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ARTFULLY AWAREPROGRAMME MANUAL

Artfully AWARE USA • 201 E 17th Street 27D • New York, NY 10003Artfully AWARE UK • 78 Lupus Street, Flat 4 • London, England SW1V 3EL

E create@artfullyaware.org W www.artfullyaware.org

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Artfully AWARE’s Programme Manual would not have been possible without the written contributions of the following people: Zillah Edwards, Emily Hatfield, Melissa Kate, John Coonrod, Evonne Hill, Fiona Middis, Lucy Roberts, Suzanne Hyde, Linda Raftree, Andrew Bell, Justin Igala, Michael Gonzalez Wallace, Katie Williams, Luciana Da Fonseca, Joey Naham, Ashley Radford and Kristy Algar.

Designed by:Hilary Wallis, Artfully AWARE Executive Director

Edited by:Zillah Edwards, UK Managing DirectorEmily Hatfield, Programmes Director

W: www.artfullyaware.org E: create@artfullyaware.org

Artfully AWARE201 E 17th Street 27DNew York, NY 10003, USA

Artfully AWARE78 Lupus Street, Flat 4London, SW1V 3EL, United Kingdom

Published in February 2009 by: Artfully AWARE, INC.501(c)(3) Public CharityNew York, NY

Artfully AWARE, CIC.Community Interest CompanyRegistered Number: 06589913London, England

Copyright: Artfully AWARE 2009All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Copyright Artfully AWARE 2009

“Our world is in the throngs of a major transformation with a new generation emerging to take the lead in an effort that calls for a new spirit of global cooperation and mutual aid. Key to its success will be its ability to give voice to those who are at the vortex of change and who, through their experiences, have the most to tell but are often the least heard. Artfully AWARE personifies this spirit of hope for humankind's successful march towards a new global good life for all. It seeks to unite the energy of artists across the globe while using common efforts to heal the wounds of past injustices and bring to life positive alternatives that will sustainably empower all people to do right for themselves and their communities. From this, it gives us all an opportunity to become part of this marvellous endeavour through the support of its activities."

John Grazel, JD, PhD

Research Professor and Holder of the Baha'i Chair for World Peace Centre for International Development and Conflict Management at University of Maryland and AfA Advisor

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Mission and Vision page 5

Activities and Servicespage 8

Artfully AWARE Festival page 15

Community Education page 19

Visual Artspage 23

Drama page 30

Dancepage 37

Music page 47

Mediapage 50

CONTENTS

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Mission and VisionArt promotes the universal human rights of

self-determination, exploration and individuality.

Artfully AWARE (AfA) is a registered non-profit organisation, established in 2007 and is comprised of individuals united by their passion for international arts education and community development. AfA uses the arts as an important tool for social improvement and emotional recovery of persons who have experienced traumatic events, disabilities, or living conditions. We also believe in the ability of the arts to inspire, promote positive change and provide hope in communities worldwide.

AfA seeks to implement a range of educational arts programmes locally, nationally and internationally, in order to promote empowerment, cultural understanding and enable sustainable development. Our work provides the opportunity to create arts projects, exhibitions, performances and educational curriculum. This promotes cultural exchange and inspires people to rethink their strategies in social and economic development. All programmes draw on five major categories: drama, dance, music, media and visual arts.

Freedom of expression has the power to inspire.

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Photos: Left: Children experiencing bubbles for the first time in an orphanage in Kikira, Uganda.

Right: Sharing photographs with the International School in Kampala, Uganda.

MISSION

Artfully AWARE aims to strengthen sustainable futures in both developed and developing societies by using the Arts to enrich, educate and empower individuals and communities.

Through the implementation of our fine art, drama, dance, music and media programmes, AfA also seeks to support the development of psychological well-being, increase self-esteem and enhance community capacity building.

VISION

We envision a world where those suffering from internal or external forms of stress may find relief and inspiration from the arts in order to improve self-esteem and become empowered, more fulfilled and productive members of society.

GOALS

- To involve all types of artists and educators from both developed and developing communities in cultural exchange and teaching programmes that will eventually be self-sustaining and run by local trainers

- Strengthen communities psycho-socially by bringing people together to share in a journey of exploration and celebration of the arts

- Recover the ideal of expression in depressed societies by providing a medium for people to speak through their art and to form connections with similar societies as well as with the developed world

- Assist in generating locally allocated and managed sources of income for participating communities through a series of artistic productions, exhibitions, and by displaying and auctioning artwork at public fundraising events, while concurrently increasing awareness of social, cultural and economic challenges

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Art has existed as long as humans have graced the earth. We should question, as a collective society, whether we take advantage of all of the gifts that art has to offer. Humanitarian and development organisations routinely focus on the absolute necessities of the impoverished, as they should, yet they often overlook the most basic and fundamental right of every individual:

It is this freedom of expression that has the power to inspire people to uplift themselves out of poverty and to act for change. Generous people from developed nations can provide food, clothing, shelter and protection, but what comes after this? Education and the arts. We recognise the value of traditional education. But art teaches what multiplication tables can not. Art stimulates creativity that strengthens confidence and fosters problem solving.

People who have experienced the most extreme traumas - such as war, disease and abuse - as well as those who simply feel disconnected, struggling to use their innate abilities to fight for survival or just find the inspiration to face a new day, all need art. Painting, storytelling through theatre, performing traditional dances and singing songs are all creative tools that touch our hearts and reach into our innermost passions.

One purpose behind AfA is to stimulate the artistic senses of communities that have been deprived of creativity for extended periods of time. Developing countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin American have rich histories of artistic tradition. It is mainly due to poverty, repressive governance or lack of opportunity that the arts stop flourishing and people can no longer find their artistic voice.

These voices will soon be heard again. Art no longer belongs only to patrons of galleries, concert enthusiasts or ballet attendees. Art should be enjoyed by all, as well as created by all.

AfA intends to work closely with community members, motivating them to gain strength and obtain a higher quality of life. Only when their psychological well-being is addressed and they find this impetus within themselves, can people overcome challenging situations and transform the world in which they live.

Introduction

By Hilary Wallis, Executive Director

The freedom of expression.

Art sets us free.

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Our Programme Manual outlines examples of the projects Artfully AWARE h a s t o o f f e r . T h e c o m m u n i t y b a s e d programmes included within this manual are designed to be tailor made to the individual requirements of any of t h e c o m mu n i t i e s o r organisations that we work with.

Artfully AWARE’s area of expertise is Sustainable Empowerment Through the Arts. ‘The Arts,’ for the purposes of Artfully AWARE, encompass dance, visual arts, drama, media and music activities. Some activities and programmes offered may not neatly fit within the stereotypical sphere of “art,” such as environmental projects and physical fitness; however, we feel they do have their place, and have therefore, included them where we deem appropriate. Our integrative approach values links between art and all aspects of society.

OUR TEAM

Artfully AWARE is comprised of individuals united by their passion for international arts education and community development. Combining professionals with decades of experience in countries such as Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Kenya and South Africa that are trained in business skills and different realms of the arts, AfA marshals their impressive experiences together to create a powerful team that intends to fill a void in both the arts and humanitarian sectors.

The Executive Team is made up of five directors who are responsible for running and managing the organisation’s day to day activities.

AfA Consultants are those who create programmes, run workshops or contribute regularly to AfA. As of yet, none are considered to be employees as they are all independent contractors. They are in charge of developing programmes, helping with fundraising events, showcases and working with the Executive Team on creating effective strategies and business models. All Consultants adhere to our AfA Charter and Best Practices Manual, which describes guidelines and examples of the methods in which we work.

Activities and Services

Photo: Onlookers watching participants in a painting workshop in Sotouboua, Togo.

