TYPE OF WORK
Participatory drama, puppetry, mask, mime, street theatre/carnival, visual and digital arts

TARGET GROUPS
Voter participation, citizenship, governance, gender equality, refugee issues, rural community development, social inclusion, street children, disability awareness, HIV/AIDS/sexual health, social forestry, rights of the child, intergenerational projects

GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
UK, North Africa and Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia Pacific, South Asia,

COMPANY POLICY
To use participatory arts methods to enable groups and communities to make sense of information, transforming it into commonly held knowledge. Small World Theatre (SWT) has many years of experience in training both arts and non-arts practitioners in participatory or developmental arts practice.

SCALE OF PROJECTS
Number of practitioners: 2–7
Number of participants: 5–3000
Preparation time: 2–12 months
Contact time: 2 days – 2 months

PERMANENT STAFF: 8
Ann Shrosbree, Artistic Director
Bill Hamblett, Artistic Director
David Gillam, Administrator

Moving! (Hong Kong, 1992)
Aims: To support refugee children in detention centres. Working with Vietnamese asylum seekers and using multi-artforms, the project encouraged cultural expression and raised self-esteem for participants in a hostile environment and resulted in a SWT performance about refugee issues that toured the UK for four years and led to the setting up of national refugee weeks with SCF and the Refugee Council.

Partners: Nuffield Foundation, Save the Children Fund (SCF).

Gender and human rights project (Nepal, 1999/2000)
Aims: To introduce participatory approaches into the message based popular theatre tradition to explore gender and human rights. SWT worked with Nepalese performers and NGO workers using participatory drama and gender training. The project resulted in participatory performances in four regions.

Partner: British Council.

Your Vote Counts (Tanzania, 2000)
Aims: Participation of women in the democratic process, capacity building with the theatre practitioners of Tanzania. SWT worked with professional theatre practitioners, employing drama as a research tool, puppets as intermediaries and interactive performances. The project resulted in theatre practitioners’ increased effectiveness as agents of social change.

Partner: British Council.

These Rights are Mine (Uganda, 2003)
Aims: To explore the meaning of the rights of the child. Working with young people in Kampala secondary schools, using peer education and participatory theatre, the project led to advocacy performances for children and policy makers. Peer educators in each school continue performances.

Partner: British Council.

Health and Governance
Centre for Overseas Research and Development (CORD), Durham University. SWT’s focus will be on community participation. (Jordan, 2004)