CareACT in communities. Theatre interventions for justice-oriented and participatory learning processes in Caring Communities

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ABSTRACT This article addresses the question of how theatre interventions as elements of a participatory and action-oriented research design can contribute to justice-oriented Caring Community processes. Caring Communities are local initiatives that strengthen everyday solidarity through civic engagement and neighbourhood support, link informal and formal care and contribute to raising public awareness and alternative ways of dealing with social exclusion, age(ing), vulnerability, loneliness, care, illness, dying, death and mourning. Caring Communities can also be seen as a response to the fragility of current care systems and to the ‘care crisis’ in late-modern societies of the global North. Based on empirical data, the article describes the ongoing project ‘CareACT’ in Austria and focuses on the impact of theatre interventions in the context of the Caring Community process in the Vienna district of Josefstadt as elements of participatory and action-oriented research. We combined participatory theatre interventions and formats with elements of a responsive evaluation approach that is particularly suited to care contexts. This participatory approach intertwines the objectives of knowledge generation, individual and collective empowerment, (self-)development, and system change, as well as evaluation of the process. On a conceptual level, our findings enrich the discourse on the equality-oriented promotion of Caring Communities and a better understanding of their essential characteristics. We also gain new experiences and insights into the methodological potentials and obstacles of theatre interventions in participatory action research processes. On a concrete local level, we show that participatory theatre formats contribute to the further development of the Caring Community in Vienna.