School of Kindness
School of Kindness is a ‘non-disciplined’ performative, educational and discursive program that takes place yearly in Bulgaria and its surroundings. It is a summer school, a workshop, a residency program, and a research platform, bringing together artistic practitioners, thinkers, and social workers.
School of Kindness started in 2020 from the idea that in a time when we are living in real, virtual, and psychological wars, both in the so-called west and non-west, being kind is a radical form of action. To arrive to kindness is to embrace friendship and kinship.
School of Kindness looks at historical and contemporary forms of conviviality and takes inspiration from what typifies the Balkans as the meeting point between West and East. The curriculum focuses on social and cultural narratives of migration and displacement and develops emancipatory tools for (young) practitioners to confront economic, cultural, and political inequality and antagonism in, and on the border with, Europe through theoretical and practical-artistic learning.
The program is intended for participants from different social and artistic backgrounds, especially those coming from disadvantaged communities and those who work from experiences of individual or collective trauma. The participants engage in a program of workshops, seminars, and field work, provided by mentors (artists, theorists, and activists), who are also invited to give a public presentation.