I just received this message from our friends in Ukraine with whom I had the pleasure of working with in February 2014. I was part of a group of 7 international practitioners that responded to a call for solidarity from these yoing and inspired activists that believe theater could create spaces fro dialogue. Since them they have been working to continue the work and now we have a chance to be in solidarity with them again. Please read this message and watch their videos and help in whatever way you can. Thanks. Dear friends and colleagues, Happy New Year! We hope you are enjoying your holiday season, and we hope this letter finds you well. We are writing to share with you some very exciting news about “Theatre for Dialogue” initiative in Ukraine. As many of you know, the initiative was created at the beginning of 2014, after a group of Ukrainian activists and international Jokers came together in the spirit of solidarity to organize a “Joker Tsunami”, as a response to violent protests in the city of Kyiv. Within one week six forum theatre workshops were held in five cities of Ukraine and their participants produced six performances about the situation in Ukraine at the time. All our participants and volunteers embraced Theatre of the Oppressed with open hearts, and we saw that the time was right for this methodology to take roots in Ukraine. So, we started the “Theatre for Dialogue” initiative with the goal of promoting Theatre of the Oppressed in Ukraine in all its diverse and rich forms. Currently, our initiative unites seven activists from different walks of life, who fell in love with TO and made it part of their activist journey. During 2014 we managed to conduct over 20 events, visited 6 cities all over the country and engaged more than 1200 people in our workshops and performances. Some of the issues we raised in our performances touched upon the protests on Maidan, the situation of internally displaced people, issues of socially vulnerable youth, gender stereotypes, as well as thoughts, feelings and actions of common citizens living in times of war, and many others. All this time we have functioned as a “volunteer initiative”. This means that all of us had (and continue to have) other jobs, and we invest our free time and resources into organizing activities of the initiative. Over the course of 2014, we have seen a great response to the methodology, and a steady increase of requests for cooperation. To be able to embrace them all, and do even more, we decided to register an organization. The official registration would allow us to seek funding, employ staff and, hopefully, with time turn our love for TO into full-time jobs. We were lucky to have obtained that registration status in mid-December 2014, and to now be able to call ourselves the Theatre for Dialogue NGO! :) We believe this is an important step towards a more sustainable work in Ukraine. Our next steps in this journey towards sustainability will include regular weekly meetings of jokers in Kiev for a practical TO laboratory and theoretical engagement with the methodology (which have already started), creation of our own website, and translation of one of Boals books into Ukrainian. The reality is, none of Boals books are available either in Ukrainian or in Russian, so there is little chance for beginner practitioners in this part of the world to engage with the method on the level of theory. There is a need to translate all of his books, but we have decided to start with Games for Actors and Non-actors, as we see it as a comprehensive toolkit for a beginner TO practitioner. To be able to pay for these activities (rent a space for our weekly meetings, translate and publish the book, design a website), we have launched a crowdfunding campaign. We set out to raise (at minimum) 28,000 Ukrainian hryvnia (around $1,750 USD) over 60 days. At the time, we are 37 days into the campaign and we have raised only 4,500 UAH, with still 23,500 UAH/$1500 to go. Unfortunately, the campaign has been less effective than we had expected so far. We believe the main reason is the fact that there is a very diverse range of needs for financial support in Ukraine these days, mainly due to the situation in the East. People constantly donate money for medical assistance to wounded soldiers, for ammunition and equipment of those who are at the frontline (yes, our army is incapable of properly equipping a soldier) and/or for the needs of internally displaced people. Clearly, many Ukrainians prioritize these needs above other projects, like ours. This does not mean there is lack of interest or support for our work. Quite the contrary. However, in the context of declining economy, it is not surprising to see that peoples capacity to donate funds is limited. That is why we have decided to also turn for support to the international community. We have seen a great deal of solidarity coming from our friends all over the world, and we would be grateful for any support in this campaign. We have 21 days left, and the minimum we need to raise is 50% of our target (at least 14,000 UAH/$900). We are very hopeful that we will reach our goal. Apart from just raising the funds, however, we hope that this campaign will help us spread the word about our initiative, and find more friends and fans of TO all over Ukraine and beyond. If you would like to become one of our supporters, you can donate any amount, starting from $5 USD by sending your funds to this paypal account: communitybasedtheatre@gmail. You can also support us by spreading the word about our campaign among your friends. Please take a few minutes to watch this video and learn more about our work in Ukraine and our crowdfunding campaign: goo.gl/qh9zjU (English subtitles available) We have also posted the video on our facebook page, which makes “Sharing” just a click away.:) https://facebook/theatrefordialogue We would like to thank all of your for the support and solidarity you have generously extended to us over the last 12 months. The times continue to be challenging in Ukraine, but it’s the support we receive, the evident demand for this kind of work in Ukraine and the faith in the transformative potential of TO that keep us going! In solidarity, “Theatre for Dialogue” Team. PS: If you have any questions or comments, please send them to us directly, by clicking on Reply button. Out of respect for the multitude of recipients of this message, we suggest you avoid the Reply to all option :)
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 15:19:16 +0000
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