The Door - A Center of Alternatives’ Post

Check out this blog post by our Board of Directors Chair, Derek Muller, CPRP!

So many good ideas packed into one essay! Two questions stand out for me: what are the particular aspects of social justice and movement building work where funding theater could be a comparatively *efficient* intervention? And are there cases where funding theater could be *necessary* for achieving a victory - i.e., the fight cannot be won *without* theater?

Addressing Domestic Violence Through Forum Theatre a two year project delivered by Intercultural Roots funded by the Peabody Community Fund External Evaluation & Impact Report Year One - By Claire Burrell. The "Addressing Domestic Violence Through Forum Theatre" project, led by Intercultural Roots and funded by the Peabody Community Fund, has seen remarkable success in its first year. The workshops, expertly facilitated by Drs. Almiro Andrade and Andrea Maciel, have promoted personal growth, relational confidence, and community cohesion. As the project moves into its second year, commencing in late summer, those interested in participating should stay tuned for further information. The full evaluation and impact report by Claire Burrell, along with a related video, provides deeper insights into the project's significant achievements and future potential. ‘The report presents how the pioneering arts for health and social change organisation, Intercultural Roots, are using Forum Theatre (Boal, A.1992) to engage communities in the question; how do we live with violence? The two year project, which is funded by the Peabody Community Fund, is bringing together Peabody Housing tenants and local residents to discuss, express and explore issues of violence and conflict in their lives and local communities. At the conclusion of its first year, the report locates how the Forum Theatre workshops are creating safe spaces and holding secure boundaries for people to recall, enact and consider their subjective and collective concerns. The evaluation brings forward how this creative forum enables participants to refresh their experience of relational connectivity, promoting deeper understanding of how conflict manifests in each others lives and deepening a sense of belonging to community. The highly positive outcomes in the first year, locate how the project has successfully nurtured personal growth in the lives of participants, enhancing relational confidence, social change and the co-creation of community.’ Please read the full report: https://lnkd.in/evT6wf_9 Year 2 activities in London starting around Aug / Sept '24 - call out coming soon... #theatre #theater #performance #socialchange #forumtheatre #communitytheatre #participatorytheatre #theatreoftheoppressed #Boal #acting #actor #theatrelife #art #artsforchange #education #activism #advocacy #socialjustice #creativity #mentalhealth

Reclaim The Bernie Grant Arts Centre Call to Action: Saturday 29th June 2024 2pm - 5pm Big Thanks to the community for supporting Black Arts Production Theatre (BAP) 👏🏾👏🏾 Speakers: Justice4Windrush & the local community The BGAC come from the community for local artists and to give local employment. Let our voices be heard… join us on this day... Questions: 1. How is our local theatre being used? 2. How many community events have you seen at the BGAC? 3. What are the aims and objectives of the BGAC? 4. Is it reasonable to only give one-month to a rent increase?

I think this is probably our best offer for clients. For a modest fee, arts organisations are able to join us to drive their inclusion and diversity work. As ever, we move beyond the obvious issues of unconscious bias etc. into the gritty topics which can prevent or advance organisational success. We cover 11 separate topics including: ·        How to deliver inclusion on a budget ·        Recruiting and hiring inclusively ·        Engaging your Board ·        Supporting your employee resource groups ·        Exploring representation in audiences Each organisation can bring 5 people which means collaboration. Collaboration within the organisation and across the cohort of organisations which take part in this programme. Sessions are recorded for access purposes meaning people can dip into the learning when they are ready, or go back and check something. Such great value. Not for you, share with someone who it might benefit. #learning #equitydiversityandinclusion #culturechange #inclusionstrategy #diversity #arts #performingarts #development

Dive into the world of emotions with SUSINIMA.Plays! 🎭 We are exploring with our amazing children a series of lessons about emotions and the emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and effectively use one’s own emotions, as well as understand and influence the emotions of others. It involves empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation and social skills. In the context of Susinima.Plays, it’s about providing children with tools to navigate and understand their emotions in a playful and engaging way. What do you think about art as a bridge to express our emotions? Let us know in the comments! #education #art #play #theatre #emotions #learningthroughplay #emotionalintelligence #susinima #sipri

The buzzwords “trauma-informed practices” get a lot of ink these days, but we rarely stop to define them. A trauma-informed practice consists of 5 elements: 1) Recognize the pervasiveness of trauma in the world and seek to be responsive to this unfortunate reality 2) Become aware of trauma’s many personal and societal consequences 3) Anticipate how trauma survivors may respond to our words and actions 4) Do our part to create a world that does not cause further harm 5) Help to create a world that can foster growth, resiliency, and healing Learn how to add trauma-informed practices to your production at: https://lnkd.in/ga2w3_jt #film #theatre #dance #mentalhealthawarenessmonth

Just because you have a mic on doesn't mean your audience can hear you clearly. Here are some tips we love to use to help improve our diction: 🟢Practice tongue twisters 🔵Read aloud and practice your pace 🟢Exaggerate mouth movements 🔵Practice speaking up #theatre #art #community #nonprofitorganization #explore #tulsa #Oklahoma #worldstagetheatrecompany

Are you organised? Do you fuel the change makers to do their work? Video 9 of 12 offers some thoughts on organising working groups, and motivating your allies and change makers. It’s a good point in this series to acknowledge the brilliant peers that make the work happen. Sometimes the work of an Access specialist is to listen, help open doors, stoke fires, resource people well and keep them motivated. I have notice two major pit falls within Access management. One is the single point of failure, one person holding all the knowledge. The second, one person charged with doing the work as part of another massive role, meaning no capacity. However, what if we are organised enough for everyone to take a slice of the work. Everyone empowered, knowledgeable and resourced to move with Access as a practice, a way of ‘doing’. That seems simple enough, right? A colleague recently said to me, “once we made the template accessible as a standard, the work is now always accessible. It takes no extra time.” And that’s the point, if you organise yourself, put the work in early (build the accessible template - not the inaccessible one) then Access is ALWAYS ON! #AlwaysOnAccess #Accessibility #Theatre #Arts #ArtKind Video ID. Paul is facing the camera wearing a green jumper. The words ‘#9 Time to be organised’ is visible in the top left of the screen. Captions are displayed throughout.

Workie Ticket Theatre CIC are planning a reading of a short play and a post show discussion/workshop as part of a collaborative project with Women's Budget Group. The focus of the play is the impact of the cost of living crisis on women in the north east and our budget is limited. Our venue has fallen through, and we are hoping to find a (reasonably priced or free - shy bairns get nowt!) space in or around Central Newcastle that can accommodate up to 100 for a reading and post performance discussion on Thursday 10 October 2024. Ideally, we could utilise the space for the full day, but we could also rehearse elsewhere and only use the space for the actual event which is 5pm-6.30pm (we would require get in at 4pm). I have already contacted many of the well-known venues (museums, churches, lit and phil) but are there any other venues or spaces that people know of that I might not be aware of? We are very much open to non-theatre spaces - and particularly interested in anywhere that has a link to the theme of the project (cost of living, homelessness, domestic abuse). We also need a screen to project some quotes and statistics. Any thoughts? x