Theatre for a Long Lasting Change Seminar,

SUMMARY

Performance arts have a huge potential to inspire young people's personal and social development in many ways. Creative activities are a powerful tool that can help participants discover their inner potential and increase their level of self-awareness. Especially methods based on theater are often perceived as an effective way to support individuals and groups struggling with problems, helping them understanding and expressing their emotions that often remain hidden.

The benefits of using theater performances in youth work have been widely recognized amongst organizations working with young people at risk of social exclusion. Every year there are many high-quality projects designed to tackle important social issues using artistic means of expression. Countless young people participate in trainings boosting their creativity and helping them finding new ways of expressing their feelings and needs. However, the crucial question is: what happens after all those projects? In many cases the organizers are lacking proper tools to plan follow-up activities that would provide a truly long lasting impact, both on participants themselves and on the communities they belong to.

The proposed Seminar aims at bringing together youth workers who are already experienced in organizing theater projects for youngsters at risk of social exclusion (such as migrants, members of national/religious minorities, disabled people and others). They will have an opportunity to share best practices and to work together on concrete solutions ensuring that the social effect of their activities is visible and meaningful in a long-term perspective. The main focus is how to use the outcomes of theater projects to bring together socially excluded youth and the members of the communities they live in, creating an opportunity for better understanding and fostering long lasting inclusion.

During the Seminar participants will exchange experiences and tools in order to prepare and implement a one day theater workshop for a socially vulnerable group of young people in Armenia and develop a follow-up strategy on how the long-lasting social impact can be achieved in this particular case. Working with a concrete community will give them a chance to learn how to create a realistic plan adjusted to the needs of a specific target group, which in turn should inspire them to design similar projects in their own local communities.

OBJECTIVES

Providing participants with an opportunity to share best practices on using performance art for empowering young people that are already being implemented by participating organizations
- Exploring the potential of theater for advocating issues connected to young people at risk of social exclusion
- Discovering methods of ensuring long-lasting social impact of youth projects based on theater
- Establishing a network of like-minded individuals interested in further cooperation on the topical area of the project

PARTICIPANTS PROFILE

-Youth workers and youth leaders with background experience in organizing theater projects for young people
- Being ready to share their experience with the other participants and develop tools and methods together
- Being motivated to discover new strategies for creating long-lasting impact of their projects on local communities
- Being interested in setting further cooperation with similar organizations from other European countries
- Being able to communicate in English fluently

This is the partner application form for the Seminar "Theater for a Long Lasting Change". The brief outline of the project can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/mu48hbz

With the submission of your partner application you agree to the procedural guidelines stated in the following document: http://tinyurl.com/mon7o82