amateocomms Courses & Conferences, Pioneer Projects

CONNECT2018 – Highlights

In March 2018 the first CONNECT took place in Deventer (NL)!

Fifteen young people joined a theatre workshop by DeGasten (Amsterdam, NL), and in total 44 people from 14 European countries joined the event. In 2018 the focus was mainly on meeting people, making inspiring plans and new connections.

Highlights of CONNECT2018

Boundless in Slovenia

The Dutch Theaterschip and the German Theater am Fluss have made several international projects together. In 2017 they made ‘Boundless’, an interdisciplinary project about feeling at home. In May 2018 they did a remake in Slovenia, together with Glej theatre. Three young professionals (a filmmaker, a choreographer and a theatre-maker) and five young participants (from Germany, the Netherlands and Slovenia) worked for a week, and showed the outcomes during the annual Amateo conference in Ljubljana

4ID

During CONNECT2018, Strangetown (Scotland), Glej (Slovenia), Teaterskolan i Svenskfinland (Finland) and Theaterschip (the Netherlands) met each other. After some inspiring and intensive sessions, these four organisations (all making theatre with young people) decided to do some research to see if there are possibilities to organise an exchange programme in 2019.

At the end of 2018 the result was positive: Erasmus+ has accepted the application made by Glej, so in March 2019 the four artistic leaders will meet in Ljubljana, joined by four young professionals and four young participants.

This meeting in Ljubljana is to prepare a big project, planned in October 2019. In this project seven young participants from each country will take part in workshops, see performances and work together on one big performance in one week. A great example of exchange on the level of young participants, young professionals and organisations, born during CONNECT2018.

We are the memory

Tamara Pomoriški joined the full four days of CONNECT2018, as a young professional in the workshop. On Monday, she met Hanna Timmers, from the Dutch organisation Theater na de Dam. Theater na de Dam is a theatre company from Amsterdam that organises annual public performances with young people commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day. An agreement was made to spread this concept to other European countries, so in January this year they together made a first theatre project of this kind in Prague, Czech Republic. And it was also agreed that this will become an annual event. Read more about the project.

 

WANT TO JOIN CONNECT2019?

amateocomms Amateo Members

KUBIA – Germany

AMATEO MEMBER:
DAS KOMPETENZZENTRUM FUR KULTURELLE BILDUNG IM ALTER UND INKLUSION / CENTRE OF COMPETENCE FOR CREATIVE AGEING AND INCLUSIVE ARTS (KUBIA)

Germany-wikitravel-map

Member country: Germany
Contact person: Janine Hüsch (Communications & Public Relations)

Symposium ALL IN: Ästhetik und Methoden der inklusiven Darstellenden Künste Eine gemeinsame Veranstaltung von: Kompetenzzentrum für Kulturelle Bildung im Alter und Inklusion (kubia) und Un-Label, Performing Arts Company, in Kooperation mit Sommerblut Kulturfestival e.V.
Schrei mich an // INCLU:CITY // Regie Marita Ragonese

Who? KUBIA is a professional forum and service platform on all issues relating to cultural and arts-based activities for older and/or disabled persons. It is based in Remscheid, Germany. Our target groups are artists, arts facilitators, care professionals, staff of cultural institutions and local authorities.

What? KUBIA provides information, training, networking opportunities and advice on all issues relating to cultural and arts-based activities and lifelong learning. Our aim is to raise awareness of the important role of cultural participation at all ages by developing trend-setting concepts and innovative models.

We focus on professionalising arts-related educational practices for older people and persons with disabilities, promoting inter-generational dialogue through the arts, developing arts-based programmes for the frail and people with dementia, promoting participation and volunteer work in arts and culture in later life as well as developing intercultural and inclusive schemes. KUBIA also runs a forum for theatre by older adults in North Rhine-Westphalia (Theatergold).

Why join Amateo? The philosophy of the Amateo network is very much in line with our conviction that artistic and creative activities and cultural participation are important keys to social inclusion, quality of life and wellbeing. We look forward to working with like-minded partners on an international level.

We appreciate very much being part of Amateo as a European cultural network since we benefit and learn from the mutual exchange and the co-operation for a common cause. International co-operation gives us new inspiration, strengthens our reputation on national level and helps us to improve our work.

Future hopes? Together with the Amateo network we would like to ensure that the artistic and cultural participation, especially by the elderly and people with disabilities, plays an important role in the agenda-setting of social and cultural policies in Europe. For this reason, we wish Amateo to be a fast-growing and strong network for the promotion of participatory arts in Europe.

Interested in joining Amateo’s European network? Find out more!

amateocomms Amateo Award

Op Roet: Amateo Ambassador 2018

On Thursday 11th May 2018, the Op Roet theatre foundation received the first European Amateo Award in Ljubljana for their performance of Ed van Hoorn FucktheSystem. The jury of the Amateo Award was impressed with the artistic and meaningful impact of the performance. Ed van Hoorn FtS was one of 42 cultural projects that were nominated for the prize, from 16 European countries.

