The second edition of CARE Festival signified the further development of the project. New topics and concerned were added to the original issues addressed by the festival: war, migration, refugees, marginalisation of vulnerable groups and young people. Furthermore, modern day European societies are affected daily by isolation and lack of care, a bitter reality requiring immediate collective action.
The second version of the festival under the title “We, Women, Mothers” invited us all:
To care for the Future
We prepared a series of performances and creative workshops for children and young people hosted in cultural and public spaces of the city and district of Larnaka. These spaces are reinvented as our Common Ground, as meeting and creative havens for the young and old, illuminating their previously unseen aspects and creating new encounters between artists, children, young people and parents. Emphasis was placed on children with disabilities, ensuring their equal access to art and culture.
To Take Care of the City
In a walking performance in the city centre, dozens of young people and children from fifteen dance schools of Larnaka and the Music School of the city invited us to a march with the motto of care. Walking along one of busiest streets of our city, Piale Pasha, dance became the vehicle we pursued a fruitful dialogue with our fellow citizens. The city brought out its maternal side, a side that takes care of its residents, creating an inclusive environment. We all walked together rediscovering and reclaiming public space, our Common Place, looking for the lost care of the city, a feminine city that cares for us and invites us to talk openly about our fears and our hopes.
To Take Care of the World
In an all-day conference in collaboration with the Foundation for Cultural Creation for Children and Youth, we unfolded personal testimonies of people from different backgrounds who have lived through war. What are the experiences of a displaced person arriving in Larnaka today from neighbouring Syria and what are the experiences of a child who lived through the refugee crisis in Cyprus in 1974? How do mothers, teachers, people on the front-line experience war, and what can we learn from these experiences? Bringing real stories to the fore, the conference shed light on how displacement is shaping societies in Europe today, with a focus on Larnaka. We hosted Musicians Without Borders and Fabienne van Eck to inspire us through their experience with vulnerable groups in different parts of the world, in particular through their work in refugee camps in our neighbouring Middle East. Continuing with participatory workshops, we discussed ways of creating safe spaces for all communities, fostering empathy and mutual understanding.
Locations of CARE Festival:
In the city of Larnaka: Larnaka Municipal Theatre “G. Lykourgos”, Pierides Museum, Youth Makerspace Larnaka, Zouhouri Square.
In the Larnaka district: Aradippou Toy Museum, Aradippou Museum of Christian Art, “Kamiros” Municipal Park (Meneou), Lighthouse (Pervolia), Pervolia Municipal Theatre “Andreas Pashiourtidis”.
