Pan Intercultural Arts

Thank you to chair of our trustee board @brianstlouis and all at Pan Intercultural Arts for inspiring a new giving circle amongst the legal profession. Funding Pan’s Arts Against Violence programme like ‘Weapon of Choice’for example could make the difference between someone carrying a knife and using it, and not. Congratulations to John Martin and the whole of PAN for forty years of creativity - helping the most vulnerable and the most traumatised to imagine a better future.

Thank you to chair of our trustee board @brianstlouis and all at Pan Intercultural Arts for inspiring a new giving circle amongst the legal profession. Funding Pan’s Arts Against Violence programme like ‘Weapon of Choice’for example could make the difference between someone carrying a knife and using it, and not. Congratulations to John Martin and the whole of PAN for forty years of creativity - helping the most vulnerable and the most traumatised to imagine a better future.

WE ARE TURNING 40 https://lnkd.in/eRKRaS6p. Pan Intercultural Arts is in the run up to a very big anniversary. . Born in the iconic 80’s alongside the Camcorder, Microsoft word and MTV, Pan emerged at a time of creative and technological innovation. . Pan pioneered the use of creativity to work across ethnic, cultural and faith boundaries to encourage understanding and empowerment through our diverse society. . Nearing 40 years later, Pan has developed and grown and is needed now more than ever. “Pan gave me the spark I needed to continue my life.” Participant To mark this momentous anniversary and celebrate all the work Pan does to bring about transformational change in our participants' lives and consequently in society, we are launching a very special anniversary giving circle. Watch this space. From October 10th be part of the change and the next 40 years of Pan. .SUPPORT.INSPIRE.CHANGE. #fortyfor40 #support #inspire #change #givingcircle #fundraiser #socialchange #creative #theatre

I don’t have much to do with nuns. I probably accepted simple stereotypes, with a splash of The Sound of Music and Sister Act. So it was quite a surprise when, at the end of a recent workshop in techniques of using Theatre for Social Change, one of the liveliest and most creative of participants told me she was a nun, in charge of training novices in her country (in South East Asia). Clearly I hadn’t kept up with how nuns had changed. The surprise grew when she told me that she wanted to use the techniques we had been exploring in her training. Specifically she wanted to use these theatre techniques to challenge power abuses in the church which leads to harassment and abuse, particularly towards young nuns. For those of you unaware of Forum Theatre, it looks at abuse of power and how we can collectively find ways to challenge it. To do this within the church, with its historical hierarchical power structures, was a brave new thought for me. Soon there was an email from her, outlining a case of sexual harassment by a priest to a nun. This is what she wanted to address. Not knowing the possibilities within novice training I thought that creating scenes where such situations could be seen, examined and solutions sought, might actually be possible. We even joked that the Pope would approve and she was going to tell him about it. Then last week she invited me to a Zoom advisory call to plan the workshop(s). Now I am even more amazed at the challenge. The nuns take vows of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience. In her country Chastity means not only celibacy but extends to a complete ban on any contact, even handshakes or hugs.  This has repercussions:  * any encroachment on someone’s  physical space is seen as uncomfortable and harassing and novices are worried about how to deal with it.  * any drama games and exercises to promote trust, strength and empowerment have to be without physical contact. Some of you may have played “trust games” in which you give your weight to someone else, or fall into the  arms of the group, trusting them to keep you from harm.  None of that will be possible. Even eye contact has to be used carefully. It is almost as if a system of behaviour has been set up to disable those who challenge the power structures. We have managed to devise contact-free games and exercises to build trust, make participants aware of boundaries and how they sense them in real time. We have invented situational games and improvisations to prepare participants for people impinging on their space, and how to find ways of resisting, with body language, with words and with distance. I am in awe of this attempt to challenge such a powerful institution with its codes and practices which we have all seen to be very open to abuse. The team says it is ready. I believe in them and await the results of this experiment and I am proud that theatre can serve to throw light on such issues and search for solutions to them.