In desperate times, joy is not an escape from reality. It is a way of staying in relationship with it.

It has become starkly apparent that the challenges climate change poses are far more severe and complex than anticipated, with existing systems and ways of thinking poorly equipped to manage. Without the luxury of time, there is an urgency in finding new ways to collaborate, experiment, plan and shift the paradigm of climate emergency engagement and disaster resilience.

In this interactive and tailored workshop, Dr Jen Rae and Claire G. Coleman from the Centre for Reworlding will share unique approaches to the role of culture & the arts in climate adaptation working with communities, artists, local government and emergency services in disaster preparedness rehearsals and labs where failure, risk, experimentation and play become ‘learning together’ ingredients for navigating complexities and default responses such as fear, paralysis, cynicism and performative activism.

Grounded in First Nations knowledge systems, their work addresses decolonisation, intergenerational justice, and resilience, offering insight into how creative methodologies and speculative futuring can support communities to form deeper transdisciplinary and transcultural collaborations focused on disaster preparedness and resilience…where we might find ‘joy work’ in desperate times.

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TOGETHERING in JOY WORK

Using the Centre for Reworlding's practice of deliberate, structured improvisation, participants will engage with hope, togethering and the practice of tenderness as essential capacities for navigating uncertainty and forming unlikely alliances across difference. Together, we will consider how climate change is not only an environmental crisis, but a crisis of relationships: between people and place, generations, species, stories and systems.

Participants will leave with renewed agency, practical tools for collaboration, and a deeper understanding of how through relational accountability principles First Nations knowledge systems can help us navigate uncertain futures. Together, we'll explore how to move beyond despair and division, build unlikely alliances, and cultivate the conditions for collective action, care and resilience in a rapidly changing world.

This workshop offers an invitation to move beyond climate doom and simple solutions, toward a richer understanding of how culture shapes change and how every person, regardless of their profession, skills or circumstances, has a role to play in collective adaptation and reworlding.

Not everyone needs to be an activist, but everyone can be a Joy Worker.

Who is this for?

This workshop is for people or groups who sense that the challenges we face cannot be solved by expertise alone. It welcomes artists, cultural workers, community organisers, educators, public servants, emergency management practitioners, researchers, activists and anyone curious about how we might live, learn and respond differently in times of rapid change.

If you are looking for ways to move beyond fear, fatigue, polarisation or performative action, and towards deeper collaboration, relational accountability and collective care, Joy Work offers a place to practice together.

Practical information

• We tailor each JOY WORK for each group (including for accessibility and cultural needs)

• Length: 3 - 4 hours depending on group size

• Ideal for groups sizes between 12 - 50 people and up to 80 people

• Venue size needs to accommodate the number of people to move freely (see photos)

• A/V needs: digital projector, screen, speakers, microphones if a large group and wifi access

• Space needs: various forms of moveable seating (e.g. bean bags, stools, chairs, cushions, etc.), carpeting or mats, lectern or table for Jen + Claire, a couple of extra tables

• Catering: You (but…we have ideas and can help)

• Marketing, promo and participant registration management: You (but we can help)

• Post-production resources, tools or follow up: Us together (as needed and confirmed beforehand)

• Cost: Community, funded and corporate rates vary. For workshops over 100km from the Centre for Reworlding, travel costs (and accommodation + per diems if far away) are incorporated into the quote.