Creative Exchange - News from the Network - 12 December 2007
CONTENTS
Events and Training
1. Cardboard Citizens – Dreams -, London, UK– 14 December 2007
2. Somali and Exiled Voices Fusion: Event 5 - London, UK - 19 December 2007
3. Exiled Lit Café -Jewish Exile - London, UK - 7 January 2008
4. Cardboard Citizens – Training – London, UK – 15-16 January & 25-29 March 2008
5. Exiled Writers INK - Poetry Workshops - London, UK - 11 February 2008
6. Anger management with art - Birmingham, UK, - 12-14 March & 21 -23 November 2008
Project News
7. Ice and Fire – Protect the Human playwriting competition
8. FilmAid International: Film Festival in Kakuma Refugee Camp
9. ‘SeaChange’ - Chickenshed
Opportunities
10. PhotoVoice
11. Exiled Writers INK
Resources
12. Homeless Link website
13. First ever participatory photography manual published by PhotoVoice
14. Inclusion Through Media
15. exiled ink! magazine - new issue
Events and Training
1. Cardboard Citizens – Dreams
Brady Arts Centre, 192-196 Hanbury Street, London, E1 5HU – 14 December at 6pm
Come and join the dancers as they queue for the last bus to dreamland...
Cardboard Citizens invites you to join us on Friday, 14 December at 6pm to see DREAMS, a dance-theatre piece created and performed by young refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, at the Brady Arts Centre. Refreshments will be served following the performance.
This public performance is the culmination of months of performing arts at the Refugee Council’s Brixton day centre and other locations in Southwark and Lambeth. The young people involved have grown tremendously over the last several weeks, and have really worked hard to put this project together.
If you would like to attend the performance on December 14th, please RSVP by e-mailing sarah@cardboardcitizens.org.uk or phoning on 020 7247 7747. Buses: 25, 254, 106, D3 / Tube Stations: Whitechapel, Liverpool Street, Aldgate East
2. Somali and Exiled Voices Fusion: Event 5 - UnSilenced Voices: exiled writers speak out about issues of there and here
Oxford House Cafe, Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, London, E2 6HG (nearest tube: Bethnal Green) - 19 December 2007 at 7 pm
Free event organised by Oh! Art and Exiled Writers Ink
This is an exiled lit cafe event with Somali and other Exiled writers and musicians, which takes place every 2 months and brings the work of Somali and other exiled writers to the wider community of East London.
Featured Guests: Abdi Bahdoon - Somali poet, & Shereen Pandit, prize-winning South African born short story writer and Carlos Reyes-Manzo, poet and photographer. With Music
Further information: Ayan Mahamoud, Head of Somali Art and Culture at Oxford House ayan.mahamoud@oxfordhouse.org.uk and Jennifer Langer, Exiled Writers Ink jennifer@exiledwriters.fsnet.co.uk
www.exiledwriters.co.uk
Funded by Awards for All
3. Exiled Lit Café -Jewish Exile
Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2 (Covent Garden tube) - 7 January 2008 - 7.30 pm
Haike Beruriah and Stephen Watts reading the work of the poet, Stencl, in Yiddish and English. (Published 2007, Five Leaves).
Haike Beruriah reading her own poetry.
Judith Silver on guitar and singing in Yiddish and Ladino
Sizen Yiacoup reading in Ladino
Renee Martin reading Ladino poetry and her own short stories.
Chaired by Dr David Clark
EWI members: £2, others £4.
www.exiledwriters.co.uk
4. Cardboard Citizens - Training
London – 15-16 January & 25-29 March 2008
Cardboard Citizens are now more than halfway through their annual offering of specialist Theatre of the Oppressed training courses. It is not too late for you to participate in our training this year as there are two confirmed courses and one more possible course:
15-16 January - Joker Training Course to be led by Adrian Jackson, which enables participants with some experience of Forum Theatre to improve their techniques and produce challenging and interactive Forum Theatre performances. This course is being put on due to popular demand, and was not in the original brochure.
25- 29 March - Rainbow of Desires led by Augusto Boal, with the participation of his son Julian Boal, and Adrian Jackson; the Forum Course will feature a performance by Cardboard Citizens, the UK’s only homeless people’s professional theatre company. There are less than 10 places left on this course, so book quickly to confirm your space.
A leaflet about the Theatre of the Oppressed courses can be downloaded here.