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AfA Consultants within our team have created, and continue to create unique activities, workshops, educational material, programmes and projects. It is the discretion of the Executive Team Directors to decide which consultants will deliver the programmes and implement them. The selected consultants will have additional responsibilities, including monitoring results, evaluating project progress, making follow-up visits and maintaining cultural exchanges where necessary.

Artfully AWARE appoints local AfA Representatives in participating communities to be responsible for community outreach, maintaining programmes and working to form cultural exchange programmes. They consist of skilled community members who are strong and capable leaders that are trained in one or more of AfA’s programmes.

OUR APPROACH

We strongly believe the programmes we design should always be tailored to individual community needs. Meetings with community leaders and focus groups are critical to our programme development. These meetings allow us to ascertain what their needs, desires, hopes, fears, strengths and weaknesses are. This helps us discover how our talents can benefit the participants by assisting with the specific messages they wish to address and creates the ultimate platform of programmes that will maximise impact for the community.

AfA programmes are aimed at empowering, educating and enriching individual’s lives. Whether in developed or developing countries, programmes are only implemented after doing research has been conducted to advise the sound development of programmes. AfA collaborates with programme purchasers and grant/sponsorship providers to make sure the programmes are designed to be culturally literate, sufficient and appropriate. We create cross-cultural links and connect communities worldwide by partnering with already established, local non-profits, arts organisations, schools and health institutions in order to keep the programmes sustainable and lasting.

GETTING STARTED

Artfully AWARE offers programmes displayed in this manual as well as additional services. There are different ways to utilise what we offer. Our AfA staff can be hired outright as consultants, our programmes can be used for a fee, our services can be purchased or we can partner and work in collaboration to develop and implement our unique programmes and projects.

When a working relationship with an interested party has been formed, we develop a project proposal that outlines our specific aims, objectives and targets. All imperative aspects of the project before implementation, such as timeframes/costs, will be detailed in the proposal. These must all be mutually agreed upon by AfA and the interested party. In addition, we will work together to develop structured messages that should be incorporated into the project, and we will always strive to tailor to specific requirements.

When details in the proposal have been agreed upon, a project agreement shall be drawn up and signed. AfA shall abide by all rules and regulations set forth by the other party and expect the same level of adherence in return.

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Target Audiences

AfA strongly believes that the services we design and offer should be tailored to individual community needs. Meetings with community leaders and focus groups are key to programme development allowing us to ascertain what their needs are, how our talents can benefit them and if we can assist with any messages they wish to address. Integrating their own skills together with ours helps to create programmes that maximise impact for the whole community.

In order to implement our services and projects effectively, we offer to work with communities that range from being considered standard to those who are marginalised. We are interested in targeting and open to working with a range of audiences, including:

Health centres and hospitals: These are places where we find people who greatly need a lot of psycho social support to help them cope with poor mental or physical health. Activities are based on different topics can be done with patients. We engage patients in simple arts related activities depending on their health status, with the ultimate goal of inspiring and generating hope in their lives.

Schools and educational institutions: Our target group in this category is the age group of 5 years and above. These are places that we intend to use as centres for disseminating information on positive behaviour change. By targeting the youth with our programmes in message development and dissemination, we are targeting leaders of tomorrow. The youth have the opportunity to share the information learned with their fellow piers and family.

Community groups: We work with all types of community groups dealing with multiple aspects of community development. Our main aim in dealing with such groups is to bring about positive change in people’s lives. We allow them to be the initiators of all issues to be discussed and facilitate in allowing them to design realistic action plans that they can implement and follow up themselves.

Households: We do work with respective households at community level. This enables us to get closer to the individuals in their families and share with them issues that help them to cope with their family challenges.

Youth groups: We treat youth as a special group to deal with considering the challenges they are faced with. Through our programmes, we engage the youth in activities that educate them and allow them to be peer educators. We also engage them to draw up action plans they can implement and monitor themselves.

Development organisations: We train development organisations in using our arts bases services and programmes for community sensitisation and education. We also train their staff on how to use our programmes for baseline data collection, project implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Religious institutions: Churches, mosques and other religious institutions are places where development messages can be disseminated and followed up. We work with these institutions by packaging the messages they want to share with their congregations to improve on their physical and spiritual lives.

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Photo: Youth participating in an AfA music themed arts workshop during a festival in Briidlington, England.

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1. Creating and facilitating educational partnerships by linking schools and communities through artistic projects

2. Designing and implementing interactive programmes and workshops focusing on drama, dance, music, media and/or the visual arts

3. Developing arts-based curricula for schools or programme centres

4. Promoting the use of multimedia tools such as photography and film to enhance communications messaging

5. Coordinating cultural exchange visits, showcases, and other special events

6. Promote activities that generate income for local communities

Guiding Principals for each Programme

Methodology:

We strongly believe the programmes we design should always be tailored to individual community needs. Meetings with community leaders and focus groups are key to our programme development. These meetings allow us to ascertain what their needs, desires, hopes, fears, strengths and weaknesses are. This helps us discover how our talents can benefit the participants by assisting with the specific messages they wish to address and creates the ultimate platform of programmes that will maximise impact for the community.

Time-Frame:

Artfully AWARE provides programmes that last from a few days to weeks, months or years. It all depends on how long the communities or hosting organisations want them for. We work together with interested parities in devising a suitable timeframe that is both appropriate and beneficial while maximising our time and resources. However, all of our programmes are designed to leave a lasting, sustainable impact within the community-- one that will last a lifetime.

As an example, for a daily lesson that is part of a specific art programme, 3.5 hours are needed. The daily lesson would consist of 10 minutes of preparation, 10 minutes of opening talks, 2 hours of teaching the programme and then 1 hour of followup discussion. The discussion pertains to the subject matter of the lesson. Lastly, 10 minutes are needed for cleanup. Ideally, there will be 5 sessions a week for individual projects and at least 15 sessions a month for longer term projects.

Artfully AWARE’sMain Objectives

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Access:

Our programmes are accessible to all ages, health statuses, nationalities, genders, and religions. Themes in our programmes can include but are not exclusive to; health, human rights, celebrating diversity, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, sanitation, economic stability, water shortage, hygiene, environmental degradation, drugs, war, crime, community, family and education.

We give equal opportunities to all involved, and we are sensitive to gender and race issues. We aim for our programmes to contribute to the eradication of gender and race-based inequities by allowing for continuous input from everyone within a group environment.

Integration:

When organisations, health centres, schools, universities, youth groups and other institutions choose to hire AfA’s services, they have the opportunity to integrate their own missions, visions and goals into the themes of our programmes they choose to use.

We offer unique techniques and practices using arts based training packages to help organisations bring fresh ways of teaching the messages they wish to get across in their training sessions. We ask organisations to guide us by outlining the key messages they wish to address within the sessions we hold. We then break them down over the training using our own methodology. We feel this is the correct and most beneficial way to improve impact and long- term sustainability.

Sustainability and Evaluation:

Our aim is for the communities to be able to take charge and cover full responsibility after we begin facilitating the process. Self-reliance is a major part of the art projects; therefore, it is vital the communities grasp the knowledge of teaching themselves. This way they can carry on with the process by mobilising their own communities with what they have learnt.

AfA continues to develop evaluation procedures for assessing effectiveness and performance of its programmes. One way is that we develop resource packs that are given to teachers and trainers designed for each programme and project for this purpose. Included in a pack are questionnaires for participants to fill out in order to give us feedback. From their answers in our survey, we are able to learn and make adjustments to our programmes and the way we handle our work. This also provides us with first hand knowledge for our reports.

Consultants maintain contact with participating communities and partners. Monitoring will also be done by the appointed AfA Representatives who report back to an appointed consultant. We conduct follow up sessions when appropriate.

Technological Choices:

The use of both local materials as well as foreign based ones are beneficial in teaching the participants about what they have in their own country as well as what is available in other places in the world. Foreign materials may provide them with more creative options and further possibilities. Appropriate steps to find local materials are always taken first. Over time, as an additional option, we may be able to teach participants how to make specific materials themselves. Each programme requires specific types of art supplies. In each proposal, we detail the kinds and amounts of supplies needed depending upon the number of participants.

