Promoting Peace by Dialogue through Theatre

The project aims to create spaces for conflict-affected communities to look at the existing community issues in a creative way, to build empathy and search for bottom-up solutions using participatory theatre approach. As a result of 4 community theater workshops and 16 community theater performances in four regions of the Eastern Ukraine (Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Donetsk) members of local communities and IDPs will have a chance to build dialogue, discuss existing issues related to lives of IDPs and search for solutions together.

Timeframe

10 February – 29 July 2016

Project Objectives

• Reduce tensions associated with IDP integration into local communities

• improve perceptions (reduction of fears, stereotypes) of IDP and host community members

• Support community cohesion and resilience in conflict-affected communities

• Transfer skills of facilitation of community-based theatre to local partners by means of the orientation session and school of theatre.

Activities

With UCBI support 'Theater for Dialogue' will conduct four 3-day community theater workshops accompanied by 16 performances in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and government controlled Donetsk oblasts. The project activities will also include transfer of skills and experience in community-based theater to local partners, which will be done during a 2-day orientation session for partners (to be held in Kiev in February 2016) and a 5-day training on “theater for healing” techniques, which will take place at the end of April and will be held in a venue outside of Kiev. The activity will be conducted in partnership and cooperation with leading local IDP NGOs and the Imaginaction NGO (http://imaginaction.org/), a non-profit theater arts organization based in Los Angeles, California, which has extensive experience bringing theater and creative arts techniques to work with communities all over the world on issues of social justice and healing.

Beneficiaries

The project will be targeted at two types of beneficiaries: a) activists and community leaders who are engaged in the work of peacebuilding, dialogue, IDP support and local community mobilization. These will be found through partner organisations. A number of them will be invited to participate in the school of “theatre for healing”, and will be given the opportunity to organise and co-facilitate theatre activities in their region/town.

The second target group consists of citizens of different towns in the target regions, including at least 40% IDPs. These people will be invited to participate in the workshop, perform in a play and/or attend a theatre performance. They will be invited via online and offline advertising. Local caprtner will try to invite participants from the communities where tensions are high.