Theatre as Inclusive Practice Erasmus Project

Project Title

Theatre as Inclusive Practice

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Partnerships for Creativity

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; Creativity and culture; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

We at Theatre as Inclusive Practice believe that the power of creativity, theatre and unity would trigger changes in mindsets and societies faster than politics.
Reports show that a vast majority of young people in the EU are at risk of being socially excluded, hardship among marginalised groups and communities are higher after the global pandemic, and it is the younger generations that are worst affected in terms of isolation and loneliness during the lockdown periods of 2020 and thus cannot actively participate in society.

Theatre and arts can be used to engage communities facing exclusion, so our main focus is to conduct a training programme using strategies and techniques of participatory theatre to explore and develop social inclusion with young people from three different partner countries. By promoting quality, innovation and recognition of youth work, we will address the main target groups of the project facing social exclusion due to sexuality, race, ability, low income, nationality, etc.. Two target groups were identified – young workshop leaders who will be trained to support young people (a minimum of 20 in the four partner regions) and the young workshop participants at risk of exclusion or experiencing various difficulties due to forms of exclusion, attending regular theatre workshop sessions (a minimum of 32 in the four partner regions). In addition to the face-to-face reach out in schools and youth centres, we estimate that we will reach a minimum of 1000 young people with the online activities and more than 400 representatives of the interested third parties involved as local community and audience of theatre work.
We know that our participants will increase their self-confidence and fortify their self-image based on the new skills they have acquired and the products they have created within transnational teams. The impact for the wider audience – young people in general, other youth at risk of exclusion, theatre experts and directors and others – will be a cultural experiences, inclusion, acceptance, empathy and shared understandings.
We plan to achieve the aforementioned outcomes through the development of a ‘Training Trainers’ course for using applied theatre techniques for social inclusion – freely available for use. It will consist of tested methodology from the sphere of applied theatre (forum theatre, verbatim theatre, design theatre, participatory theatre, theatre of the senses, etc.) together with guidelines as to how it can be delivered offline and online. Project activities involve regular local workshops with young participants – both workshop leaders and young people at risk of exclusion.
The main result of the project is the Training Trainers’ course containing a variety of theatrical methods and approaches, with integrated guidelines on how this course can be delivered online. The project consortium will also develop and provide the Drama and inclusion resource pack which is directed towards a more general audience, bringing them closer to the topic of inclusion, to the reasons behind exclusion and how we can challenge ourselves to be more inclusive. This collection of audio-visual cultural materials such as performances and the process behind their creation – showing the theatre practice in action, created by the young people involved in the project on the topic of social inclusion.
Our objective is to involve as young workshop leaders people who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing social exclusion, and will be trained and upskilled to become trainers themselves. As far as the young people at risk of exclusion are concerned we aim at achieving at least 80% improved confidence and inclusion, based on their feedback and self-assessment.
TIP will also position the partners on a national and international level as providers of innovative solutions for youth inclusion via cultural and creative activities.
What we envisage as a result of this experience for the young participants are increased opportunities for social inclusion; increased ownership of cultural capital (by using theatre to address issues of societal importance) and increased confidence of social capital (through creating new transnational links with similar age groups). There is also the accessible online nature of the project for both participants and all those interested in the subject, which will turn them into resilient cultural operators in the face of challenges the uncertain future holds for our societies.
We cannot predict the future. We cannot foresee what the world and these young people are about to face. But, in the words of Sir Ken Robinson, “all you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish.”

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 201356 Eur

Project Coordinator

UCAN Productions & Country: UK

Project Partners

• FOUNDATION FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE CULTURAL BPOCS
• DRUŠTVO HUMANITAS – CENTER ZA GLOBALNO UČENJE IN SODELOVANJE
• Mess Up The Mess Theatre Company LTD