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Staff:

We have professional artists as well as development workers and education specialists within our team. The Executive Directors select from these consultants who will work with participating organisations’ staff and community leaders to train them in the basic skills required by the programmes. Training can be done in a matter of hours or days. Our consultants have some training in counselling, and they are able to deal with people in one-on-one situations and in front of large groups. They possess good motivational techniques and have a real passion for caring about others. They aim to become familiar with local customs and to be able to communicate without only the use of spoken language.

Once AfA consultants train the staff of participating organisations and community leaders, all parities implement the programmes within the communities, together. The ultimate goal is for the organisations’ staff and the community leaders to become self sufficient and be able to continue the programmes in the same communities or replicate the programmes in new communities after AfA consultants depart. An AfA Representative would then be selected to help facilitate this process.

Logistics: Transportation to bring AfA consultants and art supplies to the location site where we are holding a programme is needed, whether by foot or by motorised vehicle. To provide effective results, care needs to be taken when selecting the location for a programme, whether it will be held in an enclosed building or a safe outdoor area.

Time may not need to be a factor. A lesson can take an hour or it may take four. When there is no set schedule, we sometimes let it depend on the wishes of the participants. We sometimes allow people to create artwork or perform together, in groups, individually, and at their own homes.

Community Capacity-Releasing:

We believe most community members already possess talents and skills that can enable them to learn, maintain and run effective programmes and projects. AfA helps to release these capacities while helping to strengthen the long-term capacity of all community members to manage their own teaching sessions and art/cultural exhibitions. Additional local capacities are built so participating communities may have the option to run their own programmes and be able to link them with other local authorities and organisations. Or, if they are already affiliated with an organisation or formal group, it may help strengthen their ties, and they will be able to work better together.

Environmental Sustainability:

Our programmes are designed to ensure that there is no negative impact on the environment where our work is taking place, or to their neighbouring communities. AfA facilitates the communities to ensure that, where possible and relevant, biodiversity is maintained, enhanced and the depletion of non-renewable resources is minimised.

Institutional Learning:

Each community and focus group has a specific way it needs to be handled. Generally, our method includes provoking active discussions in order to engage everyone before giving actual art lessons and programme sessions.

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Programme work can also be based on lessons learned from spending quality time within the communities while in the process of holding programme sessions. We realise that just as community members are participating to learn from us, we have the opportunity to gain knowledge from them. This provides an ideal opportunity for AfA, and the organisations or institutions we are working with, to access information on issues we all may need to start focusing on or to give more attention to. Examples such as land grabbing issues, domestic violence, lack of shelter, etc. are some of these.

Indigenous Knowledge:

Messages, processes and methodologies used in AfA’s programmes will be based on local knowledge, insights and practices. They will be appropriate for the various sections of participating communities. Education and promotion activities, such as in discussions, will be conducted simultaneously to make sure that what is learned is put into practice.

Advocacy and Protection:

Artfully AWARE’s programmes and projects can provide important vehicles through which participants can help to increase awareness of social, cultural and economic challenges being felt in their communities. AfA represents the interests of the community members they serve through public education, at events and through advocacy. Advocacy should be shared at all levels to ensure these voices are heard. This means at the community, national, regional and global levels. We work with many communities, including those who are classified as vulnerable. They may be located in developed or developing countries and can include women, children, the elderly or anyone who would be deemed at risk. AfA protects the rights of the members of these vulnerable communities’ together with the organisations and institutions we are working with.

Protection comes in the form of making sure all individuals working on behalf of AfA are properly screened and vetted. In addition, the identities of participants in AfA programmes and projects are treated with the utmost discretion.

Partnership and Networking:

AfA strives to form relationships and partner with other humanitarian organisations, schools, heath centres and artistic institutions such as galleries, museums, theatres, art collectors, art supply companies and international artists with an interest in humanitarian work in order to allow a free flow of information pass in between countries and different aspects of societies.

Sharing and disseminating knowledge and lessons learned from our programmes, can create a more powerful platform to influence policy and transform institutional structures.

Expectations:

The overall purpose of our various programmes are to empower individuals within their communities. Participants will gain self confidence in learning new skills, become educated on particular subject matter, can address their own issues in a healthy manner and may find answers to developmental challenges. Community leaders and organisations we work with have the opportunity to develop strategies to address particular issues and work to improve on their own internal projects from participating in our programmes.

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“Our dream is to nurture our own talents and creativity in order to foster more love and dedication among our partners. We are setting the example from within our own developmental process. This example is what we intend to carry out through all of our future endeavors. “

Hilary Wallis, Executive Director

Artfully AWARE’s main, underlying mission is to bring art to underdeveloped communities and explore what it can do for them. The Artfully AWARE Festival will be an all encompassing, holistic programme in a controlled environment where creative expression will flow, and it will be designed to enrich, educate, empower and connect neglected peoples within countries as well as across the global community.

Our festival will host a specific number of community members, coming from different parts of the participating region or country. This allows us the opportunity to host, at one time, a wide array of youths, young adults, and community leaders from different societies, that cross tribal and cultural boundaries. By selecting people to go out of their community and hosting them in a central location, we believe this will increase their self-confidence by giving them the opportunity to travel and explore more of their country and its citizens. For many, it may be for the first time.

Artfully AWARE Festival

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The selected community members will participate in a full week of interactive, educational activities and programmes. We will provide all transport, meals and accommodation. During the week we will operate a timetable of programmes incorporating all of the different creative arts AfA has to offer. The timetable will be designed so that all participants will have the chance to take part in our tailor made programmes by rotating sessions. Each day we will begin with an exercise session before our classes break off to explore the arts with our Artfully AWARE Facilitators.

For example, our art sessions may lead to many community members painting in front of the public as part of raising advocacy. At the end of the week, we will display their final pieces at an exhibition in a festival setting. The media programme will offer groups of community members the opportunity to film and photograph all of our activities, perhaps in conjunction with local media outlets.

The facilitators will work together within their groups and each other to choreograph a final performance, which will be shown to the public at the end of the week. This performance will give AfA Facilitators the opportunity to combine different art forms that will incorporate music, theatre and dance. In addition, it will allow the audience to watch members of different communities join together to express themselves, and the public can learn about all of the issues that were explored throughout the week during the education sessions.

Upon the conclusion of the festival, AfA plans to travel with the performances and exhibitions and bring them to a wider international community. To help provide an income generating activity, many of the visual art pieces created will be purchased from the artisans to form part of our collection of AfA products to sell abroad.

The festival will give us the chance to work with teachers, trainers and workers from partner organisations so they can use our Artfully AWARE practices and apply them to their own communities. AfA will provide a resource package to participants who return to their home and commit to teaching the AfA programmes. Our materials will assist them, together with the skills they have learned within our workshops, in mobilising their own communities and producing sustainability.

In the future, we plan for our Artfully AWARE Festival to host communities from other AfA projects in different countries, thereby promoting unique cross cultural communication.

Photos: Left: Being apart of a Festival of Cultural in Europe.

Right: The music choir of Nyalakot community in Uganda.

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Art in Action Event

Artfully AWARE puts on our own independent event that we feel contributes to the excitement of f e s t i va l s , concer t s , s choo l activities, museums, business p r o p e r t i e s a n d a r t i s t i c productions. Because our mission involves strengthening the sense of community in individual societies by using the arts to enrich, educate, empower, heal and connect peoples with the global community, our work provides a unique and meaningful addition to them or on it’s own. Our type of event is called Art in Action (AiA).

