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Description
LGBTQI young people are considered to be severely vulnerable in their school and social environment, while going through the most fragile time of adolescence. They face serious challenges which often affect their health as well as the cohesion in school and in the community.
The objective of the project it to advocate for young people who face discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and to raise awareness in their school or social environment.
Leading activity of the project is a TIE performance which will be presented in three stages: An introductory discussion on LGBTQI youth issues, followed by the performance for young people, concluding with a facilitated self-reflection discussion with all participants. This process will offer a safe space to all participants in order to familiarize themselves, become sensitive to and educated around LGBTQI issues. Three performances will be held for schools and three more for general audiences. The performers will be alumni of Athens Conservatoire Drama School, especially trained for the performance during the project. The course of the project will be filmed and a documentary will be accessible to everyone online.
Target groups are young LGBTQI and CIS heterosexual people, their social and school environment, the performers and of course the audience of the performance and the documentary. The project aims to link Educational Theatre with Process Oriented Psychology . It is designed and will be implemented by the Youth Theatre Education Department of ACDS. The Processwork Hub oversees the scientific aspects of LGBTQI issues, supports community work and facilitates group process in every step of the project.
Summary of project results
LGBTQI young people are considered to be severely vulnerable in their school and social environment, while going through the most fragile time of adolescence. They face serious challenges which often affect their health as well as the cohesion in school and in the community. The objective of the project it to advocate for young people who face discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and to raise awareness in their school or social environment. The most important goal of this two-year long project was to stand up for the rights of LGBTQI adolescents, through educational theater and the systematic approach of Processwork.
A total of 270 artistic and educational activities led to the education and empowerment of the school community as well as the information and awareness of all those involved with the project as collaborators, trainers or participants.The core activity of the project was the participatory educational theater performance for teenage audiences ‘If I was at the party I went too’, which was attended by more than 130 teenagers, 12 to 18 years old, and over 100 adults. In the process of preparing for the show ,while researching, training and producing, eight scientific trainings on the topic of LGBTI identities were implemented, which were attended by more than 130 people, of which 54 were teaching staff of public secondary schools. The Project resulted in the information and awareness of all involved, the creation of a safe environment for processing the challenges surrounding identity issues, as well as the influence towards a more inclusive culture of the educational institutions involved.
The project contributed to the defense of the human rights of LGBTQI adolescents through LGBTQI identity/empowerment training activities for the educational community, the community of the Athens Conservatory, and those professionals who participated in its implementation.
In addition, to the main activities of the participatory educational performance, the project offered awareness and information about issues of LGBTI identities in school classes of teenagers as well as to individuals and families who attended the three-hour action.
At the same time, it offered LGBTI teenagers themselves, inclusion, visibility and the opportunity to share the experience, to the extent they chose, within a safe framework.