The Arts and Well-being component of the conference presents a provocatively curated program designed to foster deep reflection, curiosity, creativity, and emotional processing. Through diverse exhibitions and immersive experiences, including embodied work and multi-species exploration, attendees will embark on transformative sensemaking journeys that illuminate the multifaceted pathways to both inner and planetary transformation.

The program blends sensorial, temporal, and visual elements that invite participants to lean into, work through, and emerge from both repressive and expressive experiences. With a mix of local and international sessions, the Arts and Well-being component aims to cultivate a nourishing space ideal for knowledge exchange, shared experiences, and collective empowerment. Attendees will be encouraged to co-create their understanding of transformation and explore what it means to hold space for uncertain futures.

In the weeks leading up to the conference, the Arts & Well-being team will be showcasing the diverse sessions that attendees can look forward to engaging with. Empatheatre, an action research-based, theatre-making methodology that offers new ways of seeing different perspectives on a complex situation while honoring participants’ narratives, will be showcasing two projects: Lalela uLwandle and UNRULY. The former makes visible stories of living with the ocean that are seldom seen or heard and explores themes of intergenerational environmental injustices, tangible and intangible ocean heritage, marine science, and the myriad threats to ocean health. The latter interrogates the question “How should we, as humans, act towards a nature that doesn’t always behave the way we expect it to?” while exploring themes of land history, ecologies prone to wildfires, sea surges, and messy human/animal relations.