AfA has had first hand experience of the public’s interest in art being created in front of them, providing a medium for people to speak through their art to form connections with the audience. This outlet brings people together to share in a journey of exploration and celebration of the arts. AiA is an example of the many types of events AfA can organise. The purpose is to host an event that advocates for AfA and demonstrates the type of programmes that we can provide. It can also be a unique way to fundraise. It is possible to organise such an event to solely benefit AfA, or arrange an event in collaboration with another organisation that wishes to share in disseminating their messages to the public.

One Example of an AiA Event: LIVE PAINTINGAfA will select a number of entertaining painters to paint “live” on very large canvases in an open space. We will select an average of 3-6 artists coming from foreign backgrounds with something important to express on their own canvases. They will represent multiple regions and different perspectives on art, development and education from the countries of their ancestry.

“I can not wait to watch individual lives and communities transform and grow as we share the experience of working together to celebrate each other’s unique cultures and talents.”

Katie Williams, Art Consultant

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Photo:A very proud woman holding up her creation in Mbula community, Uganda.

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Photo:Children developing their own form of art by using flowers in the highlands region of Papua New Guinea.

Additions:Musicians whose songs relate to our chosen theme will perform at the same time and also be a part of the art that is painted. We will provide a Master of Ceremonies (MC) who will talk about the specific theme and explain what is happening. In addition, we will hold a small workshop for members of the audience to participate by setting up a small station for them. The MC will coordinate and teach the painting workshop that will occur simultaneously as the artists are painting on their canvases and the music is playing in the background. Participants can rotate in and out during the length of the performance. Together, all of the activities will combine to be a visually stunning and thought -provoking event.

When:We can either hold the AiA for a certain number of hours during several consecutive days. Alternately, we can make it a marathon on one particular day.

Results:The final tangible result from the event will be the artwork. The 3-6 large canvases will have very strong and poignant messages that AfA would like to continue to display for the public. The festival organisers, school institutions, gallery curators and anyone else who has assisted in creating the AiA event, are encouraged to display these artworks for the duration of the event if they desire. After the conclusion of the festival, AfA or the other participating organisations are welcome to find another venue for exhibiting them.

What is required:Artfully AWARE is able to provide all artists and materials needed for the AiA event. If organisations wish, they can work with us on the theme, finding the location, provide additional artists or assist us with creating the followup displays of the artwork.

Purpose:The purpose of the AiA event is to draw needed attention to how art can and should be used in development and education. The public will be allowed to watch, take photos and video, and they will have the opportunity to participate and learn how they can contribute to the advancement of the arts.

Adaptable for other projects:We feel that Art in Action would be highly suitable as an independent event. However, we can operate within an existing project and work with other organisations and partners. Our AiA is highly adaptable and transferable.

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Artfully AWARE’s Community Education Programme (CEP) is used within community groups, academic and health environments to educate children and adults about other communities across a global network. We create educational resources that begin as supplementary material or is used as curriculum within the classroom as well as teaching resources that are used for training purposes.

We develop curriculum based on Global Citizenship, and we use our Community Education Programme to focus on communities’ strength, cultural understanding, breaking stereotypes and finding ways to overcome challenges. We are constantly accepting schools, community groups and health centres to participate as we have found it to be a wonderfully personal and direct way for children and members of different societies and cultures to exchange information and learn from each other.

The education package has been built around the UK strategy of excellence and enjoyment, put in place in 2006. This strategy aims to give every child a chance in education. We create projects, which are used within school environments as well as community groups, that are topic based with a creative focus. They can be integrated through many different subjects in set curriculums.

The primary aim of our CEP is to mutually benefit all participating communities within both the developed and the developing world. It will involve close partnerships with the wider community and teach through reading, writing, speaking and listening. It will also include physical education and the arts. The programme will be delivered in different ways, though play, through the arts, through outside activities, formally and informally, and it will be a programme that will be reviewed regularly in order to ensure it is meeting the needs of the communities in which it is being used.

It will encapsulate the whole person and will aid social and emotional development by enhancing communication, teaching participants to become more aware of themselves and their environment and allow self expression. The ideal outcome will be that participants will look beyond their own school, their community and their country, and they will learn from others around them by offering them an insight into the lives of others.

Community Education Programme“Excellent teaching gives children the life chances they deserve. Enjoyment is the birthright of every child.”

(Charles Clarke, former UK Secretary of State for Education and Skills, 2006)

Painting: An artwork designed by a community member in Africa describing how to prevent HIV/AIDS.

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The Community Book Project

One aspect of the CEP is called the Community Book Project. Students in one classroom put together a book containing traditional things within their daily lives in order to share information about themselves, their culture and traditions. Rather than it being a pen-pal letter exchange, it is a book exchange where information from one classroom is then sent to a partner community. This partner community can also be a classroom, or it can be a youth centre or a community group.

Upon the partner group receiving the book and sharing it with the community, the members discuss and learn from what is inside. It is a way for them to receive materials for their own education and an opportunity for a cultural exchange. Once the information from this first book is digested, it is then up to the partner community to develop a book of their own to send back to the first group.

There are no limits to what is being shared within these books. Photographs, drawings, writings, questions, personal and cultural information help to break down barriers and form close links between the participants of both sides-- whether they come from two different regions or two different countries.

Pupils from schools in Chesterfield, Newcastle and in Wales have participated by exchanging books with communities in Uganda. Some examples that have been used are the games each group plays, the seasons and what food they cook. Activities are then devised and carried out along with documenting it for the next book. Those who are participating from a classroom make presentations and share with their entire school what they are learning directly from another culture.

The long term goal for the Community Book Project is to have books being sent back and forth every three or four months. AfA’s vision is that this will lead to a library of Community Books in each place in relation to the different cultures that can be continually referred back to.

The Community Action Project

Another aspect of the CEF is called the Community Action Project. This entails community members and students from schools actively developing educational curriculum and teaching resources that are used for their own schools or partnering communities. It is a way to get youth as well as adults motivated and engaged in the actual education making process.

Often, particular communities may not have the funds to purchase and distribute educational resources. This project will help train students, teachers and community members to create their own resources. AfA tries to integrate what communities already have by using their skills and their own resources as much as possible, while we give additional training.

AfA prefers to develop fully-formed relationships between participating communities and then we research what materials are needed. For instance, a school in the UK and the US can help support a project in a developing community by providing a DVD player, book materials, shipping and other useful items.

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Photo: Children thrilled with participating in an arts workshop in Gulu, Uganda.

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There are many different types of Artfully AWARE Community Action Projects. AfA can develop specific projects suitable for particular organisations and institutions upon request. Here are a few examples:

Tourist Brochure Project Participants select all of the good things about themselves and their community and what they would like to show to the rest of the world.

Self Portrait Project Participants learn cameral filming, directing and editing in order to create short films based on their own issues, stories, history and current events.

Health Education Project Participants produce education resources in the forms of posters, leaflets and surveys based on any number of health and nutrition topics to be distributed amongst themselves or to other communities in need of the materials.

DVDs for Development Project Participants produce DVDs by using the arts for educational purposes. An example is to produce a DVD using dance. It would contain several performances and a visual workshop with the dances broken down with step by step guides so they can be taught and learnt by the group receiving the DVD. Performances can be used as a tool to address and teach about particular issues by using a symbolic dance interpretation. Then, the group receiving the DVD can watch and learn the dances and create a few of their own.

Community Exchange Project

One of the best ways one community can learn learn from another is for them to communicate in person. Artfully AWARE’s Communication Exchange Project is for those communities who have established a working relationship for a reasonable amount of time. Many exciting teaching and learning experiences can be developed from this. It is an opportunity to display many of the rewards of developing partnerships between communities, and it helps feed the interest and motivation from the participants. In addition, the Community Exchange Project can be the basis to form a more long term foreign artist residency program.

It begins with one participating group visiting the other. Traditional meals can be cooked by each group as a welcome to teach others about local food and nutrition. Each group can give lectures and artistic workshops to one another. Then, an exhibition displaying their own original artwork and crafts can be held. A mixture of traditional dances, music and theatrical performances can be shown by both groups to an audience as well as performances about what has been learnt through the exchange programme.

