Curating the Village: Open Sessions

Children interacting with an immersive light installation. Photo: Shalon T. Webber-Heffernan.

Curating the Village: Open Sessions
Curated by Shalon T. Webber-Heffernan

June 26 – 27, 2026
Critical Distance Centre for Curators & Theatre Direct, Toronto
Registration + Full Information

Presented in partnership with Critical Distance Centre for Curators and Theatre Direct, and supported by Toronto Arts Council and Balancing Act Canada, Curating the Village: Open Sessions is a two-day gathering exploring care, labour, community, and creative practice as intertwined conditions shaping cultural life today.

Contributors include: Indu Vashist, Mark Reinhart, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Tender Again, Ebru Winegard, Heather Frise, Maryna Salagub, 44.4 Mother/Artist Collective, Janet Hinkle, Ragamalika Mohanraj, Una Janicijevic, Margaret Evans (Balancing Act Canada), Rahaf’s Kitchen, Michelle Wilson, Zoë Heyn-Jones & Amanda White, Shira Leuchter, Yanaminah Thullah, Regatu Asefa, Sandra Dusabe, Delilah Edouard Williams, Renée Anne Bouffard-McManus, and Sasha Singer-Wilson.

Bringing together artists, curators, caregivers, educators, and cultural workers, the program considers caregiving in its many forms—including parenting, elder care, artistic collaboration, mutual aid, and community support—through workshops, performances, conversations, shared meals, and collective reflection.

Free on-site childcare will be available during Saturday’s daytime programming at Critical Distance Centre for Curators. Hybrid access will also be available for select afternoon sessions.

Evening Sessions

Friday, June 26, 2026 | 6:15 – 8:00pm
Theatre Direct (Studio H), Toronto

6:15 – 7:15pm
Session 1: Indu Vashist
Take Care of Yourself: Somatic Movement for Artists and Cultural Workers
A guided somatic movement session inviting participants to connect body, mind, and land through practices of presence, awareness, and embodied care. Registration required.

7:30 – 8:00pm
Session 2: Mark Reinhart
1, 2, 3 (are you ready)
A performance-in-process combining movement, sound, stillness, and storytelling as a reflection on—and archive of—caring for a mother through illness and death.

Day Sessions

Saturday, June 27, 2026 | 10:00am – 6:00pm
Critical Distance Centre for Curators, Toronto
Hybrid access available for select afternoon sessions (12:15 – 4:30pm). Registration required.

10:00 – 10:30am
Arrival + Coffee / Tea / Light Snacks

10:30 – 11:45am
Session 3: Concurrent Workshops

Janet Hinkle
Their Own Words
A participatory visual art workshop and installation inviting people of all ages to connect, play, and create together while reflecting on caregiving, community, and shared experience.

Ebru Winegard
Weaving Connections: A Creative Pause for Caregivers
A hands-on weaving session using upcycled and everyday materials to explore creativity, relaxation, and collective making. No prior experience necessary.

11:45am – 12:15pm
Lunch by Rahaf’s Kitchen

12:15 – 12:45pm
Session 4: Jeneen Frei Njootli
Open Letter
A collaborative workshop advocating for artists who are also parents.

12:50 – 1:10pm
Session 5: Una Janićijević
The Art Audit: Children’s Voices in the Art World
A research-based project centering the voices of children and artist-caregivers in evaluating public art spaces. The work reclaims space and authorship for families within the art world.

1:15 – 1:35pm
Session 6: Ragamalika Mohanraj
With You, In Rhythm
A reflection on sustaining artistic practice alongside caregiving through rhythm, storytelling, and performance. Includes a short Bharatanatyam presentation.

1:40 – 2:00pm
Session 7: Tender Again
Community Care
Tender Again is a mutual-aid, abolitionist, and decolonial care initiative offering bodywork, food, and community support for neighbours facing barriers to healthcare.

2:05 – 2:25pm
Session 8: Amanda White & Zoë Heyn-Jones
Intergenerational Explorations of Cabbage as Material & Metaphor
A collaborative performance-lecture exploring food, maternity, working-class foodways, and artistic research through collective and intergenerational making.

2:30 – 2:50pm
Session 9: Margaret Evans (Balancing Act Canada)
Care in Practice
Reflections and learnings from Balancing Act Canada’s Level UP! initiative, which supports caregiver inclusion within arts organizations and cultural programming.

2:55 – 3:15pm
Session 10: Heather Frise
I Just Want to Wake Up
A short film combining drawings and nighttime conversations reflecting on pandemic life while caring simultaneously for a young child and a mother living with Alzheimer’s.

3:30 – 4:30pm
Session 11: Yanaminah Thullah, Regatu Asefa, Sandra Dusabe & Delilah Edouard Williams
Cura – Caretaking in Curation
Grounded in the etymological root of the word curate—cura, meaning “to care”—this conversation brings together four curators reflecting on how care shapes curatorial practice, storytelling, and community engagement.

5:00 – 6:00pm
Session 12: Sasha Singer-Wilson
Give and Care
An open-format LongTable discussion (conceived by Lois Weaver) exploring caregiving as both lived experience and structural condition. The conversation invites participants to reflect collectively on labour, responsibility, time, artistic practice, and the systems that sustain or constrain care.

Visit the web site for registration + full information

Contact
shalonwh@gmail.com
Instagram @shalontwh

Critical Distance Centre for Curators (CDCC)
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 122
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
criticaldistance.ca

Theatre Direct
1 Wiltshire Avenue
Toronto, ON M6N 2V7
theatredirect.ca