Description
Most of the children and youth living in the socially and economically marginalized settlement, Lak are disadvantaged; they lack motivation, persistence and self-organizing skills. There is no such program in the village that would be initiated by the local youth. The main objective of the project is to strengthen the youth, their self-confidence and cooperation with the help of creating a forum theatre performance. During the project community building workshops, several drama, blog-writing and slam workshops and a summer camp will prepare the youth to create the performance and also to perform. Two local mentors will continuously help the work of the participants, and they will make a professional sheet about the experiences. A short documentary film about the processes will be edited and presented. The forum-theatre performance will be shown in different places: Lak, Bánk Lake Festival and Budapest. The target group includes 10 youngsters between the ages of 14-16 who live in Lak (Borsod county).
Summary of project results
The main objective of the project was to improve the self-knowledge, self-confidence and several skills in order to enhance their readiness to act, to strengthen their critical thinking and their empathy that contributes to the involved children’s future. 11 children from 3 settlements participated in the project that started in the beginning of summer in 2015. The 6 professionals of the project promoter organized 4 preparing workshops so they could personally meet with the potential participants and make children interested in the upcoming programs. During the one-week-long forum theatre camp a really successful artistic and pedagogical progress was realized. Based on the ideas and perspectives of the participating children a performance was created titled ‘Matthias, the no-king’. Local people, parents and relatives could see the performances, then the children performed at Lake Banki Festival, altogether 190 people saw the performance. Organizing two community events contributed to the development of social relationships of children. The team invited 2 similar art groups and they learned together telling poems, slamming, rapping and rhythmical speaking. A huge experience was for the children – coming from these really disadvantaged settlements and background – to present their performance in Budapest in real theatre conditions. The performance was successful, the auditorium was full and several media representatives also visited the event. Finally a short study was elaborated by the voluntary sociologist of the project. He examined the effects of this short project on the participants based on the questionnaires that the children filled out, the focus group and the whole development process based on the mentor’s field logs. The closing event was an evaluating meeting in which the study was introduced to the collaborating professionals, shared their experience and evaluated the achievements.
Summary of bilateral results