The options are limitless, and it is the type of project that needs to be developed by participating communities with AfA acting as a facilitator. In addition, performances and exhibitions can be used for fundraising methods. They can help fund the continued exchanges and arts programmes.

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Photo:Enjoying the benefits of playful arts programmes in Africa.

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Introduction Games

Participants in Artfully AWARE Programmes may partake in Introduction Games that focus on group interaction and basic introductions to issues.

AfA consultants leading AfA Programmes will use these games to help participants become more at ease with each other. Name Games in particular are useful for getting people to not only remember each other by way of association, but to break the ice and create an air of comfort. These will only be done in the first session and after, Discussion Games will replace name games.

Name Games• Step Up• Catch Your Name• Eyes for Each other

Discussion Games• Building Self Confidence Through Imagery• Story Telling and Improvisation• Self Confidence and Self Portrayal• Solving Issues using Forum Theatre• Evaluation and Reflection

Artfully AWARE Journal

While taking part and working on each AfA programme, consultants will be requested to write down their own thoughts and notes, describing images and processes into an informal journal. This is for them to keep track of their own personal journey as a way of d o c u m e n t i n g p e r s o n a l experiences, and it will provide memories for future reference.

Each AfA Journal can then be kept private or can be shared with others if the consultants wish. At the end of each programme, consultants will be requested to provide a report. Consultants can refer back to these notes in order to help in this process.

“My experience in Uganda, with Artfully AWARE, is difficult to summarize in words, because being there gives you a feeling that is indescribable until you have been for yourself. It warms you in a way that you have experienced a reality which is very different to your own, and within that difference you learn about what matters, and that is humbling.”

Kristy Algar, Play Consultant

Photo:The simple joys of being a child in Sumatra, Indonesia.

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Category OneVisual ArtsArtfully AWARE’s Visual Arts Programmes aim to support communities by using visual art as another way to promote education and psycho-social healing. The programmes are entirely about self-expression, and it is usually the elders that serve as role models. This is why training and including people of all ages is vital in helping communities work together to improve the lives of their children. It is our aim to provide participants the time and space to explore creative expression in a safe and non-judgemental environment. Through the use of art media, play, images, the senses, group interaction and the creative process, the Visual Arts Programmes aim to build confidence, self esteem and empower those taking part through individual discovery. Throughout each session, participants will explore their needs, abilities, identity, personality, self awareness, interests, fears, conflicts and hopes.

Programmes follow a variety of forms and methods taken from proven working models. Some approaches include the need and benefit of an end product, such as an exhibition. Others solely focus on the creative process and how this benefits participants through opportunities of private exploration and reflection.

Photo: Immersing themselves completely in their work by the sea in Nordvick, The Netherlands.

VISUAL ART PROGRAMMESAR

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Objectives• To inspire individual empowerment• To promote the exploration and experiment of various arts media• To promote the exploration of colour, shape, pattern, texture, and imaginative thought• To maintain an emotionally safe environment for participants to feel safe to explore emotions

and to express themselves freely.• To promote and develop group cohesion• To provide participants a space to discuss, explore and challenge issues faced within today’s

society• To gain insight into how one views themselves and how others view them• To build self esteem and confidence• To promote self expression• To promote trust within a group context• To promote self identity within a group context • To gain the ability to demonstrate awareness of others • To gain the ability to focus on issues of importance to oneself and of others• To develop respect for others regardless of differences

Painting and Crafts Workshops

Artfully AWARE’s Painting and Crafts Workshops help to promote inter and cross cultural connections using a variety of artistic skills as a method of communication. The process of putting thoughts and ideas into the form of an artwork is a means of generating awareness and reflection. Giving people opportunities for creative fulfilment, the openness to display repressed emotions, and the chance to develop talents helps them to live positively.

Our core focus of these workshops is working with people in societies where the artistic skills are seldom used. People often cannot, nor will not, openly verbalise their inner feelings. Art allows them to release, express, and share some of their repressed emotions while realising their creative potential and building self-confidence.

AfA’s Painting and Craft Workshops are based on a variety of artistic mediums such as:• Painting• Sketching• Chalk Drawing• Craft Making• Card Making• Batik Painting• Journal writing and

illustration

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Painting: ‘Creative Expression’ by Hilary Wallis.

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Thematic Creative Programme

Artfully AWARE’s Thematic Creative Programme allows participants to individually create their own images and reactions to discussion topics by using various art materials. AfA facilitators actively engage participants to internally think about and discuss what is being created. Image making is an opportunity for participants who may not always have the confidence to express their thoughts in regular discussion periods. Participants work together either individually or in groups, and they are able to share their images with each other, make interpretations and discuss similarities and differences.

AfA’s Thematic Creative Programme is made up of 4 different themes which are:• Community• Education• Health• Family

Each theme contains 6 activities which are: • Discussion Activity• Image Making Activity• Jigsaw Activity• Sharing Activity• Observing Activity• Reflection Activity

Upon completion of doing all 4 themes, participants work on the final Completion Activity. This allows them to reflect as a group how the 4 themes of Community, Education, Health and Family need coexist together.

Identity Programmes

Artfully AWARE’s Identity Programmes focus on self identity, group interaction and sharing information amongst participants. The aims of the programmes are to provide the participating group a voice to discuss, explore and challenge many issues they face in current society. They are

primarily designed for youth up to the later teenage years. Some programmes can be completed over one or two days; others can be continually worked on over a number of sessions.

Identity Programmes• Getting to Know You• Funny Faces• My Personality• Our Masks• Stereotypes of People• Batik Painting• Journal writing and illustration

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Photo: Swinging under the parachute during a workshop at The International Hospital in Kampala, Uganda.

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Playful Arts Programmes

Artfully AWARE’s Playful Arts Programmes are directly aimed at teaching and educating children. Playful Art is the concept of creating art through playful behaviour. Methods of creating art are incorporated into the physical and imaginative act of playing. Playful art is more about the process of creating and providing a natural form of expression whilst having fun, as opposed to being goal-orientated or creating an intentional end product. Play is essential for healthy development in children.

Play theorist Bob Hughes developed 15 play types that he devised from observing child’s play. All 15 play types will be available to children in AfA’s Playful Arts Programmes in order to assist children’s developmental health.

The 15 types of play are:

Many aspects of self are developed within the actual play process, and the programmes enable the children to develop social interaction, physical activity, intellectual stimulation, creative achievement and emotional stability. Artfully AWARE offers 2 main Playful Arts Programmes which contain a number of different activities. They are mainly aimed at working with young children.

Discovering Media ProgrammeThis programme involves a series of workshops that provide young children the space to experience playful art and the exploration of media without the need for themes. We provide a fun environment giving the opportunity to experience childhood activities they may not know due to their circumstances. The programme explores colour, shape, pattern, texture and imaginative thought. Independent thought and choice will be encouraged along with group interaction.

The programme contains 7 activities which are: • Printing• Bubble Painting• Rock People• Collage Names and Pictures• Hand Trees• Imaginary Character• Together

Symbolic Play

Rough and Tumble Play

Socio-dramatic Play

Communication Play

Dramatic Play

Role PlaySocial Play

Creative Play

Object Play

Deep Play

Mastery Play

Exploratory PlayFantasy PlayLocomotor Play

Imaginative Play

Photo: Two cultures coming together in Africa.

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Messy Play ProgrammeThis programme encourages children to experience sensory play, and in turn, is a bit messy and alot of fun. The aim is to show children the similarity and differences of how children of different countries and cultures have interact with the materials of this programme, via film and photography. When the children leave the designated messy play area, washing access must be provided. However, what the children leave behind is a visual painting of their play process.

