FARCE [2021]

Concept and Design by Patrick Blenkarn, Laurel Green, and Milton Lim

Project Description:

Welcome to the FARCE. Your ‘fictional’ arts economy has been disrupted in the wake of a global crisis and you are called upon to work together with others in your region to adapt. 

FARCE is a role-playing tabletop card game and incubator for imagining an arts ecosystem. Presented and played over multiple days, participants work together to fill out a map as they take up residence in an imagined city and commit to role playing as unique characters—Producers, Artists, Presenters. With each draw of a card, players must tackle challenges, liaise with and assist other characters, design creative responses, and address the urgent needs in their community.

FARCE is grounded in the belief that the dramaturgy of cultural design is a responsibility that is shared by all members of the creative community rather than something to be relegated to boardrooms, panel discussions, and the offices of those who hold institutional power. FARCE is a game designed to embolden artistic directors, producers, funders, agents, and artists in becoming active change agents in the arts sector. Through encouraging participants to reflect upon their positional power to effect change more rapidly and in conversation with others, the game offers a platform to rehearse ideas—including everything from drafting policy, launching initiatives, toppling institutions, and implementing far-fetched innovations. FARCE unlocks new ways of designing possible futures and rehearsing transformation experientially as an arts community. Its blend of strategic foresight, long-form storytelling, and role-play methodologies faciliates a unique ideation process.

FARCE participants are primed to collaboratively envision, rigorously play out, and boldly share surprising and unheard-of strategies that address our sector’s most pressing systemic challenges. Drawing inspiration from popular games like Dungeons & Dragons and The Quiet Year, this is a participatory team event that balances quirky think-tank problem solving with a commitment to multi-session collaborative storytelling. On the final day of the event, the FARCE Awesome Town Hall is convened as a context to share stories and ideas from the week’s adventures.

FARCE was commissioned and originally presented by Canadian Association for the Performing Arts / Association Canadienne des Organismes Artistiques (CAPACOA) as part of the 2021 Reboot Conference where 30 participants (artists, producers, and presenters from around the world) committed to 8 hours of wild role playing over 4 days. A French language version was produced by Zones Théâtrales in 2023.

Indigenous Consultant: Kahentawaks Tiewishaw

Graphic design and maps: Lee Cookson

CAPACOA Game Masters (performers and co-creators): Patrick Blenkarn, Laurel Green, Marcos Krivocapich, Gilles Poulin-Denis, Nikki Shaffeeullah.

Zones Théâtrales Game Masters (performers and co-creators): Barbara-Audrey Bergeron, Joel Lebois, Sébastien Leclerc, Marie-Eve Fortier, Daphney Joseph.

Please visit this link for the most up-to-date information on the project.

Upcoming presentations:

2023.09.12 - 2023.09.15 Premiere (in-person), FARCE Zones Théâtrales @ The National Arts Centre, Ottawa (Canada)

Previous presentations:

2021.11.17 - 2021.11.24 Premiere, Reboot Conference, CAPACOA (online)