YOUSTAR
YOuth workers Using Theatre Augmenting cReativity
A two-years project based on theatre techniques to increase the skills of youth workers.
The Project
YOUSTAR – YOuth workers Using Theatre Augmenting cReativity is a two-years project based on theatre techniques to increase the skills of youth workers
YO.US.T.A.R. focuses on theatre and performing arts as tools to foster the social inclusion of young people, based on an innovative theatre methods developed in other EU-funded projects by LA GUILLA Theatre and Know&Can.
The project moves from a review of theory and practice in the field of theatre as a tool for integration, to facilitating a toolkit that can be deployed by NGOs/theatre working in the field of youth, to an e-booklet with case studies from the partners and a collection of recommendations for practitioners and youth workers to work with theatre for social inclusion across Europe.
The project has three overall objectives:
- To increase the social inclusion of young people through theatre, building on the European values of acceptance of diversity and tolerance, and the promotion of intercultural dialogue as represented by Antigone and Aeneas Greek and Latin myths;
- To give young people a space where they can use theatre to foster self-esteem, self-consciousness and confidence in a new and stimulating environment;
- To offer staff working with youth in theatres and NGOs a tool (the YO.US.T.A.R. toolkit) which will enable deeper understanding of their clients and will increase their professional skills in the field of art and social inclusion.
There are seven partners in YO.US.T.A.R. project. All partners are theatre or cultural organisations working closely with youth. The consortium envisages that each organisation will be working on the project pilot workshops themselves and will cascade these workshops out to their networks and youth.
YOUSTAR is based on the successful non-formal method developed by LA GUILLA Theatre and its artistic director, Valerio Strati: ANTYGONE.
The method, based on Antigone Greek drama is a way, a path to face current issues. The ancient text meaning is always actual.
“Creon, the king of Thebes, says nobody can bury Polynice’s body otherwise he/she will die, but Antigone wants to bury her brother’s body, even though she knows she is going to break the law and she could die”.
The method compares EU point of view and people’s point of view. The first one doesn’t allow the migrants to come to the EU if they don’t have a visa or job and the second one wants to help and host the migrants, even the law says differently.
The method starts with reading the dialogue between Creon and Antigone, understanding their motivations and debating on their thoughts. The group of participants also talks and debates with the chorus point of view. The chorus represents the citizens and what they really think about the migrant’s issues.
After the debate, the method uses physical improvisation to express these two different characters. We use music to help participants be confident in each other and in themselves, organising games and exercises based on music.
At this stage of the method, we use some acting techniques and games to help participants improvise. The role of improvising (using voice or body movements) is the right way to break mental or body barriers and to help the actors/participants feel free to express themselves by the characters’ thoughts.
Improvisation is a way for actors and practitioners to be comfortable and say what the characters says by their voice or body. It is a path to deeply explore the meaning and dig into their soul. They will find out something in common between theirs and the characters’ thoughts.
The ANTYGONE method uses both English language and, above all, the participants’ mother tongue because we believe everyone is comfortable speaking his/her native language. We stage the final performance using and arranging the various improvisations proposed by the participants.
Partners
Know & Can Association is a non-governmental organization established in March 2007 in Sofia. It works mainly in the field of non-formal education and on European projects and programmes in the fields of education, rights, justice, citizenship and mobility. K&C also works on career counseling, personal and professional development, soft and entrepreneurship skills trainings, programs, courses and activities in the sphere of non-formal and informal education and trainings.
K&C is a member of IVETA – International Vocational Education and Training Association which includes vocational skills training organizations, business and industrial firms, and other individuals and groups interested or involved in vocational education and training worldwide.
K&C is a member of a European NGO group – L.E.M.O.N. – Learning Mobility Network which is a federation of 15 European NGOs, from 13 countries, working together to share and create high-quality educational projects that enable young people to live and work across Europe.
K&C has partners in 20 EU countries, Turkey, Albania, and Macedonia.
1. Objectives:
– Development, delivering and implementation of educational programmes
– Encouraging participation in national and international events and programmes
– Applying modern methods and techniques for the development of non-formal education
– Training staff in the field non-formal education
2. Activities:
– Development and management of projects and programmes
– Participation in national and international projects, events and programmes
– Logistical support to conduct regional, national and international events to exchange experiences and good practices
– Cooperation with organizations and institutions working in the field of education
MIR Akademien AB is an educational organisation and consultancy working in the field of social development with focus on labour market integration and social inclusion. The company works towards the promotion of cultural, educational and economic development through the employment of innovative and participative tools and methodologies.
MIR Akademien AB operates in Uppsala region, which has historically been at the forefront of innovation due to its academic context. Apart from its regional scope, the company is a stakeholder on the international arena via an extensive partnership network and collaboration projects. We work with NGOs, non-for-profits, start-ups, universities and governmental organisations, providing the consultancy and training needed to progress initiatives that are sustainable and ethical as well as based on the current needs
ACD La Hoya is Spanish Cultural and Sport association is based on the principles of cooperation, integration, environment protection, solidarity, humanity and universal human values and promotes an environment in which the community will be able to create, think, realize their ideas and build positions and reactions on important issues.Develop activities in the rural community as art, sport and culture, also dedicated to the successful implementation and participation of European projects to bring the youth and senior Europe closer.The main aim is to give the community possibilities to spend their time (Sport, arts, workshops, Culture, Europe) , to support bottom up initiatives of the community, improve social work and facilitate the integration of young and adult people into society especially those of rural areas by involving them in our work, and encouraging their creative spirit that helps increasing youth and adult participation in both local community and society in general.The organization is actively cooperating with local government, partner NGOs, highschool and school with different project, campaigns and activities as well as international organizations worldwide.Our target group are kids from 4 years olds till adults, we are supporting the integration of people from rural areas, few opportunities and from disadvantage situations, to give a better opportunity to get a positive and varied personal development.The organization is divided in 4 areas:
- SPORT
- ART
- YOUTH CENTER
- EUROPE
Kulturanova
Kulturanova initiates intercultural and intersectoral dialogue in society, encouraging the creativity of young people through art education, production of cultural content and the improvement of public policies in the field of culture and youth.
