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It was ten years ago, in 2013, that the General Commentary of the UN Committee for Children’s Rights on the Rights to Culture (Articles 13 and 31) was last issued. It is on this basis that FAS - ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering 2023 (Serbia) will officially open on Monday 20th November, World Children's Day, with an all-day academic and professional conference entitled, ‘The Rights Of Children & Young People To Culture: 10 Years Later’. Hosted by the Faculty of Dramatic Arts of the University of Arts in Belgrade, a key partner and supporter of ASSITEJ Serbia, the programme will run from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm. The conference will open with a dialogue on the legal and political foundations of the rights of children and young people to culture, in which domestic and foreign experts ranging from ombudsman and public institutions to international and domestic organisations for children's rights, as well as universities, will participate.
Performance: Within the frame of this conference, and presented on the same day, the play I am Akiko (age 7+) will be performed. Directed by Milja Mazarak, it was created as a co-production between the Pančevo Cultural Center, the Biennial of Children's Artistic Expression, and the Festival of Ecological Theater for Children and Youth in Bačka Palanka. It confronts its audience with the theme of children's loneliness and what it means to grow up in a single-parent family. This serious, complex, and important topic, too often absent from children's literature and theatre, is explored through the perspective of Akiko, who has a very different experience of growing up and maturing than her peers. This performance was a two-time winner at the fourth ASSITEJ Serbia festival in 2022. Please note you will need to book a SEPARATE ticket for this performance.
AGENDA
14:00-15:00 GMT+1
Cultural Needs and the Right to Culture from a Researcher's Point of View: What does the Data Say?
Goran Tomka, PhD, UNESCO Department of Cultural Policy and Management, University of Arts, Belgrade - Fiction Against Abstraction: the Role of Storytelling in Healing
Dr Lanora Callahan, Researcher, University of Roehampton, ASSITEJ International's ‘Building Collective Resilience’ Project
Rebecca Örtman, Director and Artistic Director for Dramaqueen in Stockholm and Margareta Aspán, Center for the Studies of Children's Culture, Stockholm University: Children's Culture in Sweden - Historical Foundations and Further Development through Collaboration Between Artists and Researchers
Moderator: Dr Ksenija Marković Božović, Researcher, Institute of Faculty of Dramatic Arts
15:00-16:45 GMT+1
Showcase
Importance of Art for Children and Young People to the Community: Examples of Good Practice
Rural Cultural Centre Markovac: Anđelka Nikolić, Co-founder of the Rural Cultural Centre Markovac, Serbia
Theatre Soleil: Thierry Oueda, General Manager of the Theatre Soleil, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
I Read a Play With my Family: Sandrine Grataloup, member of the Board of Scènes d'enfance - ASSITEJ France
Bridging the Gap – Theatre and the School System: Nina Horvat, Artistic Director of Tirena Theatre, Croatia
Tirena Theatre is a performing arts company for young audiences. During the last 25 years, the company has continuously made efforts to work together with the school system in order for theatre content to be included in schools as much as possible. Tirena's performances for young audiences cover themes of growing up that are part of the civic education curriculum. Theatre as part of the teaching process contributes to the creation of creative individuals and develops empathy and personal, social, and cultural responsibility. It contributes to aesthetic education, experiential learning, and comprehensive personality development. The presentation will focus on the importance of collaboration with the school system, and it will include discussion of the following projects by Tirena Theatre: (1) ‘Theatre Cheat Sheet’: An online platform in Croatian which serves as an introduction to the world of theatre. The platform has numerous categories of resources, including theatre terms, forms, professions, and superstitions. It also has a performance analysis questionnaire which is adapted for four different age groups. (2) ‘Imagination Is A Superpower’: A series of 27 videos of creative tasks to do at home was made at the start of the pandemic to help parents and children spend their time at home more creatively and assist teachers with online teaching. Many teachers from different parts of the country included these videos in their online classes. (3) ‘Methodological Materials & Workshops’: In addition to the plays, Tirena also develops materials for deepening the understanding of play themes to make the theatre medium feel more engaging to young audiences. In interactive workshops led by trained drama pedagogues, and with the help of drama methods and techniques, we deepen the play's theme, enabling experiential learning for the participants who, through drama games, also acquire theatrical concepts and learn about theatre arts.
Children from the Moon: Dragan Protić Prota, Škart Collective, Serbia
The Situation in the Theatre in Cameroon: Jeannette Mogoun, artist, director, singer-songwriter and teacher of theatre for children, Cameroon
Art is a Tool of Resistance: Rawand Aqawi, Founder and Executive Manager of Fragments Theatre, Palestine
The lecture will be about who Fragments Theatre is and the work we do in Jenin, Palestine, including the challenges we face. Fragments Theatre connects artists with each other, the local community, other artists in Palestine, and the rest of the world. We ensure local voices are heard through media, theatre, and visual art. Fragments Theatre strives to provide a safe space for children, women, and young people to exchange, interact, and express themselves through artistic and cultural creations. Through our activities, we encourage the development of artistic skills among children, young people, and women and assist these populations in becoming creative entrepreneurs. Beyond giving hope, Fragments Theatre helps vulnerable populations manage their stress and trauma through the arts.
Festival of Ecological Theatre for Children and Youth (FEP): Sonja Petrović, General manager of the Festival of Ecological Theatre for Children and Youth, Serbia
OK Method: Milena Minja Bogavac, author of the OK Method, ASSITEJ Serbia, Serbia
Twisted Tales: Sara Božanić, Executive Director of the Institute for Transmedia Design (ITD), Slovenia
ForesTeen: Christina Cazzola, Artistic Director of Segni New Generations Festival, Italy
Why Should Audience Come? Theatre with Young People whose Rights are Violated: Rebecca Örtman, Director and Artistic Director for Dramaqueen in Stockholm, Sweden
Moderator: Vigdis Jakobsdottir, Theatre Director, Artistic Director of the Biennial National Art Festival - Reykjavík Arts Festival | Listahítóð Reykjavik, Iceland, Honorary Member of ASSITEJ International
15:15-16:45 GMT+1
Panel 4.
