THE GAME
culturecapital is a collectible trading card game and live art performance project that critically engages with and celebrates the ways in which value is created within performing arts economies. It is created by Milton Lim and Patrick Blenkarn.
The heart of culturecapital lies in creating an alternative context for discourse about the arts and about how value is determined and shifted in the performing arts industry. Too often, in Canada at least, the only avenues for addressing serious issues in the performing arts industry are panels, where only a select few are empowered to really speak, blog posts or online personal essays, which tend to burn bridges, and whispers at the bar, which usually have little influence on greater public discourse.
Currently, versions of the game have been completed for regions across Canada: including Vancouver and Edmonton-Calgary, with Toronto and Montreal having been prototyped. Each regional version is constructed from two sets of data:
interviews with artists from a about their experiences making performance and
public funding data
This data is then translated into different types of cards, which are then sorted into four starter decks that players can acquire, as well as combine.
Though designed to be played informally like any card game, culturecapital tournaments also take place as part of performance festivals. In a tournament, your deck is your ticket and you can compete against others to work your way to an epic final showdown on a big stage.
The winner of every culturecapital tournament takes home $500 of public funding.
For more information about how the game is made, check out our Research + Blog.