Contact's pioneering international theatre initiative, Contacting the World 2008, featured the work of 150 young people from twelve companies – six from countries in Europe and six from the rest of the world. After work commenced in October 2007, the participating companies created twelve entirely new pieces of theatre, through the use of social networking sites and the exchange of thousands of emails, photos, ideas and stories.
The project provided a global platform for young people to engage in cultural exchange and provided a process of theatre making that enabled the participants to connect with each other, across boundaries of history, geography and culture. It was designed specifically to create links that have continued to grow and develop well beyond the original timescale of the project itself.
The culmination of the project took place in Liverpool in July 2008 when all of the work that had been generated was performed as part of the city’s Capital of Culture celebrations.
Alongside these performances, Contact also convened an International Forum, made up of two days of workshops and discussions aiming to provide theatre makers, practitioners and young people the opportunity to network, discuss and share ideas of good practice to help develop a strong youth theatre sector, both nationally and internationally.
The British Council Drama & Dance team helped to identify five delegates to attend the forum from Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Qatar, all of whom are sector professionals looking to increase their work in the area of youth theatre.
Contacting the World 2008 is supported by the British Council, Arts Council England, The Granada Foundation, Youth in Action, the European Union, and the John Thaw Foundation.
Open the original version of this page.
Usablenet Assistive is a UsableNet product. Usablenet Assistive Main Page.