Theatre as a tool for social inclusion: MEDART

May 9, 2017Integration and inclusion

From the 20th to the 22nd of April 2017 Kranj hosted the penultimate meeting of the MEDART “Methods of Education for Disadvantaged Adults Rooted in Theatre” project. The partners met in the beautiful Slovenian city to discuss about the final steps of the project.

The project is funded by the “Erasmus+, Key Action 2 – Partnerships Strategic Education for Adults” programme and involves 8 partners from 8 countries:

  • Divadlo Bez Domova (Coordinator – Slovakia),
  • Acta Community Theatre (United Kingdom),
  • Teatr Grodzki (Poland),
  • Asociacion Acunagua (Spain),
  • Drustvo ProSoc (Slovenia),
  • MVKBP (Hungary),
  • Stichting Hogeschool Rotterdam (The Netherlands),
  • Centre for Creative Development “Danilo Dolci” (Italy).

The whole partnership has as a common denominator a strong experience in theatre – in the field of drama therapy in particular – and the use of non-formal education techniques within their projects that make use of theatrical methods. All partners have also had experience in EU projects and in the training and inclusion of people belonging to disadvantaged groups.

The Kranj meeting was held on the 21st of April. The partners had the chance to share the theatre practices of the seven partners working with theatre for the social inclusion of homeless people, migrants, people with mental and physical disabilities. The consortium also talked about the final products of the project, in particular the Methodological Guide that will contain good drama therapy practices developed by the partners.

The Kranj meeting was also a unique opportunity to participate to the INTEGRA festival, one of the most important festivals in Europe for social theatre, which took place from the 20th to the 22nd of April 20167. Three days of theatre and music performances staged by some theatre companies that are part of the MEFDART project and other companies from all over Europe.

The general objectives of MEDART are:

  1. improving the knowledge, skills and abilities of professionals and social workers who work with disadvantaged adults as homeless, migrant, disabled, using the techniques of theatre as a tool for social inclusion;
  2. to create a manual collating methods from the individual partners in the work for the empowerment of disadvantaged adults through drama therapy techniques that will be tested during the implementation and they will become the basics of the drama therapy manual which will become a valuable aid for all social workers working with theatre and disadvantaged adults.

For further info, please contact CSC project coordinator, Dario Ferrante dario.ferrante@danilodolci.org