IMPACT – Inclusion Matters! Using Performing Arts towards Cohesion and Tolerance

IMPACT – Inclusion Matters! Using Performing Arts towards Cohesion and Tolerance

Timespan: 01/03/2019 – 01/10/2021

Donor: European Comission (Erasmus+ KA 2 strategic partnerships in the field of youth/innovation)

Applicant: VidensCenter for Integration – VIFIN (Vejle / Denmark)

Partners: LDA Mostar (Mostar / Bosnia and Herzegovina); LDA Nikšić (Nikšić / Montenegro); Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) (Strasbourg / France); Društvo za razvijanje prostovoljnega dela Novo Mesto (Novo Mesto / Slovenia); La Piccionaia i Carrara Soc. Coop. (Vicenza / Italy); Coalition of youth organizations SEGA Association (Kavadarci / North Macedonia); Association Urban Development Centre (Belgrade / Serbia).

Project description: The core idea of the project is to offer Western Balkans’ refugees’ amusement and social inclusion opportunities, by using theater and art strategies. During phase 1, the project will promote collaboration and an exchange of best practices among European theater companies with previous experience in working with refugees and Balkan arts groups. During this phase a social inclusion strategy will be developed. During phase 2 Balkans arts groups will implement the above-developed strategies through art workshops with Western Balkan’s refugees and local communities, and eventually will implement final performances. Phase 3 is dedicated to a massive communication and dissemination campaign by publishing guidelines on how to use performing art strategies for social inclusion, a promotional video and surveys.

Objective: The main objective is to bring together Balkan’s refugees with local communities by fostering cohesion and tolerance. Participants shall understand that people are stronger together and that they can learn from one another.

Specific Objectives: 

• exchange best practices on how to use art strategies to integrate refugees and how to bring together refugees with local communities;
• develop a new social inclusion strategy and methodology;
• enable intercultural meetings by showing that diversity is an enrichment;
• prevent and fight against prejudices and stereotypes;
• foster personal development and social inclusion;
• show that theater and other kind of performing arts can form a methodology to overcome the gap between refugees and local citizens and to bring them closer;
• provide formal and non-formal education on theater, migration etc.;
• promote theater as self-help-initiatives.

Activities: 

 Phase 1: Training of Trainers (ToT), duration: 5 days, venue: Italy

During the first phase experts and artists of the Balkans and the EU will exchange best practices in order to develop social amusing and inclusion strategies to work with refugees. Therefore, artists from Europe with previous experience shall work with artists from the Balkans.

The exchange of best practices shall provide for e.g.:

• new knowledge and skills on performing arts;
• methods to get in touch with refugees and local citizens;
• knowledge on how to overcome the gap between refugees and local citizens;
• techniques on social inclusion through theater;

Phase 2: Artistic workshops and final performances, duration:7 months, venue Western Balkans’ countries

In the second phase Western Balkan artists will implements artistic workshop with refugees and local citizens in their home countries. The main goal of the artistic workshops is to bring refugees and local citizens closer, to build the sense of belonging by using the exchange of best practices’ outcomes, in particular self-director strategies and to develop performances. Different forms of performing arts (pantomimic theaters, improvisational theaters, music, dance etc.) shall be used as the main activity to achieve that objectives. At the end of phase 2, each local group will perform the rehearsed shows in front of a large audience.

Phase 3: Communication and Dissemination Campaign, duration: 1-18 months, massively towards the end of the project

• Development and publication of guidelines: on social inclusion strategies of refugees in the Western Balkans. This practice guideline will gather the description of the developed methodology and inputs of the activities that can be implemented to promote social inclusion of the refugees within local communities, by using performing arts strategies. It will be published online and widely disseminated in the Balkans and Europe.
• Recording and editing of promotional video: consisting of local level activities, final performances and interviews of the participants with the aim to distribute the message of IMPACT to a larger audience by using different ICT channels. The key messages are: cohesion, tolerance, solidarity and sense-of-belonging.
• Evaluating and publishing the surveys (questionnaires and interviews): which will be implemented at the very beginning and at the very end of IMPACT. The aim is to evaluate the subjective feelings of the direct beneficiaries (artists, refugees, local citizens and audiences) and to see if there are any changes with regard to the way of thinking and feelings towards different ethnicity.

Steering Committee Meetings

Three Transnational Meetings:

• 1^st transnational meeting – kick-of meeting: month 2
• 2^nd transnational meeting – ToT meeting: month 5
• 3rd transnational meeting – midterm evaluation: month 9

Two Virtual Meetings:

• 1^st virtual meeting – presentation of project and project consortium: month 1
• 2^nd virtual meeting – midterm evaluation: month 9

Project’s Dissemination:

Story about Refugee Camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina written by Sara Kljajic

The Paths of Mostar’s Migrants

Is “Game” a play?

Kurdish Lullaby

Premiere of the Theater Play “Game”

Video – theatre play ”Game”

Bosnia and Herzegovina in migration process and the positive impact of the IMPACT