We will show children what has been recorded for this programme in different countries and cultures. This way, they receive insight into the differences and similarities of how children interact with similar materials freely, throughout the world. This provides them with the opportunity to relate to children across the world via creative expression and play.

The programme contains 7 activities which are: • Splat• Hand Paint• Feet Paint• Roll Around• Messy Materials• Play Painting

“AfA’s projects will leave a sustainable legacy through education, skills exchange and sharing of knowledge that will be continued. We will make sure we provide foundations for projects that will continue to grow.”

Emily Hatfield, Programmes Director

Photo:Africa has a long tradition of creating beautiful handmade clothes and crafts.

Creative Expressive Arts Programmes

Creative Expressive Art is the concept of expressing ones self through art; searching inside ones self and connecting to something that wants and needs to be expressed creatively through artistic media. Creative Expressive Art opens an opportunity to explore and discover ones individuality and entirety as a person with feelings and life experiences, and it provides a powerful avenue in which to express this. The process of creating lends itself to the power of creative expression, in terms of connecting to ones inner self, and the end product allows reflection of self to occur. Creative Expressive Art is a private, personal journey of exploration and discovery of self. It should be viewed as an expression of self. There is no right and wrong of how the artist chooses to express themselves through their art; it is judged only by the artists themselves. The facilitators and creative expressive groups give support and acceptance to individual expression and reflection.

Artfully AWARE offers 2 main Creative Expressive Arts Programmes which contain a number of different activities. They can be explored and used by any age groups.

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Music Painting ProgrammeThis programme maintains an emotionally safe environment for participants to feel comfortable in order to explore emotions and express themselves freely. It encourages individuality in the link between music and feeling the expression between the two.

The programme contains 4 activities which are: • Music Discussion• Imagery• Creative Expression• Musical Sharing

Patchwork Spiral ProgrammeThe programme involves participants creating a continually growing patchwork quilt. This quilt will then be added to by numerous individuals around the world. The patches display and express the diversity of textile art within communities, whilst encouraging an appreciation of the diversity of materials, colours, prints and methods used. This ‘global’ work of art is a visual representation of the journey of Artfully AWARE and the people we meet, as each patch carries the unique story of the individual who created it.

The quilt develops in the form of a spiral growing outwards; expressing an inclusive and expanding value. It is similar to a big story map where each patch carries the story of the individual who made it. This is a programme that is applicable to both developed and underdeveloped countries in order to develop and maintain cultural diversity.

Participants gain an appreciation of the creative diversity, whilst increasing their awareness, knowledge and understanding of textiles art within different cultures. By participating in groups, this promotes social interaction, stimulates initiative and encourages doing things together constructively by having positive experiences and enjoying things together. The programme encourages the exploration and experimentation with the use of their own natural resources and materials available to them, instead of just what AfA provides.

T h e p r o g r a m m e contains 7 activities which are: • Discussion• Colour

Exploration• Practical

Techniques• Designs• Selection• Creation• Formation

Photo: Painting visions of their ideal future at a workshop in London, England.

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Environmental Arts Programme

Artfully AWARE’s Environmental Arts Programme differs in respect to the dynamics of the respective communities’ habitat. However, the overall objective of the programme is to make students understand their impact on the global environment and how they can all play a part to protect it. Our aim is to help inspire communities to work towards conserving their natural environment whilst developing their awareness of what the land can produce and offer them in return for their efforts to protect it. Artfully AWARE aims to tap into their creative talent to prepare them to create self sustainable landscapes.

Rewarding Green Thumb ProgrammeThis programme observes the participating community’s natural surroundings. It enables participants to understand how to get the most our of their natural resources. Participants learn how to be more aware of their hereditary skills and how to develop them in order to create a more self sustaining environment.

Some people have yet to be introduced to the ways in which their environmental habitat relates to the global environment. This programme helps to explain the dimensions of their own habitat by observing nature in its rawest form, whilst understanding the basic sciences that keep nature continually moving. Each day's lesson is developed to empower participants in what they can produce and achieve. Artfully AWARE aims to fuse their working skills with evolving scientific learning.

This programme is designed for older youth and adults. AfA facilitators arrive in the location some time in advance to improve the techniques of gardening including: weeding, pruning, transplanting, cultivating, irrigating and harvesting. They take into consideration the relationship between the climatic periods of the season with the projects schedule. To help prepare the participants, they give discussions on how to better their gardening skills and become accustomed to the tools for this agricultural programme. The programme primarily operates in the field. On weather prohibitive days, the programme is indoors.

Each day begins by introducing the participants to the basic concepts of science represented in the land around them. Going on observational hikes around planting areas are used to help demonstrate the topics being discussed. There are daily discussions on how to create and maintain a landscape in the community’s choice of an outdoor garden or a low-maintenance indoor terrarium.

AfA facilitators introduce new organic methods used across the world to make their gardens and ultimately, their farms, more productive. Participants are encouraged to focus their ambition on bio-dynamic methods, such as the ideals of compost, to develop organic farms. Participants are taught the benefits of natural plants vs. exotic plants and their role in providing self sustainable habitats throughout the world.

End results will consist of small gardens and terrariums that reflect participants’ awareness and ability to cope with conflicting dynamics and landscapes in nature. These are works of art. Photographs will capture these pieces of art and will be used for other programmes and events. They may also be used to generate proceeds that will be directed back to the community to upgrade their gardening instruments.

By developing and maintaining a community’s own organic small garden or terrarium, the community will be inspired to share with others what they have learned and how these methods can be applied to their farming and grazing lands.

Painting: A man illustrates how his village needs a bridge during times of floods.

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Category TwoDramaThe Drama Programmes offered by Artfully AWARE inspire, inform, educate, influence, empower and potentially incite its participants to action. Programmes incorporate methods taken from advocates of theatre, such as Augusto Boal; best known for the Theatre of The Oppressed (TO) and sociodrama and Jacob L.Moreneo creator of Psychodrama. All methodological approaches used within Artfully AWARE’s programmes come from practitioners who are famous for the creation of exploratory and expressive techniques.

Methods utilised by Artfully AWARE include, but are not exclusive to: practices included within the ‘Tree of the Theatre of the Oppressed (Augusto Boal) such as Forum Theatre and Image Theatre; with branches that include, Invisible Theatre, Legislative Theatre, Direct Actions, Newspaper Theatre and most famously, the Rainbow of Desire. Playback Theatre, founded by Jonathan Fox USA and similar to Theatre of the Oppressed, will also be drawn upon, as well as Impromptu Theatre, Dogmatic Theatre, and Conflict Theatre.

Photo: Holding hands in unity during a programme in Manyeleti, South Africa.

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Objectives• To inspire individual empowerment• To provide participants a space to discuss, explore and challenge issues faced within today’s

society• To gain insight into how one views themselves and how others view them• To build self esteem and confidence• To promote self expression• To promote trust within a group context• To promote self identity within a group context • To gain self awareness • To promote empathy • To adopt, sustain and develop contrasting roles• To gain control of movement and voice through collective imagery• To gain the ability to demonstrate awareness of others • To gain the ability to focus on issues of importance to oneself and others• To develop respect for others regardless of differences

Drama Workshops based on Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed

The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) was developed by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal during the 1950's and 1960's. In an effort to transform theatre from the "monologue" of traditional performance into a "dialogue" between audience and stage, Boal experimented with many kinds of interactive theatre. His explorations were based on the assumption that dialogue is the common, healthy dynamic between all humans, that all human beings desire and are capable of dialogue and when a dialogue becomes a monologue, oppression ensues. Theatre then becomes an extraordinary tool for transforming monologue into dialogue. "While some people make theatre," says Boal, "we all are theatre."

From his work, Boal evolved various forms of theatre workshops and performances which aimed to meet the needs of all people for interaction, dialogue, critical thinking, action, and fun. The workshops are virtually a training ground for action in life.

