CREATE A PUPPET – CREATE YOURSELF. THEATRE FOR SOCIAL INTEGRATION. Erasmus Project

Project Title

CREATE A PUPPET – CREATE YOURSELF. THEATRE FOR SOCIAL INTEGRATION.

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 : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Creativity and culture; Access for disadvantaged

Project Summary

The CC Project aimed at developing, testing and widely disseminating an innovative methodology based on creative approach in adult education. It also focused on the needs of disadvantaged adult learners with a view to training social and civic competences. The choice of theatre and precisely puppetry art was made on the basis of the long-standing experience of Teatr Grodzki in using this specific art form in education and therapy. Even though puppet theatre is usually perceived as something childish, it can serve as a very efficient and attractive way of teaching adult students how to discover their aptitudes and abilities needed for a true social adaptation.Through the activities we created the new educational and self-development opportunities for those who are socially excluded due to their health/disability problems, difficult economic situation, conflict with the law or other factors. We were aware of the fact that integration of socially vulnerable individuals and groups with society was a long and challenging process. It must have involved an important phase of creating a suitable environment for making first steps towards changes. People who had been isolated, often for a very long time, needed to be first of all motivated to make an effort to step out. They needed to see positive results of their actions and to feel rewarded. Such an experience could be a turning point in their life and lead to discovering own place in the community. We found puppetry art a surprisingly efficient tool facilitating this initial stage of social inclusion processes.The project implementation of the CC Project was introduced in six steps.1.Teatr Grodzki, the author of the project, presented their approach of using the elements of puppetry art and psychodrama techniques in adult education to other partners and their trainers during the Short-term Joint Staff Training in Glasgow (18 participants from CITIZENS THEATRE, BABILONAS, Know&Can, CSC Danilo Dolci and TEATR GRODZKI) 2.All partners tested the methods presented during the training, modifying them and further developing according to specific needs/constraints of their target groups (13 local pilot workshops, 177 participants with fewer opportunities) documented in blogs run by the trainers http://ccproject.art/pilot-workshop/ 3.A VLCE – good practice platform launched in 8 languages (EN, PL, LT, IT, BG, DE, SE, FR) and used for sharing/exchanging teaching experience throughout the project www.ccproject.art 4.On the basis of the training experience further tested and confirmed during the workshops in Scotland, Lithuania, Italy, Bulgaria and Poland the partners jointly formulated the methodological guidelines for the use of puppet theatre inspiration in adult education and social inclusion programs available in 8 languages on http://ccproject.art/publications/ 5.Parallelly to the elaboration of methodological guidelines all partners worked on a presentation of ten different teaching processes and case studies in the form of eCompendium issued in 8 languages: EN, PL, IT, LT, BG, DE, FR, ES on the platform in the section eResources http://ccproject.art/publications/6. Twelve Muliplier Events organized in the last phase of the project in all the partner countries for 233 educators (11 of them from abroad). CC project was recognized successful in the field of supporting the disadvantaged adults. In particular project resources and dissemination activities were found very useful by all partners and their trainers: “I loved the training and I will use all of the resources in the future. The group I work with is very similar to one of the pilot groups and the project would work a treat with the women.” (Project Worker from the Health and Social Care); “The educational materials are clear and they include important guidelines which I can follow as a trainer. They lead me step-by-step through the workshop process. The methods presented are simple to implement in a wide range of application contexts” (Adult educator); https://www.creativescotland.com/explore/read/stories/creative-learning/2019/create-a-puppet-citizens-theatre (article in Creative Scotland)

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 230255,53 Eur

Project Coordinator

BIELSKIE STOWARZYSZENIE ARTYSTYCZNE “TEATR GRODZKI” & Country: PL

Project Partners

• SDRUDZENIE ZNAM I MOGA
• CENTRO PER LO SVILUPPO CREATIVO DANILO DOLCI
• Citizens Theatre Limited
• Jaunimo centras Babilonas