Masterclasses

Masterclasses are an important tool in ConnectUp. They will be given to the participants of the Theater Mediation Programme (learners) by experts of different disciplines. When the learners travel to international connectup-festivals (at least once per season) they participate in masterclasses (as follow-up of the seminar week) to deepen the theoretical input. Also to artists of the theatres, masterclasses will be offered regularly at the connectup-festivals.

Kristiansand, September 2023

Masterclass in Directing with Vibeke Flesland Havre

At INAF in Norway ConnectUp gave a Masterclass in Directing with the highly acclaimed Norwegian director Vibeke Flesland Havre. Participants who are professional performing artists, directors, playwrights, and actors from the ConnectUp partners, and other countries, enjoyed three days of learning more about methods of working with non-professional performers and techniques for creating theater from lived experiences.

Havre is the founder and artistic director of Bergen Citizen Stage since its inception in 2014. Over the course of three days, she gave a powerful insight to exercises and techniques that participants can incorporate into their future work with non-professional performers and real-life stories. Discussions on the ethical precautions to consider in such work and sharing of the challenges participants have encountered in our work with citizen’s theatre, were also important topics in this workshop.

The workshop had a strong focus on how to involve non-professionals in professional performances while maintaining artistic quality. The workshop also gave a perspective how citizen theatre can contribute to the development of performing arts itself, and how it can be particularly useful in attracting new audiences. In this work with non-professionals the focus is always on speaking without fear and listening without judgment. These principles are fundamental to an active democracy and the foundation of all creative endeavors.

Milan, May 2023

The importance of theatre reviews in TYA

What are the different roles of professional theatre criticism in TYA in Europe? Who writes about new theatre performances at TYA in Europe? Do some countries have their own media for theatre criticism at the TYA? Or professional critics who specialise in the TYA?

Based on the experiences within the theatre network ConnectUp, we will create an overview of how the reporting on TYA differs in the different countries. We explore what is necessary for professional theatre criticism to take place for TYA. And what we can do to improve the conditions for this.

Distribution of plays in children’s and youth theatre
by Brigitte Korn-Wimmer 

On the basis of the usual theatre agencies in Germany, responsible for the distribution of new plays, the publisher and long-standing head of a publishing house Brigitte Korn-Wimmer gives an insight into the relevant situation in Europe and beyond.

Social Media Campaigns in Theatre for Young Audience
by Philip Brunnader
Social media campaigns can be an effective way to promote theatre for young audiences. Theatre companies can use social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to share information about upcoming shows, post behind-the-scenes content, and engage with their audience. Creating targeted ads or working with influencers can also help reach a wider audience and increase ticket sales.

Milan, May 2022

Project: transformation chain
Our project “transformation chains” is about transforming an artistic impulse into another medium, or simply reacting to an artistic impulse in a creative way. The results are supposed to be delivered to the next school in the chain.The goal of this project is to show, through a very short digital contribution how cultural education can work in schools.
Working with deaf
We are not aware of it, but there is a community living next to us that is excluded from many areas of life. Sometimes we see representatives of this social group at bus stops, at railway stations, in shops. They stand out. They are over-expressive. They have rich facial expressions. They expressively gesticulate. They are DEAF.
In my speech, I would like to raise a few basic issues concerning the Deaf people. First of all, I would like to tell you about growing up in a Deaf family and about the differences in the everyday life of such families.  Another important point will be the Deaf language, its types, specificity and also practical exercises aimed at opening the audience to contact with the Deaf people.
Then I will tell you about my cooperation with the Association for Helping Deaf called “MIG-iem” and about my work connecting the environment of the Deaf and hearing people, based on the example of selected theatre performances that were created during our joint creative activity.
Finally, I will move on to creation of our own theatrical etudes, referring to sign poetry, based not so much on sign language as on gesture.
I hope that our meeting will explain to the participants what difficulties the Deaf encounter every day in accessing many aspects of life, including culture. I hope that together we will find ways to make it easier for them. And that the people I mentioned in the introduction, those “over-expressive, with rich facial expressions and excessively gesticulating”, that is, the Deaf people normally talking to each other, will be seen by us more and more often. Also in cultural institutions.

Porto, October 2021

Masterclass
by Teatro O Bando

Actor’s Awareness on Stage is an actor’s working system based on the perspective of the beholder, the spectator.

It is a theatrical glossary created from the exploratory work of the actor. In this Masterclass, through talks and exercises that start from the concrete perception, we developed and shared the idea of fiction and representation in theatre.

Transcultural theatre work with young people and young adults with migration background
by Corinne Eckenstein, Dschungel Wien

The realities of young people with a migration- or refugee background are more complex than the often stigmatising and stereotypical depiction suggests. Muslim masculinity in particular is predominantly portrayed in public and media discourses as patriarchal, sexist and violent. Often these young men fight against patriarchal structures and expectations themselves. The aim of this masterclass is to use the means of theatre to start a dialogue, to reduce fears and prejudices and to show ways into conversation on taboo topics such as religion, sexuality and gender with writing exercises, improvisation and games.

ABOUT

Union of Diversity

ConnectUp sets in place an international cultural initiative for the target group 12+ in order to counteract the process of increasing social and cultural division across Europe. To achieve the aim of cultural inclusion it is essential to provide opportunities for young people to actively engage with different nationalities, cultures and social groups and to remain open to other people and life experiences.

OUR CONTACT

Feel free to contact us

You can visit ConnectUp on our social media channels.

LEADING ORGANISATION

The University of Agder (Faculty of Fine Arts) is an internationally oriented university in Norway aiming to be on the cutting edge of innovation, education and research.

www.uia.no

SUPPORT

ConnectUp is a larger scale cooperation project under the EU Culture Funding Stream Creative Europe for the four-year-period 12/2019 till 11/2023. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.