Artfully AWARE’s Drama Workshops use many theatre for empowerment and education techniques. Boalian techniques will be utilised, and other methods will weave their way in and out of the procedure.

Because much of the content within a drama workshop develops depending on the participants and their contribution, it is impossible to script a specific programme without knowing what themes or issues need exploring within any given community or group. Therefore, these particulars are discussed before any programme is specifically developed. However, what can be scripted are the techniques that are used by Artfully AWARE’s consultants when implementing programmes that are decided upon by communities.

After warm up games, the 3 methods documented below will be integrated into programmes by the programme facilitator. Such methods are used to move away from issue solving by way of monologue and to create what Boal refers to as genuine dialogue. Exercises are formulated to infuse a given structure with genuine content.

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Community Based Theatre MethodThe focus of this method is about improving the immediate and long-term life of the communities participating in our theatrical programmes. New dramas and scripts are constantly being developed. The exploration of issues that affect communities are made by people, who themselves may or may not have any experience in theatre. The point is to use drama based skills to help people empower themselves to deal with immediate and long-term concerns. The process of group interaction, of research and interviews, of gaining greater insight into one's home, of actual problem-solving and, particularly, of having a good time are paramount. It is very important that the production be as good as it possibly can be, but it is not important that it be the quality of a professional or highly-experienced community theatre. Community-based plays can achieve remarkable skill and vitality with inexperienced actors and designers, but it must be understood this comparative quality is secondary to the process of community empowerment.

Various Artfully AWARE Drama Workshops use aspects from the Community Based Theatre Method. For example, in one game a participant is asked to show without words a kind of daily activity, and the rest of the group is asked to watch that mime-like action. Then they add to the environment a soundless representation of any other person or object that might be in the "neighbourhood" of the original action. The objective is to reveal the recognised social basis for the ritual behaviour and to demonstrate the associations between a movement and gesture given a particular social context.

Image Theatre MethodImage Theatre uses the human body as a tool of representing feelings, ideas and relationships. Through sculpting others or using our own body to demonstrate a body position, participants create anything from one-person to large-group image sculptures that reflect the artist's impression of a situation or oppression.

Image theatre is used to show first the Real (situation), then the Ideal (situation). Still Images are created by participants that depict what is actually happening within a given situation, story, or community issue. Then it is repeated with what the group would ideally like to be happening. Then, the groups divide into subsections and create steps to take them from the real to the ideal through imagery. Discussion will be integrated to provide open dialogue space for problem solving.

In an example of using the Image Theatre Method, a person tells another person a story from their life that had strong emotional significance to them, especially a situation involving a perceived and felt oppression. The teller tells with their eyes closed so they don't tell the story with any visual "feedback" from the listener. At the end of the story telling, the teller and the listener (now the "co-pilot") make independent image representations of the story using people from the rest of the workshop. Here, Image Theatre is used to compare critically two related contents -- that told by the one and heard by the other. This exercise uses the language of Image Theatre as a way to discuss perceived differences and similarities.

Forum Theatre MethodForum theatre works from rehearsal improvisation to create a scene of a specific oppression. Using the Greek terms "protagonist" and "antagonist," Forum Theatre seeks to show a person (the protagonist) who is trying to deal with an oppression and failing because of the resistance of one or more obstacles (the antagonists).

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Another example uses "sculptors" who are told that they have three wishes, and each wish is an ability to restructure the image of oppression. Forum Theatre- changing the outcome- is now operating. By the third wish, many new possibilities become apparent. Thus, we are invited not only to imagine new possibilities and solutions, but to actively participate in them. Group problem solving, highly-interactive imagining, physical involvement and trust combine together to create vigourous, interpersonal dynamics. As a result, we learn that we are, if not the source of our difficulties, at least the reason for their maintenance. More importantly, we learn we are clearly the source of liberation.

Artfully AWARE Drama Workshops

AfA is constantly creating new and challenging workshops. The examples displayed below give an idea of the structure AfA uses within workshops and illustrates the aims and learning outcomes AfA hopes participants will gain from their involvement. AfA strives to accomplish projected aims and outcomes in every workshop designed and run.

The Old ManAims•To explore the role of family, friendship, community intervention and problem solving•To give the group an opportunity to explore a range of conventions

Learning Outcomes: Drama Skills•Adopt, sustain and develop contrasting roles•Control of movement and voice – through collective imagery•Demonstrate awareness of focus

Learning Outcomes: Social Skills•Empathy•Respect for other’s views•Collaborative learning-- negotiation•Development of an understanding of families and relationships

This workshop contains 6 Activities.

“Connecting children to others captures their imagination for what different worlds might hold. This is the first step towards helping them create a vision for a future they see for themselves and can keep striving for.”

Melissa Kate, USA Director

Photo:Calmly taking a breath of fresh air in a small town in Nicaragua.

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Romeo and Juliet Aim• To provide, through the dramatic focus, parallels with the

group’s own current or previous circumstances

Learning Areas• Peer group pressure• Adolescence• Teenage culture

Learning Outcomes: Drama Skills• Be responsible for sustaining and developing a

number of contrasting roles• Experiment with a number of drama conventions

Learning Outcomes: Social Skills• Speaking and listening skills• Fostering a sense of group identity• Express emotions in a constructive way

This workshop contains 6 Activities.

The Good SamaritanAim•This workshop can be used with a wide range of students as the language is not demanding and the narrative is short. It has great dramatic potential in that it has a metaphorical and symbolic dimension that can provide the basis for dramatic exploration. The challenge of the task for participants is to see if they can get to the real essence of the story, using any elements of drama form, techniques and skills they wish.

Learning Areas•Friendship•Personal values and beliefs•Other’s values and beliefs

Learning Outcomes: Drama Skills•Sustaining a range of contrasting roles•Sensitive questioning of person in role•Contributing to the shared collective process in order to develop classroom drama

Learning Outcomes: Social Skills•Collaborative working•Listening and respecting the views of others•Articulating a personal point of view

This workshop contains 5 Activities.

Photo:The strength of standing up for what one believes in.

Photo: Discussing the role of women in Indian society.

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Photo: A performance benefits the actors as much as the audience in New York City, NY.

The Benched Players Programme

The Benched Players Programme uses theatre games and improvisation to approach modern day issues and problems young people face. It focuses mainly on students in school, but it can also be adapted and used by community members and people from all ages. The mission is to awaken and engage the creative and critical minds of people, opening paths leading to positive life choices.

The main objectives of the programme are to openly and honestly raise issues that concern students and their educators, to focus their thinking towards positive solutions, to raise their consciousness about how they impact people around them and to help them claim ownership of their own behaviours and futures. Most importantly, it is an objective to target the specific critical thinking skills needed to navigate through life’s tough situations. The overall vision of The Benched Players Programme is a long-term, adaptable methodology which allows teachers and students to connect together to their learning process in intimate and meaningful ways. We envision teachers and students to be be able to honestly explore reactions to daily issues that affect student learning; and by using creative means, establish ways to overcome personal, social and financial adversity while becoming passionate learners at every level of schooling.

“At-risk” and special needs students face being “benched” in the classroom every day. Whether through social pressures, financial problems, home issues or personal distractions, students at every level have to learn to balance outside life with their schooling. This programme is for all students, but especially for those who have ever been left out, or who struggle to keep up while facing daily issues and distractions.

Through an actively non-judgmental approach, The Benched Players use theatre and improvisation exercises to challenge students’ thinking, unleash their creativity, and establish confidence in their own unique process of learning as they develop critical thinking skills that will aid them in their educational careers. As professional actors and arts educators, we know that theatre and improvisation teach Critical Thinking, Situational Analysis, Emotional Control & Awareness, Body Awareness, Relaxation techniques and many more critical skills.

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“Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: a n a l y t i c a l l y, p ro c e d u r a l l y, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At puberty, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life. The current emphasis on standardised testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought.”