European Ambassador
One part of the Amateo Award consists of being an ambassador for participatory art projects. For one year, Op Roet will use this ambassadorship to facilitate interaction between newcomers and inhabitants through art and theatre.

The performance of Ed van Hoorn FtS has shown what such interaction between newcomers and inhabitants can yield. It’s a way to uncover and reduce biases, and a way to stimulate social integration. The performance showed how important it is to listen and share stories with each other and how cultural differences are precious and form special relationships.

As part of the ambassadorship Op Roet has created a program consisting of 4 parts: a trailer, a new performance, new encounters, and the makers. These 4 parts can be combined or used individually.

Trailer of Ed van Hoorn FtS
A taste of the atmosphere of the performance and interviews with newcomers, who talk about what participating in the performance meant for them. The trailer is 7 minutes long and is in English.

https://www.facebook.com/StichtingOpRoet/videos/737811503227281/

Ed van Hoorn FtS lead to the making of a new performance: Friends to be… What happens when a Arab and a westerner meet and want to become friends? How can they learn from each other, what do they have in common?

Nour Mardini and Gerard Venverloo will go on a quest to find the right answers. They ask the questions that often stay untouched. The performance will be 40 minutes long and it will be in English.

Monique Schoorl, director of the Language training centre: “Nour takes us on a journey about the power of people: when your own world literally collapses, and you accept this fate, you can start again, in a strange and foreign country”.

The Interaction
Op Roet aims to emphasise on interaction between local newcomers and visitors of Amateo events. Together with local organisations in charge of integration (which will differ per country), Op Roet will organise encounters within the programme of the current Amateo congresses and symposia. As such, Op Roet has developed a program consisting of theatrical speed dates, that have already proven to be successful.

The makers
Lyda Tijsen and Ingrid Docter are, as director and writer, responsible for connecting and shaping the various parts of the program. The foundation Op Roet develops art & theatre projects with immaterial heritage as main inspiration. The purpose of these projects is to create a dynamic and vivid connection between material and immaterial heritage in the past, present and future.

amateocomms Amateo Members

NOC – Slovakia

AMATEO MEMBER: NARODNE OSVETOVE CENTRUM / NATIONAL CENTER OF CULTURE AND FURTHER EDUCATION (NOC)


Member country: Slovak Republik 
Contact person: Alexandra Stefkova

Who: National center of culture and further education (NOC) is a state contributory organisation of the Ministry of Culture of Slovak Republic, which provides functionality and nationwide professional methodology for educational and cultural activities.

What: NOC supports the development of cultural, educational and artistic activities in local, regional and national conditions, in particular: publishing activity, research and monitoring activities in culture, exhibitions and presentation activities.

Continue reading “NOC – Slovakia” →

amateocomms Courses & Conferences

Sharing Arts & Heritage

The National Centre of Expertise for Cultural Education and Amateur Arts (LKCA), the Cultural Participation Fund (FCP), Keunstwurk (regional cultural organisation of Fryslân) and the ministry of Education, Culture and Science in the Netherlands is organising the European conference on arts and heritage education and participation: Sharing Arts & Heritage. The conference will take place on 18 & 19 October 2018 in the city of Leeuwarden, European Capital of Culture 2018.

Sharing Arts & Heritage

This international conference investigates how cultural education and cultural participation relate to challenges of access, social cohesion, heritage and cooperation. Arts and heritage are key factors for building a sustainable Europe, that is now facing growing diversity and polarisation. How can we best channel our research and policies to promote an open, inclusive, resilient European society?

Nick Wilson, Reader in Creativity, Arts & Cultural Management at the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries, King’s College London will deliver the key note for the conference.

The target groups of the conference are: professionals working in the fields of policy and practice related to cultural education and participation.

Free tickets for Amateo members

** All Amateo network members can attend the conference for free. **
New members can join Amateo here. Amateo network members can sign up to the conference here.

In a session on Friday 19 October, Amateo wants to share and discuss our ideas about collecting new data and the way to initiate that.

In Europe, data on numbers of people involved in amateur arts are scarce, while the importance of evidence-based policy is increasing. There is a growing urge for valid figures for advocacy purposes, both to influence strategies of the European Commission as well as cultural policies of individual states.

Regrettably, neither Eurostat nor any other source gives us the detailed, compatible and validated information on the amateur arts we need. It is therefore of vital importance to develop a methodology and a questionnaire which can be used in all European countries.

John Lievens (Ghent University, Belgium) and Hamish Fyfe (University of South Wales) present the report ‘Considerations regarding Comparative European Research into Amateur Arts Participation’. This session is initiated by the team for Research and Documentation from the European network Amateo.

Do you know researchers or cultural professionals who have been working on or have a big interest in collecting data on amateur arts? Please share this information with them! In addition, Amateo can offer 10 sponsored places for taking part in this research session during the conference! Need more information? Email us!