Electronic booking form (which does not include the January Joker training dates) and further information on reduced rates are available here.
http://www.cardboardcitizens.org.uk/professional_training.php?PHPSESSID=b2fa68c4b2373b645a297dffb9b2df90
5. Exiled Writers INK - Poetry Workshops
Oxford House, London, E2 - 11 February 2008, 10.00 am to 4 pm
Led by Leah Thorn, performance poet and experienced facilitator
There is great demand for exiled writers to lead paid creative writing workshops for a range of groups. Learn how to do it!
This free workshop is an introduction to group facilitation skills. There will be the opportunity to try out exercises and games and reflect on what works and why. We will look at issues like building safety in groups and making the experience inclusive to everyone.
No previous experience is necessary - just a willingness to try out new things, share your thinking- and have some fun!
To book send your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and a short biography to: jennifer@exiledwriters.fsnet.co.uk
6. Anger management with art – with Marian Liebmann
Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Birmingham, UK, - 12-14 March & 21 -23 November 2008
This short course uses art materials to look at anger issues. No ability in art is needed. We will look at what anger is; whether it is good or bad; at the physical symptoms of anger; what lies underneath the anger; the influence of early family patterns; anger and conflict; and how to use relaxation and assertiveness to manage anger more constructively. There will be a set of handouts to take away. This course is for anyone who would like to look at anger issues using art materials – those who want to look at their own anger issues, those working with others who are angry, or both.
What can I hope to gain?
An insight into anger and ways of looking at it, and some strategies for dealing with it constructively; comparing notes with other participants; and hopefully enjoyment in using the art materials for self-expression.
Marian Liebmann is an art therapist and mediator and brings these backgrounds together in her workshops exploring the use of art with conflict and anger issues. She has worked with groups and individuals in the mental health service using art to look at their anger issues.
Fees for March are £136 resident standard, £156 resident en suite, £100 non resident.
Fees for November £146 resident standard, 166 resident en suite, £110 non resident
Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, 1046 Bristol Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, B29 6LJ, United Kingdon
tel: +44 (0)121 472 5171
fax: +44 (0)121 472 5173
enquiries@woodbrooke.org.uk
Project News
7. Ice and Fire – Protect the Human playwriting competition
'Protect the Human' playwriting competition was launched in March 2007 by iceandfire theatre in conjunction with Amnesty International UK. The competition invited playwrights to explore stories of displacement and conflict and, in keeping with Amnesty’s ethos of urging each individual to stand up for humanity and human rights, aimed to highlight the power of the ‘ordinary’ individual voice.
Representatives of Amnesty and iceandfire were joined by Olivier Award winning playwright, Simon Stephens and Associate Director of the Young Vic, Rufus Norris to choose the 3 winning plays from the 200 that were submitted to the competition. The winners were The Stay by Cameron Grant, fiji land by Nick Gill and S-27 by Sarah Grochala. These achieved sell out performances at the Soho Theatre during Amnesty’s Protect the Human week in October 2007. The overall winner will be announced on the 10th December 2007, International Human Rights Day.
iceandfire believe that ‘Protect the Human’ has the capacity to become a major playwriting prize. Theatre is the natural medium to communicate the stories of displacement and conflict; a dedicated space to explore and understand stories of interrupted lives of ordinary people; ordinary people who have become extraordinary because of what they have had to witness and endure. By providing a catalyst for plays which tackle these themes we hope to bring people closer to those stories to create empathy, understanding and fraternity.
For further information:
info@iceandfire.co.uk
www.iceandfire.co.uk
8. FilmAid International: Projecting Hope & Changing Lives through the Power of Film
African Refugee Youths Make Films and Create Film Festival in Refugee Camp
On December 7, 2007, FilmAid International held its second annual refugee youth film festival in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. The film festival is the only festival in the world taking place in a refugee camp, where films are made by refugee youth, and where the only live audience is the refugee community within the camp. The day-long festival features a program of 13 short films made by young refugees.
The film festival consists of ten minute short films that are directed, shot, produced, edited, scripted and acted by refugee youth. The festival is a byproduct of FilmAid’s Refugee Filmmaking Project, a participatory video program that puts video cameras in the hands of refugee youth and teaches them basic camera and editing skills in an effort to help them tell their own stories through video. Through the project, refugee youth improve self-esteem while receiving hands-on skills training and a means of communicating within their community. The films then get placed in the film festival and later judged by a panel of peers, refugee elders, community leaders, aid workers and sponsors of the festival. The festival films are also shown the week following the festival at FilmAid’s larger outdoor evening screenings throughout the camp. The evening screenings draw refugee audiences in the tens of thousands.
