“Organizing is to the community what spiritual practice is to the individual” -Grace Lee Boggs“We are each other’s magnitude and bond” - Gwendolyn Brooks“We are the ones we have been waiting for” -June Jordan  On Mending, invites creative practitioners to center care, rest, and repair as a n art form for liberation. What can creating sustainable bonds through mending teach us about larger frameworks envisioning care, safety, and justice? What elements of ritual, ceremony, and/or communion connect us? How can we tether our desire for tenderness in addressing dis-ease?  Reflecting on practices rooted in activism, abolition, organizing, healing praxis, and collective care, participants will research how artistic interventions take form to combat systems of trauma, the carceral state, and the culture of disposability. The group will create a series of skill-share opportunities, art objects (audio, video, 2d, 3d), performances, and/or experiences geared at engaging a larger public in a culminating exhibition next January. Artists will receive a $500 micro-grant to support their participation in the Think Tank. Meeting dates will be Oct 1, Oct 8, Oct 15, Oct 22, Oct 29, Nov 5, Nov 12, Nov 19, Dec 3, Dec 10, and Dec 17. Contact Carlos@chicagoartdepartment.org with any questions.