The MOMENTUM! A Transgenerational Alliance to Advocate for TYA and Renovate Culture Cristina Cazzola, member of the Executive Committee of ASSITEJ
At the last Umbrella meeting, we shared how the National Centres of ASSITEJ celebrated World Theatre Day and I was moved by the power we each have, within ASSITEJ International, to establish processes and to advocate. We are living through one of the most dramatic times for the health of the new generations, but I am convinced that this complexity we are facing can create fertile ground for dialogue.
From January 2022, I am working as project manager of the Italian Capital of Culture, Bergamo and Brescia 2023, I oversee the entire cultural offer, no longer just Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA). From this position I have been able to closely observe how politics looks at the new generations. There is an immense need for our ability to dialogue and connect with young people, especially teenagers.
I have been working on audience engagement processes for teenagers since 2016, with the TEEN project. In addition to a series of “Tips and Tricks on Teen’s engagement”, I have come to understand the potential of “transgenerational dialogue” as a 'driver' of *innovation and change in society*. For how I see it, adolescents, as the upcoming generation of human beings, are the most suited to bring new ideas, formats, and proposals.
We need to create a transgenerational alliance to find new strategies that can enable new ways of producing culture and renew cultural forms and languages, and this MOMENTUM may help us to set this fruitful dialogue.
The confirmation that the complex moment opens up policy makers to listening is demonstrated by the fact that the report by Voices of Culture states that “the involvement of young people in the development of policies and interventions is crucial to ensure the improvement of their mental health, well-being and social inclusion”. Another statement that I found consistent with our sector's approach is related to the certainty that the success of creative and cultural youth mental health interventions lies in understanding the factors that determine the youth 'ecosystem'. Unlike the other cultural sectors, we produce art by creating interconnected processes between children or teenagers, teachers, parents, and artists. The processes we design often start by connecting with the ecosystem of our audiences and establish rituals that create community.
Reading this study among stakeholders in the cultural sector from all Europe, I really thought they seem to need what we can do and have been doing in TYA for years.
And these are only a few reasons why I am sure that together we can grasp this MOMENTUM.
Together we can create a global transgenerational alliance with our TEENs, with teenagers in our communities by taking them with us, or their thoughts, or at least their VOICES to the ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering in Serbia in November this year and then... to CUBA for the World Congress in 2024!
The National Council for the Performing Arts, of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba, announces the 20th edition of the Havana Theatre Festival.
For international guests we can offer accommodation options as well as production logistics on site, but financial support for international transportation and fees will not be possible.
Next Generation Residency Program is an ASSITEJ initiative designed to support artistic and cultural exchange and collaboration between international artists aged 36 years or below interested in theater for young audiences.
ASSITEJ Serbia and the regional platform From the First Step invites 13 artists (actors, dancers, directors, scenographers, critics, producers, researchers, pedagogues, etc.) from all around the world to attend the Next Generation program, which will be the prologue of the ASSITEJ Artistic Gathering “Turning Point” (20 – 24 November 2023).
Sustainability will be the topic of the 2023 Next Generation Residency.
Several productions and workshops took place to celebrate World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People 2023 with participation from groups like Gillo Repertory Theatre (Mumbai), ThinkArts & Jhalapala (Kolkata) and Bangalore Little Theatre (Bangalore).
Edinburgh International Children’s Festival Returns
TYA UK
The Edinburgh International Children's Festival celebrates the best of children’s theatre and dance from around the world, showcasing distinctive Scottish and international performances to over 15,000 children, families, schools and delegates. It is a great place for programmers, producers and artists to watch new work, discover new talents and connect with colleagues.
After a three-year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Jacaranda Children & Youth Arts Festival will take place in June in Lusaka, Zambia. The main children and youth arts festival in the country has attracted participation from the Southern African region. Some groups from Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe are to be part of the fiesta.
🌎🌍🌏 Lusaka, Zambia
🗓 15 - 17 June 2023
Presentation of Red Miradas: Creators of Theater for Children and Youth
ASSITEJ Mexico
Everyone is cordially invited to the presentation of Red Miradas México on 20 April 2023 at 18:00 CST.
The presentation, which will last half an hour and will remain on the Facebook page of Red Miradas México, will deal with the motivations of its members to create a new space to share, discuss and exchange ideas, proposals, reflections and actions on the professional work of each of its members in relation to theater for children and youth made in Mexico.
In addition to the World Day Messages shared in March, ASSITEJ Ukraine wishes to share two more messages celebrating World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People.
This online survey aims to seek the views of educators in culture and arts education. It was designed by the World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE), in consultation with UNESCO. The survey was launched on the 2nd March 2023 at the WAAE World Summit of Arts Education in Madeira, Portugal. The results of this questionnaire will contribute to the global consultation process to develop a UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education.
The MOOC "Arts, Armed Conflict and Humanitarian Aid" offers a 4 weeks training space dedicated to the different professionals of the humanitarian or artistic field concerned by artistic practices in humanitarian emergencies.
Here you will be able to meet professionals with experience in the field, learn with peers, share your experiences and be engaged in a world network of activist art facilitators and art educators.
The Commission is delighted to invite you to the 2023 European Theater Forum a three-day even bringing together key stakeholders in the European theatre community with policymakers, to address the critical themes for action and the main challenges facing the sector in the 21st century.
The Forum will harness the professionals’ views on the present barriers experienced by theatres around Europe with the aim to turn European Theatre’s Community of interests into a strategic and engaged community of practice.
Dance for young audiences is a constantly changing, vibrating field that offers the possibility of questioning, examining, researching, and problematizing various social issues. Contemporary dance gives us (the artists) the possibility to constantly develop, changing our point of view on issues like accessibility, togetherness, equality, freedom, sharing space and responsibility, inclusion and full participation in our practices.
In a month in which ASSITEJ Serbia honors its birthday (7th of April) and later the International Day of Dance is celebrated (29th of April), it is the right moment to think and write about dance for children and young audiences in Serbia. Although it has existed for decades, dance as an independent field, as an art separated from the theater, present in the performing arts for children and young people is still understood as new, young, developing, attractive, but often too abstract- just like a teenager, misunderstood young rebel, still emerging and unestablished. At least that's how the performing arts institutions in my environment still understand it. Given that this year at AAG in Novi Sad and Belgrade we are dedicating ourselves to hear the voices of young creators as much as young audiences, here is an opportunity to devote some time to this young art, which is still looking for its place in theater institutions throughout the Balkan region.
