Dates / Times / Locations

FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2026

Evening sessions from 6:15 — 9:00 pm at Theatre Direct (1 Wiltshire Ave Unit 127, Toronto, ON M6N 2V7).

SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 2026

Full day from 10:00 am — 6:00 pm at Critical Distance Centre for Curators (401 Richmond Street West, Suite 122).

Please note: Saturday programming includes FREE onsite childcare, a shared meal, and hybrid participation options to support caregiver access.

Registration information is on the Critical Distance Website: https://criticaldistance.ca/program/curating-the-village-open-sessions/ zeff