All the films shown at the film festival were written, directed, shot and edited by members of the Refugee Filmmaking Project. Acted by members of the project, they included a cautionary tale about the perils of promiscuous behavior, child abuse and forced early marriage, a docudrama tackling substance abuse, a look at voluntary repatriation and resettlement and the prevention of sexual exploitation.
Originally, the idea for the festival came from refugee youth members of the filmmaking project in the camp. They wanted to record their stories on camera and share them with members of their communities. The Kakuma refugee camp is home to some 60,000 refugees from about 10 African countries. Some 80 percent of the camp residents are from Southern Sudan, which has welcomed back tens of thousands of refugees since the signing of a peace agreement in January of 2005.
“We are all from different countries, talk different languages, and we have all experienced different wars. But through film we all become one and we are all able to express our ideas, our feelings and our ambitions", said 20-year-old member of the project. "That is why the film festival was important to us, because we were able to show our work to others,"
Just like the major film festivals, prizes are awarded in several categories. The best picture and best screenplay, the best male and female actors, best director and best cinematographer all receive certificates and awards of cameras, film and textbooks of their choice among other awards. The film festival is co-sponsored by Cinereach, The Hollywood Foreign Press and Glamour Magazine’s Reel Moments.
For more information about this topic, e-mail Caroline at cavakian@filmaid.org or Anthony Muteru at amuteru@filmaidinternational.org
Or visit the FilmAid website: www.filmaid.org
9. ‘SeaChange’ - Chickenshed
SeaChange is to be a year long creative communication project run by Chickenshed from August 2007 – August 2008. It will involve Chickenshed’s own community of inclusive theatre workshop members, ShedLink members (outreach Sheds) and up to twelve partners from each continent around the world. Partners are either performing arts companies or schools. The aims of the project are:
- To facilitate a meaningful conversation between young people globally
- To empower all who participate to practice and communicate Chickenshed’s core philosophy – equal value, equal respect – and ‘be the change’
- To get Chickenshed’s work known and acknowledged throughout the United Kingdom and beyond
These will hopefully be achieved through this year long process. Chickenshed has sent a SeaChange Questionnaire to every participant involved in the project to discover young people’s opinions on what has generated changes in their lives both globally and nationally. From the results, Chickenshed’s artistic team will create a series of bespoke workshops for them, which the ShedLinks and global Partners will deliver to their group of children. The project will culminate in July in a performance-led showcase of the outcomes of these workshops in London but with a global reach via multimedia platforms. Live music, dance, theatre, audio-visuals, songs and words, will capture the experiences and resolutions of the young people involved.
The process is now underway and we are seeking funding for the involvement of each country. If you think you can help and would like to get involved, please contact JessicaC@Chickenshed.org.uk
Opportunities
10. PhotoVoice
is currently looking to recruit two additional trustees, including the Chair. PhotoVoice is in particular looking for trustees with one or more of the following skills and expertise:
- Knowledge and experience of international development
- Specific knowledge of monitoring and evaluation – ideally in PV-related fields
- Charity governance and facilitating strategic change
PhotoVoice is an award winning international charity whose mission is to bring about positive social change for marginalised communities by providing them with photographic training with which they can advocate, express themselves and generate income.
PhotoVoice currently has a board of 6 members representing a range of skills relevant to PhotoVoice’s work including fundraising, PR and charity communications, business strategy, finance, legal and photographic expertise.
For a list of PhotoVoice’s trustees please see http://www.photovoice.org/html/whoarewe/whoswho/
For further information please contact the current Chair of Trustee Board (Marc Schlossman - marc@marcschlossman.com) or the Managing Director (Shailesh Kataria – shailesh@photovoice.org).
11. Exiled Writers INK
is currently updating the books section of the publications page on their website: including poetry, prose, novels, anthologies and CDs of poetry and prose with music.The work can be in any language. The work must be by exiled writers.
Please send the details to isaromaine@btopenworld.com in the following format:
Author (surname first), title in italics, publisher, date and place of publication
There may be an opportunity for on-line advertising - please get in touch if this interests you. www.exiledwriters.co.uk
Resources
12. Homeless Link website
Homeless Link website has a section on its website dedicated to cultural work with people who are homeless. It includes useful information about different organisations and will soon have materials from Great Expectations, a major conference on the arts and homelessness which was organised by HomelessLink in Gateshead on 25 October 2006.
http://www.homeless.org.uk/developyourservice/moving/arts
For Facebook enthusiasts Homeless Link has two groups which you might be interested in joining ‘Let's End Homelessness Together’ and ‘Arts Matter’.