The organization was unofficially founded in 1999, and in 2001 we were officially registered in Novi Sad. The organization was founded as the umbrella organization of all those young people who were tired of the closure of the then existing institutions and who, due to lack of experience, space, financial and other resources, could not realize their creative potential in art.
Kulturanova works in four areas, through its four programs
- Teatarnova – theater and performance
- Muzikanova – support for young music creators
- Medianova – audio-visual and media content
- Futuranova – innovation in cultural and creative industries.
Our vision
Novi Sad is open to creating a new culture. For us, a new culture is a process of building new social relations that encourage dialogue, self-examination and critical thinking. production of cultural content and promotion of public policies in the field of culture and youth.
Our goals are
- to remove barriers to coexistence in Novi Sad and Vojvodina by initiating and encouraging dialogue between various vulnerable subcultural groups, especially migrants, “newcomers”, Roma, LGBTQ + people and people with disabilities;
promotion of creativity in order to improve work culture in non-cultural sectors and joint action for more effective social relations- developing a culture of dialogue between young people from Serbia and neighboring countries through joint production of cultural content
- decentralization of culture through the placement of our content in the cities of Vojvodina that do not have a developed cultural scene (especially independent), as well as in parts of the city in Novi Sad that do not have enough youth and cultural activities
- active participation in the processes of planning and improving public policies in the field of youth and culture in Novi Sad, Vojvodina and Serbia.
KUD
The cultural and artistic association Transformator was founded in January 2012 due to the need to expand and upgrade the theater-activist mission, primarily, but not exclusively in the Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, which members of the theater-activist group have been previously trained. The main mission of the organisation is transforming individuals and society by combining socially responsible individuals who are active in performance, music and visual arts, spreading awareness about social responsibility and empowerment for expressing it, promoting active participation of groups and individuals, stimulating creativity and creative activity and reacting to social realities, organizing, producing and implementing projects, preparing educational and other materials, preparing, arranging and collecting research material, commitment to Sustainable Development and Cultural Dialogue, participation in social and cultural artistic activities with organizations and informal groups at home and abroad.
MOSAIC
Culture & Creativity is a Social Enterprise established in Patras, Greece in 2018.
Since then, the organisation supports Cultural and Social innovation and Creativity by mentoring and guiding creative ideas and projects, artists, creators, entrepreneurs, start-ups and young people, generating meaningful synergies between the grassroot organisations, local stakeholders the public and private sector.
MOSAIC’s mission is to promote Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS) in Greece, to empower Creative Organisations increasing their entrepreneurial and extroversion mentality and to study and monitor the contribution of CCS to local development, the economy and social cohesion.
“CENTRO INTERCULTURALE ARTISTICO SICILIANO – LA GUILLA” (C.I.A.S. – LA
GUILLA) is a cultural association in Sicily, Italy. We use theatre as a mean
to promote intercultural dialogue, non- formal education and empower youth.
C.I.A.S. – LA GUILLA is running a theatre in Palermo since 2008. We opened
our space to the city and to our neighbourhood which is in the historical
city centre of Palermo. From 2011 our cultural association represents a
meeting point and an intercultural centre for the city of Palermo. In the
last years our cultural association organised performances, exhibitions,
concerts, theatre labs, training courses for young people and disadvantaged
groups trying to use theatre as a tool to promote dialogue and fight against
prejudice and xenophobia. During our theatre season, which is called “Bread
and Theatre”, we organise a special performance every month and for
admission we ask the audience to bring bread and food instead of paying a
ticket. In this way we collect food and goods for the organisations dealing
with poor and disadvantaged people. That is the reason why our theatre
season is called “bread and theatre”.Our main objectives are
Main activities
- to support young local actors through training, youth exchange and mobility abroad;
- to encourage cooperation and international mobility in the field of youth among cultural associations and organizations
- to support initiatives for European cooperation in the cultural sector
- to foster intercultural dialogue and fight racism, xenophobia and radicalisation through arts
- to promote international cooperation activities in the field of arts in general, and theatre in particular
- management of a cultural space in the city centre of Palermo with dance, theatre, music and video performances
- organization of training and workshops for young actors
- support to local communities through charity events using theatre, dance and music
- youth exchange in the field of theatre with European partners
- theatre and music labs in disadvantaged schools
Contacts
Please contact LA GUILLA Theatre if you want more information on the project and to cooperate at EU level and write projects on theatre and social inclusion
Artistic director
Valerio Strati: direzioneartistica@teatroallaguilla.it
Project coordinator
Dario Ferrante: ferrante.dario@gmail.com
Teatro alla Guilla
direzioneartistica@teatroallaguilla.it
Kulturanova
info@kulturanova.org
MIR Akademien AB
info@mirakademien.com
ACD La Hoya
acdlahoya@gmail.com
K&C Association
znamimoga@gmail.com
KUD Transformator
transformator.toslo@gmail.com
MOSAIC
hello@mosaic-hub.gr
LA GUILLA Theatre
Via Sant’Agata alla Guilla, 18
90134 Palermo, Italy