Is There Room for TYA in the Curricula of Drama Academies
Introductions:
Anja Pletikosa and Tijana Grumić, regional platform From the First Step: On the Meeting Point of Theory and Practice
Participants:
Tanja Šljivar, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade (TBC)
Dr Vlatko Ilić, Associate Professor, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade (TBC)
Dr Jovana Karaulić, Assistant Professor and Vice Dean, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
Dr Srđan Karanović, Associate Professor, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
Dr Saša Latinović, Professor, Academy of Arts, Novi Sad
Nebojša Dugalić, President of the Association of Dramatic Artists of Serbia
Ivan Pravdić, Professor, Academy of Arts, Novi Sad
Petar Pejaković, Professor, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Cetinje, Montenegro
Igor Tretinjak, Academy of Arts and Culture, Osijek, Croatia
Moderator: Ana Letunić, PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts Belgrade and Lecturer in the field of Performing Arts and Cultural Policies, Zagreb-Berlin (TBC)
17:00-17:30 GMT+1
Conclusions and closing of the conference
Professor Wolfgang Schneider, PhD, former UNESCO Chair at the University of Hildesheim, Germany, Honorary President of ASSITEJ - The Right of the Child to Theatre is Dedicated to the Right of Participation in the Society!
Diana Kržanić Tepavac, President of ASSITEJ Serbia
About the Artists
Anja Pletikosa is a dramaturg based in Zagreb and educated in Zagreb, Graz and Frankfurt. She has created more than 15 professional theatre performances for children and adults and collaborated with important NGOs in Croatia as a cultural worker. Currently she is Producer of the Puppet Organization That We Need Indeed - LOFT, Project Manager of 'From the First Step' platform and Communication Manager of Croatian partner Pogon and is in the frame of the EU project 'Stronger Peripheries'. For her works, she received several important prizes.
Morana Dolenc was born in Zagreb, Croatia in 1982. In February 2008 she graduated from the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III (3 Licenses, Etudes thaéâtrales) in Paris, France. Before that she graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionette in Charleville-Mezieres, France, in June 2005. Since 2008 she has performed and directed in various theatres in Croatia, France and Slovenia and participated in numerous humanitarian projects. From 2009 till 2012 she was Producer and Program Manager of the International Puppet Theatre Festival (PIF) in Zagreb. In 2012 she founded her own puppet company: LOFT (Puppet Organization That We Need Indeed). She is winner of different prizes for her work in Croatia and Slovenia. Since 2015 she is member of Croatian Freelance Artists Association as a theater director. She is leading various puppet workshops in universities, schools, kindergartens and projects of the Ministry of Culture. She is member of UNIMA (Union Internetionale de la Marionnette) and of ASSITEJ (International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People). Since 2017 she is member of executive board of ASSITEJ Croatia. She is now a professor at the Academy of Arts in Osijek, Croatia. She is directing performances for children and adults.
Artistic Director Osama Alsadi is also a producer and visual artist from Jenin, Palestine. After his studies in Bethlehem, he joined the Freedom Theatre, in Palestine. He further worked as an independent artist. In partnership with various organisations in Jenin, he engages youths in recycling artistic installations projects. Osama also organises concerts and theatre activities in Jenin. He has produced short films, including Killing of the Spirit.
Executive Manager Rawand Aqawi is also a cultural manager and theatre producer from Jenin, Palestine. Before founding the Fragments Theatre, she worked as Production Coordinator at the Freedom Theatre alongside Juliano Mer-Khamis. During those four years, she managed numerous performances, workshops, international tours, and exchanges. Afterwards, she continued cultural work with various local art projects and groups, including with Bukhara Akhla, and as Production Assistant for Al Jazeera Children. In 2013, she initiated Fragments Theatre and produced performances and workshops.
Nina Horvat is the Artistic Director of Theatre Tirena, where she also works as a dramaturg, drama pedagogue and leads theatre workshops. She received a Master's degree in Dramaturgy from the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb. So far, as a playwright, she has worked on a dozen plays for children and adults, 12 plays have been staged in theatres in Croatia and the region. She received several awards for her plays. Two of her radio plays were recorded for Croatian radio. Her plays for young audiences were published in three collections of plays. Her fairy tale The Girl With the Short Hair was included in the collection of fairy tales Awake Not Sleeping which was published by the organization UN Women.
Ines Škuflić-Horvat Graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Letters in Zagreb, where she also got her doctoral degree with a thesis on Methodical Basic of Creative Drama Work with Children and Young People. She works as a drama teacher in Tirena Theatre where she is also the Project Coordinator. She leads drama groups and directs performances with children and young people. With performances staged for Zagreb Youth Theatre she has taken part in about a dozen international festivals. She leads workshops for children and young people in Finland, Israel, Estonia, and the World Children's Festival in Lingen. She was the Artistic Director of European Children's Drama Encounter in Pazin, as well as 18 Tirena Theatre Camps. She has edited four play collections. She is the co-author of the manual Playing to Understanding which contains examples of drama games and exercises. She teaches at the Postgraduate Specialist Study of Drama Pedagogy at the Faculty of Education, Zagreb.
Publicity Info
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TARGET AGE GROUP
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AGE CLASSIFICATION
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NAME
Faculty of Dramatic Arts In Belgrade, Stage "Mata Milošević" -
LOCATION
Bulevar umetnosti 20, New Belgrade, Serbia -
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