13. First ever participatory photography manual published by PhotoVoice
This ground-breaking manual is the only guide of its kind in the world for the design and delivery of participatory photography projects with marginalised and vulnerable groups. It is targeted at photographers, development organisations and educational institutions looking to include participatory photography in their work.
Written by PhotoVoice’s Award winning founders Anna Blackman and Tiffany Fairey the manual is intended to give an introduction to the power of participatory photography as a tool for social change with marginalised and vulnerable groups. With extensive experience of developing over 20 projects across four continents readers will learn about the considerable benefits that projects can bring to participants, whether HIV-positive women in the Congo or Young Parents in London.
Produced in response to the many enquires requesting advice on how to set up a participatory photography project it offers tips and suggestions for all aspects of project development including planning, implementation and promotion of work produced.
Available now this spiral bound manual will include a DVD showcasing slideshows and digital stories from PhotoVoice projects as well as a downloadable PDF exhibition
PhotoVoice is an international non-profit organisation based in London. Its mission is to support people in need around the world using photography as a medium to ‘speak out’ about their challenges, concerns, hopes and fears. Established in 1998 PhotoVoice continues to be at the forefront of the development of participatory photography and an effective tool for international development and informing the direction of this growth area
The PhotoVoice manual can be purchased from the PhotoVoice website: www.photovoice.org
Cost per manual is £25 plus £2.50 postage and packaging
14. Inclusion Through Media
This book produced by Hi8us and Goldsmiths’ (University of London) offers first-hand reports of the three-year Inclusion Through Media project, led by Hi8us Projects and funded by the European Social Fund (EQUAL), and examines some of the wider issues it raised – in particular the role of media and cultural industries in modern Britain.
Using media as a means of working with, and empowering marginalised people in their communities is a practice that has grown strongly in recent years. Nurtured by the extraordinary growth of digital technology and the Web, this has enabled a participatory culture to emerge, in which young people are now more able to represent themselves and their concerns through digital media. The ‘Inclusion Through Media’ partnership has involved many imaginative and productive collaborations between creative media professionals and young and excluded people in cities and regions of the UK and Europe. This book offers first hand accounts of work across and beyond ‘Inclusion Through Media’, alongside critical analysis of many of the processes the work involves, and the policy issues it raises. It suggests ways in which working with media with disenfranchised groups can contribute to social cohesion and inclusion, and so points the way towards new media, youth and social policy.
Edited by Tony Dowmunt (Goldsmiths, University of London), Mark Dunford (Hi8us Projects) and Nicole van Hemert (Hi8us Projects), the publication also features views of leading figures on digital media and community empowerment, and suggests ways in which digital media can contribute to government policy on social inclusion.
“Using media as a means of working with, and empowering marginalised people in their communities is a practice that has grown strongly in recent years,” Tony Dowmunt, Goldsmiths, University of London said. “Nurtured by the extraordinary growth of digital technology and the Web, this has enabled a participatory culture to emerge, in which young people are now more able to represent themselves and their concerns through digital media.”
The book includes chapters by two Creative Exchange partners, Jackie Shaw of RealTime Video and Clodagh Miskelly.
Printed in Great Britain with OpenMute Print on Demand (ISBN Number: 978 – 1 – 906496 –00 –5), Inclusion Through Media is available from online retailer Amazon for £9.95.For more information about Inclusion through Media visit www.inclusionthroughmedia.org
15. exiled ink! magazine - new issue
The new issue includes a special feature on Integration including poetry by Adel Guemar, Bart Wolffe, Nkosana Mpofu, Jean-Louis N'tadi etc, interview with Philippa Rees, article by Moniza Alvi; Translation by Miriam Frank and Andrea Pisac, Iraqi poets on Iraq including Tajia Al Baghdadi, Salah Niazi, Wafaa Abdul Razak, Gareeb Iskander and the Iranian poet: Magid Naficy; interview with Dubaravka Ugresic; Kaleidoscope of Africa by Freddy Macha and Isabelle Romaine, articles on Rrahman Dedaj and on Ziba Karbassi by Jennifer Langer; Reviews: books, events
Cost: £3.
If you would like to order a copy by post, send a cheque for £4 (£1 extra for p & p) made payable to Exiled Writers Ink at 31 Hallswelle Road, London NW11 0DH
Members receive the magazine as part of their membership subscription. Details for subscribing to the magazine, see www.exiledwriters.co.uk/publ.shtmlpublications For details of membership, see www.exiledwriters.co.uk/contact.shtml for downloading the membership form.