SHARE A SANCTUARY

The School of Radical Attention is seeking ATTENTION SANCTUARIES to join our growing coalition of spaces committed to ATTENTION ACTIVISM.

SANCTUARY is a core pillar of our movement: a space that is collectively created to nourish attentional capacities and to promote the good things that come from using our attention with others. Sanctuaries give people the opportunity to direct their attention to what matters most — caring for each other, imagining a world we want to live in, and building the solidarity we need to reach that world.

We invite all SANCTUARY KEEPERS — librarians, congregations, museum staff, classroom teachers, café owners, block associations, and anyone else stewarding a shared space — to join forces with us. Together we can rebuild a public sphere where people can gather for life-giving experiences of joint attention on a regular basis.

Many of these spaces already exist. Libraries, churches, theaters, and classrooms have always fostered special kinds of attention. One arm of our work is to help these spaces name what they’re already doing, and to support them in making their commitment to the freedom of attention explicit, sustainable, and visible to their community. Another arm of the work is to foster the creation of new Sanctuaries (in cafes, bars, bookstores, and places we haven't even imagined yet) to further widen the reach of Attention Activism.

Here’s how you can join us:

STEP 1: Read our CREATE AN ATTENTION SANCTUARY document, a short planning guide to help your community arrive at its own Sanctuary Guidelines.

STEP 2: Gather your community and talk through it. What kinds of attention do you want to practice and share with others? Write down your agreements.

STEP 3: Submit your Sanctuary using the form below. Every submitted Sanctuary will be added to our ATLAS OF ATTENTION ACTIVISM, making the physical footprint of this movement visible one space at a time. You will also receive an ATTENTION SANCTUARY KIT for signage, prompt cards, and other materials to help launch your initiative.

STEP 4: You’ll be invited to join our THIRD THURSDAY GATHERINGS on Zoom for organizers around the globe. Stay tuned for more resources and programming opportunities!

FAQ

What kinds of spaces are eligible? Any space where a community of stakeholders is willing to make explicit commitments to non-commodified attention — libraries, classrooms, houses of worship, theaters, museums, community centers, and more. What really matters here are the agreements that a community makes about how the people who use this space protect and share their attention within it.

Who can submit a  space? Anyone who cares for or has appropriate permissions within that space is welcome to submit — but, again, we encourage Sanctuaries to be formed collectively through the kind of deliberative process outlined in our protocol.

What about Public Spaces — can a sidewalk or a park be a Sanctuary? Parks and streets are key to our activism. Efforts like our SIDEWALK STUDY show what’s possible when we facilitate gatherings for Attention Activism in shared, outdoor, public space, away from the pressures of Human Fracking. That said, this initiative in particular is intended to foreground Sanctuaries formed in permanent (or semi-permanent) physical spaces.

Does a Sanctuary have to be tech-free? Not necessarily! That’s to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Some Sanctuaries choose phone lockers or screen-free hours; others focus on the kinds of gathering and conversation they want to welcome in, rather than what they keep out. Some Sanctuaries use technology to create the kinds of attention that matter most to them! We're more interested in making room for the freedom of attention than we are in tech-free spaces.

QUESTIONS? SUGGESTIONS? Please email sanctuary@sustainedattention.net.