LLP Grundtvig learning partnership project ACT! Active & Responsible Citizen= Flourishing Future Society 2nd project partner meeting May 2012, Rotterdam

Presentation on the trainings for the potential participants of the civic actions run in Ireland 10am-4pm 21 st April am-5pm 28 th April 2012 Temple Bar Studios, Temple Bar, Dublin , Rotterdam

Participants 22 participants 20 Female, 2 Male, Variety of ages and occupations; Actors, directors, teachers, community and youth workers, academics, drama facilitators, writers Everyone had strong desire to learn how drama could be used for civic actions. Some were working in community settings and wished to incorporate the training into their work. Some were from an artistic background and wished to expand their work into social activism. Others came from a teaching background and wished to ‘upskill’ and gain knowledge in designing civic action , Rotterdam

Trainers Introductions: Freda Manweiler Mary Moynihan Kate Harris Idan Meir , Rotterdam

Mary Moynihan is a creative artist working in professional theatre and film. She works as a theatre director, writer, actor, lecturer and facilitator. Mary lectures and teaches in drama and theatre studies for the Honours Bachelor of Arts in Drama (performance) at the Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin Institute of Technology where she teaches the Stanislavski system of actor training, Augusto Boal and Michael Chekhov techniques, movement and drama facilitation and directs year end performances. Mary is a founding member and current Artistic Director of Smashing Times Theatre Company Limited , Rotterdam

Kate Harris is a drama facilitator and artist. Kate’s background is in theatre based practice with youth and community groups working on a variety of projects including: diversity and multicultural awareness, anti-bullying, at-risk youth, addiction issues, adults returning to education, and recent immigrants to Ireland. Kate is a member of the Panel of Professional Drama Facilitators with Smashing Times Theatre Company. She runs drama workshops for the National Institute for Intellectual Disabilities summer school. Since 2009 Kate has been running Theatre of the Oppressed workshops with the group 4elements. Using Theatre of the Oppressed, she has worked in partnership with community groups and educational institutions for over seven years as a free-lance drama facilitator.

Idan Meir from Combatants for Peace, Israel/Palestine: After finishing his Masters in Writing, Directing and Dramaturgy, Idan wrote Basam, a play about Basam Aramin, founder of Combatants for Peace, an Israeli-Palestine NGO that strives to end the Israeli-Palestine conflict in a nonviolent struggle. As an ex-combatant from the Israeli Army Navy Commando, Idan refused to serve in the occupied territories and joined CFP. Idan has worked intensively in the Tel Aviv- Tul Karem group in CFP that specializes in the Theatre of the Oppressed method for building trust, reconciliation and nonviolent struggle for ending the occupation and the Israeli-Palestine conflict , Rotterdam

Reasons why you chose these particular trainers: Freda Manweiler co designed the training model, full knowledge of the background of the project. Mary Moynihan co designed the training model, Artisitc Director of Smashing Times Theatre, highly experienced in creating theatre engaging with social issues Kate Harris, experienced facilitator, recently attended a Grundtvig funding week training workshop looking at forum theatre, upskilled her existing training. Idan Meir has worked with Smashing Times Theatre before, extensive experience with Combatants for Peace and using Theatre of the Opressed and using theatre to adress social issues.

Training agenda/programme Day One: Workshop One: Freda Manweiler & Mary Moyihan Introduction to Civic Action and an exploration of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed Techniques to explore themes Day One: Workshop Two: Kate Harris The impact of Augusto Boal’s Forum Theatre on the spectator Day Two: Workshop One: Idan Meir Identifying a shared issue for Civic Action using Boal Day Two: Workshop Two: Idan Meir Designing a Civic Action , Rotterdam

Reflections on the “ACT” methodology from the trainers point of view The most appropriate methods - Augusto Boal’s:Theatre of the Oppressed considered very appropriate particularly as the group had a varied level of experience with drama. Games were very effective and the group responded very well. - Invisible Theatre :Good ideas generated, examples of invisible theatre were shown and interest generated with the group. - Forum Theatre: The most challenging for those unfamiliar with it but the group responded very well to the format and were enthusiastic about its use in civic action - Image Theatre; a highly accessible and visual aspect of the training. A great starting block but also has great potential for people to create imagery for civic action on its own. The difficulties faced implementing the trainings One of trainers found the different levels of drama experience among participants a challenge but was able to use a variety of drama exercises to help this , Rotterdam

Reflections on the “ACT” methodology from the participants point of view The most effective methods - Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed; the overall concept of TO was considered most effective particularly the use of Boal’s games to create teamwork and generate/explore ideas for Civic Action. - Invisible Theatre; considered a most creative, imaginative approach. - Forum Theatre: Good for connecting with audience members on individual level, experiencing other perspectives - Image Theatre: Preferred for symolism/visual impact The difficulties faced while working on the tasks Those with little/no drama experience found it a challenge at first but quickly enjoyed the shared focus and group work , Rotterdam

Applicability of new skills and competences gained during the trainings Example One: In their existing work with community members to generate ideas and inspire civic actions. Example Two: In their artistic practice to engage with social issues in a creative and innovative way and create civic actions. Example Three: In their future work as they further explore creative methodologies and how they can be applied to their own social and civic engagement Example Four: As a training tool in itself to pass on the knowledge to other leaders/artists/community members , Rotterdam

Ideas generated during the trainings for civic actions to be implemented in partner countries in autumn, , Rotterdam Example One: Ideas were generated for a civic action around prostitution/sex trafficking in Ireland; image theatre was experimented with and so was forum theatre during the training. Example Two: A civic action highllighting pollution using image theatre. Example Three: A civic Action to raise awareness for the Irish Stammering Community using invisible theatre. Example Four: A civic action to protest the Irish Healthcare System using image theatre. Exampe Five: A civic action to highlight homelessness in Ireland. Forum theatre was experimented with to test out ideas during the training

Other aspects you would like to share Participant feedback: I feel inspired to get involved with the community and investigate issues of importance with them Inspiring and very enjoyable, I have lots of ideas now, thank you I’m ready to start planning with my group and looking forward to our civic action Bringing everyone together again in September. Our company is very interested in physical theatre. We are planning a future workshop with Raymond Keane (Barrabas Theatre Company) exploring the physical and in particular ‘clowning’ which we feel will be a very interesting way of creating civic action , Rotterdam

Photos from the trainings , Rotterdam

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