Launching Care2Care: Creating More Inclusive Futures for Artist-Mothers

We are delighted to launch a new European project strengthening support for artist-mothers in the cultural sector 

Care2Care brings together partners from the Netherlands, Italy and Poland via two years of Erasmus+ funding to support artist-mothers to develop their professional artistic practice alongside their families.

We believe culture has huge potential to transform systems and shape better and more sustainable futures. But it can only do so if it's connected to the diverse realities and needs of those who make up the cultural sector in the first place.

Mothers are crucial participants in imagining and shaping the future through creative expression. Many artist-mothers combine their practice with care responsibilities, requiring a great deal of flexibility which often makes their professional path less straightforward. They may face limited time, reduced access to networks and training, and a cultural sector that does not always make enough room for care responsibilities.

Running from October 2026 to September 2028, Care2Care aims to contribute to a cultural sector in which artist-mothers have better opportunities to build their artistic practice, and bring their crucial perspectives to the development of a sector that is inclusive and adaptive to the realities of family life.

We'll start by investigating working conditions, gender inequality, mobility, access to networks, differences between urban and rural contexts, and the availability of care support for artist-mothers. We will then build support services and advocacy based on the findings and the lived experience of artist-mothers, not on our assumptions.

We will achieve this through concrete support as well as longer-term change:

• A six-month hybrid training: an online academy combined with mentoring and coaching, built to fit around care responsibilities.

• A peer community: a transnational network where you can share experiences, practices and support with other parent artists.

• Career guidance for non-linear paths: because artistic careers rarely follow a straight line, and yours doesn’t have to either.

• A toolkit: materials you can use and pass on to others training, coaching and peer learning for artist-mothers;

• The first European guidelines for working with artist-mothers for cultural organisations, policymakers and funders;

• A European network in which knowledge, experiences and practices continue to be shared.

We will specifically bring our research expertise to map the experience of artist-mothers in Italy to inform the development of the training and guidelines, as well as adapting our THRIVE methodology to the training, supporting artist-mothers to build a solid internal foundation of clarity, capacity and confidence from which to decide what kind of artists they want to be and how to move ahead with authenticity and alignment with their care responsibilities.

The partnership

We are working with Cultuurloket (Flanders), Arteria Foundation (Poland), Materahub (Italy) and The Artist and the Others. Each partner brings its own expertise, ranging from cultural entrepreneurship and training to international collaboration, artistic practices and care-aware working.

Who is it for?

Care2Care is for artist-mothers with care responsibilities and an active or interrupted practice in the arts or cultural sector. You’re welcome whatever your discipline, career stage or location, in the city or in the countryside. We particularly want to reach migrant artist-mothers.

To take part, you need:

• at least one year of residence in the country of the partner organisation you join;

• a formal arts qualification or a demonstrable professional career in the arts or cultural sector;

• care responsibilities, and an active or interrupted practice in the arts or cultural sector.

  
  

Join the conversation and stay up to date

Join our Signal Group if you are interested in being directly involved in the project, or you simply wish to be informed about the outcome of the research, the future open call and the training.