Theatre Makes Politics (TMP) - Pilot Workshop "Far-right extremism and populism: racism and anti-refugees' rhetoric”

Greece Patra 8/3/2024 Pilot Worksop at Youth Theatre Lab of Municipal & RegionalTheatre of Patras

Theatre Makes Politics (TMP)
Cooperation project in the field of theatre, education and citizenship
Erasmus+ 2022-2025
 Partners:  Bundesverband Theaterpädagogik E.V. (BUT) Germany (Coordinator),
La Transplanisphere (LT) France, Ex-Quorum (EQ) Portugal, Center for Intercultural Dialogue (CID) North Macedonia, Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr) Greece, Stadt Theatre Dortmund (STD) Germany

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TMP Pilot Workshop for students

"Far-right extremism and populism: racism and anti-refugees' rhetoric”
Patras Greece, 8 March 2024

at  Youth Theatre Lab of Municipal & RegionalTheatre of Patras 

Hosted by the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr)
 

Participants: 14 youths (16-19 years old)
Duration: 3 hours

Facilitatror:Giouli Douvou, Drama Teacher 
Part 6- Performance Creatings.

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Theatre Makes Politics (TMP)  (in short)
an Erasmus+ Youth Project 2022-2025

Main partners
-Bundesverband Theaterpädagogik e.V., (BUT), Germany (Project Coordinator)
-La Transplanisphere (LT), France
-Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr), Greece
-Ex-Quorum - Associação de Divulgação de Eventos Culturais (EQ), Portugal
-Centre for Intercultural Dialogue Association, (CID), Rebublic of North Macedonia
-Stadt Theatre Dortmund (STD), Germany 

Main areas of concerns: TMP proposes to originate a creative response on anti-democratic forces in European societies.
The consortium of partners considers it is extremely important that youth workers working with young Europeans are able to use creative tools to question how populists and extremists  try to manipulate them.

The project explores how some groups create opposition up to enemyship to other groups, be they refugeexpected es, muslims, “unbelievers”, LGBTQ+ a.s.o.

The expected  results: TMP  develops creative worktools, a handbook, an a network, in order to empower youth workers to be able to shift perspectives in their concrete work, and to help young people to find a deeper understanding of people who are “different”, overcoming prejudices and discover the pleasure of exchanging, playing and acting with people they would otherwise never meet.

The project’s objectives are:
- To empower and encourage youth workers to integrate methods into their work that will help them to address antidemocratic attitudes, such as racism, nationalism, intolerance, as well as religious fundamentalism in all its forms.
- To enrich the set of methods and tools available for youth work in the above fields with techniques from the field of theatre pedagogy and other performing arts.
- To create a core of youth trainers/ workers who have skills to tackle these sensitive issues in their work, and who also can act as multipliers

The project will address the 4 following issues using theatre/drama and performing arts:

1. Far-right extremism and populism: Racism and anti-refugees' rhetoric
2. Far-right extremism and populism: Conspiracy theories and disinformation
3. Religious fundamentalism: Islamic fundamentalism 
4. Christian religious dogmatism and politics

The steps:
a) 4 face-to-face Research Workshops (Paris – Montreuil France, September 2022: religious extremism, Lesvos Isl Greece, October 2022: racism, refugees, xenophobia, nationalism, Evora Portugal November 2022: Christian religious dogmatism and politicsm, Skopje, North Macedonia, January 2023: Conspiracy theories and fake news)
b) Research & Writing Groups
c) Drafting a manual
d) Presenting the manual to selected youth workers
e) Testing the methodology with Youth Groups
f) Re-writing the manual & work-tools
g) Dissemination events (local conferences)

Implementation period 1/3/2022-1/3/2025

Project ID No:  2021-2-DE04-KA220-YOU - 000049944
(Erasmus+ Cooperation partnerships in youth 2021, Round 2)