What Will You Tend To? InPublic Festival 2021

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What Will You Tend To?

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we can all use some connection and healing right now. Hosted by the Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI), which is dedicated to changing how social justice is imagined, developed and deployed here in the United States, InPublic Festival 2021 was an interactive experience on the steps at Downtown Crossing in Boston (on the far side of the old Filene's building, for those of us that have been around here for a while).

The event, which took place November 5-7, featured works by 60 BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) artists who contributed pieces in response to the question "What Will You Tend To?" A musical and spoken work soundscape set the mood for this event, in which participants were encouraged to create decorated stones to place around the works of art as we walked among them on steps leading up to a banner saying "We Will Heal Together."

Participants - either at the event or having seen the information online - were encouraged to leave a voicemail message in response to the tending prompt. These messages were used to create a soundscape edited and produced by crystal bi featuring Dzidzor Azaglo on tongue drum.

I am so thankful for this powerful, engaging, and healing experience which is staying with me as I continue to reflect on what I am tending to each day. My voicemail said "I am tending to being kind to others and myself and to dancing as much as possible."

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