The Garden Sessions is a concept for community gatherings of the creative and cultural ecosystem. Initiated in 2023 by SH|FT, these sessions address needs and opportunities within the field and inspire solidarity in the arts. The sessions are intended to raise awareness of regional challenges and opportunities and to identify mechanisms to bring participants from the region into closer contact with each other and with the wider global community.
The aim is to strengthen the capacities of civil society, artists and art organisations. This includes enhancing policy participation, communication, networking, and informing policy-making, as well as monitoring and evaluation activities to assess the impact of cultural policies and measures promoting cultural industries.
As a gift to those hosting us in their garden, we plant a tree together – a shared moment to appreciate nature and give back to the land. Over the years, we will watch the trees grow, and our aim is to someday meet again in each place in the shade of a then full-grown tree and reflect over time, prevailing challenges and successful steps forward.
The objectives of the project are:
- Empower artists through sharing resources, such as networks in the field and mapping the landscape of support systems through workshops, to understand rights and opportunities.
- Enable artists to articulate their needs effectively and advocate for policy actions to relevant authorities.
- Strengthen regional and global connections among artists, promoting solidarity and support while respecting diverse challenges and situations.
Our desire is to use the Garden Session space to ‘slow down’, listen and creatively reflect on issues that challenge and hinder the true protection of vulnerable artists and the advancement of artistic practice. The sessions are communal, interactive, yet structured meetings to inspire open and active engagement by all participants.
With the Garden Sessions, we wish to create and implement measures to promote gender equality, trans concerns and indigenous knowledge to create safe spaces for artists from all walks of life in the targeted regions.
The Gardens Sessions have been made possible with the support of the UNESCO Aschberg fund and the Swedish Arts Council, Artistic Freedom grant.
2023 | Athens, Greece (early November)
Duncan Dance Research Centre
This edition was designed to support the growing, global, collective voice of artists at risk and relocated persecuted artists through collective conversations on issues regarding care and well-being, sustainability, and eco-perspectives on the field of arts and artistic freedom. In the spirit of the location, the group planted an olive tree on day two. We also held artistic-jam sessions as a way to share creative work across all disciplines.
2025 | Tepoztlán, Mexico (early December)
The Temple of the Black Scorpion
A group of artists from across Mesoamerica gathered to reflect on indigenous knowledge and the creative path. After deep conversations focused on art in resistance and the power of indigenous perspectives to shape our future, participants planted a sacred Ceiba tree, or Yaxté, as a living symbol of our connection. This shared energy is now preserved through a traveling exhibition as an act of unification between artists around the world – consisting of a collaborative textile mural, a poster, a fanzine, and a film.