(Janet Rae-Dupree, NY Times article from May 4, 2008)

We have witnessed fourth graders who ask for textbooks to assist them in creating an imaginary town. Our youth needs a different way of thinking, and more importantly, they must practice it frequently. They must be able to respond quickly to situations such as gang pressure, advertising pressures, divorce, being home alone, overcome body image issues and other situations that impact their learning and their perception of themselves.

Playing theatre and improvisation games trains one’s mind to think faster, build awareness of one’s objectives, motives, and desires, and allows for the non-judgmental, non-threatening rehearsal of multiple outcomes to anything said or done. It requires team problem-solving, as well as individual creativity. In essence, it teaches critical thinking skills that kids need in order to navigate through increasingly complex daily situations.

After a brief needs-assessment with participating classrooms, where the school’s priority issues are explored, workshops are designed to guide students into a deep exploration of the issues, using uniquely adapted theatre and improvisation games. It is a wholly interactive programme that allows us to adapt and change to the current needs of the day.

Example workshop topics are:• Body Image• Addictions and Abuse• Relationships• Gangs and Peer Pressure• Media Literacy• Self Expression and Self Confidence

Photo: Entertaining for all to see in Brussels, Belgium.

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Category ThreeDanceArtfully AWARE's Dance Programmes encourage creative expression through movement, exploring identity, individuality, group work, community development, physical and mental health in a fun and enjoyable environment. They also encourage the preservation of cultural heritage through exploring the progression of traditional dance across continents.

Our programmes advocate that dance is an excellent medium for communicating feelings, through story-telling, physical theatre, video work and performance. Specifically developed programmes are tailored towards the needs of the individual groups and communities; thereby, promoting social inclusion.

“High quality sporting programmes delivered by youth workers can also help tackle a wider social agenda by improving health and self-confidence and contributing to community cohesion.”(Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP, Minister of State, Department of Culture, Media and Sport, 20031)

Photo::A local traditional dance being performed in Utah village, South Africa.

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Often people regard dance as a form of physical activity or sport, and it is seen as a leisure activity usually enjoyed by people in more affluent areas. For people in less affluent communities, sport and physical activity is often not seen as an activity, particularly by parents who do not see sport as an opportunity to improve education and help their children build a future.

In 2003, the UK Government asked young people and adults for their views of how young people should be treated. The aim of the research was to find out how to improve health, education and general caring for young people, and how this affects adults and communities. The results of the research were released in a paper called Every Child Matters (2003). In the research, young people identified 5 main areas where they wanted help and support. They want to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being.

These 5 aims are now at the heart of the UK Children’s Act (2004), and it has become law that anyone working with young people must ensure these aims are achieved for every child. In response to this, Sport England released the document ‘Sport Playing its Part’ which highlighted the contribution sports can make in supporting and meeting the needs of the 5 aims. Artfully AWARE Dance Programmes work towards achieving the 5 aims and help support young people, adults and communities in becoming socially included.

Structure• All programmes are tailored to suit the individual community needs.• Programmes remain flexible to the interpretation of the facilitator.• AfA facilitators help train community and organisation trainers in the programmes.• AfA facilitators assist them in focusing on the aims and needs of their particular communities.• Community and organisation trainers are allowed to interpret the deliveries of the individual

workshops in their own ways and are able to relate and personalise them when delivering them to their own communities.

• To ensure AfA Dance Programmes are meeting our goals, programmes are structured around a 5 Point Balance.

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Photos: Left: Letting loose in a comedic performance in London, England.

Right: Having the desire to play, even without an audience in Berlin, Germany.

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The 5 Point Balance includes:

PhysicalThe physical area focuses on improving the participants’ physical aspects. This covers areas such as fundamentals, strength, flexibility, stamina, speed, posture and muscular-skeletal strength. The overall development improves agility, balance, co-ordination and physical literacy in order to give people the skills they need to benefit from lifelong participation.

TechnicalThe technical area focuses on improving techniques and skills. Development throughout the programmes allow participants to master and develop more complex skills and sequences through a number of challenging, rewarding and fun activities.

SocialThe social area looks to build links and help participating communities become socially included. Selected activities encourage social interaction between participants. The activities focus on teamwork and require trust building between participants.

PsychologicalThe psychological area focuses on developing the participants self-confidence through teamwork, building trust and communication. It also improves areas such as spacial awareness, decision making and accepting responsibility through a number of activities.

EducationalAfA Dance Programmes promote and advocate the benefits of sport and physical activity by educating participants about the body, nutrition and health. Programmes can also highlight specific issues; for example, youth crime, illnesses and abuse. Although a limited number of activities are used specifically for this area; in general, the programmes possess an underlying theme of health and physical education.

Photo: Celebrating through dance in a small village in Mozambique.AR

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Dance Workshops

AfA Dance Workshops are divided into the 5 Point Balance areas with specific activities used for each area. Although activities are used to focus on and help the development of each specific area; each activity is linked back to all of the overall areas. This ensures that, although specific areas of development are focused on, participants are being holistically developed through an all round approach.

Participants partake in activities that focus on group interaction through introductions to one another and also the basics of dance and movement. The activities involved in ‘An introduction to one another’ intend to act as icebreakers to build confidence and help members grow comfortable with their surroundings. Also the introduction activities act as team building exercises for new people to learn and work together. ‘An Introduction to Dance’ focuses on introducing the importance of warm-up and stretching, basic dance movements, beats and rhythm that assists them greatly as the dance workshops progress.

Human Knot Introduction GameThis game is versatile in that multiple group sizes can play.

Goals:• Team building and communication • Problem solving • Ice-breaker or get to know others better • An introduction to movement

Introduction to Dance WorkshopThis is all about introducing participants to dance using warm-ups and stretches. It begins with a discussion and leads into participants carefully warming up their muscles with exercise and stretching before they begin class. This builds strength, skill and prevents injury.

Activities:• Isolations• Aerobics• Stretches• Breathing

These activities can be used to create a dance routine. Alternatively, one or all four of these exercises can help group members get the mind and body ready for all dance-making lessons.

Shapes WorkshopDancers use parts of their bodies to make lines, curves, twisted or angular shapes. Making and using shapes in combinations makes dance interesting.

Activities:• Making lines• Curving• Putting shapes together• Sharing• Taking the lead

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Painting: Made by a community member who shows the joys and power of dance.

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Dance to the Beat WorkshopParticipants examine and dance to the beat of a drum or music. This encourages participants to pay attention to beats while they dance, and helps them to understand that rhythm is an important aspect to dancing. Dancers can use some of the movements they learned in the previous activities but should be encouraged to create their own forms of movement.

Activities:• Listening• Demonstrating• Changes• Developing a beat

Community Dance Programme

The focus with the workshops following under the Community theme, is expressing emotion in movement and establishing a personal identity. After introducing the participating group to the basics of dance, all members should now have a fairly good understanding of why it is important to warm-up, will have knowledge of some basic dance movements, and they will understand the purpose of rhythm and beats in movement. These more elaborate workshops concentrate on promoting self expression and identity through movement. All group members are encouraged to draw upon their own experiences within their community to help complete the following activities.

Improvised Emotions WorkshopFocus: Recreating emotions into movement and introducing improvisation.

Activities:• Out of a hat• Quick movements• Repetition• Demonstration• Feelings

Bringing Stories to Life WorkshopFocus: Reflecting on a memorable event and recreating this through dance. Participants gain depth with their ability to express feelings and recognise how emotions can be triggered.

Activities:• Preparation• Creativity• Performing

Bringing Pictures to Life WorkshopFocus: Reflecting on a picture and recreating this through dance.

Activities:• Preparation• Creativity• Performing

Photo:The community of Kwapa in Uganda performing a theatrical dance about the dancers of disease.

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The Natural Environment Dance Programme

The focus with the workshops following under the Natural Environment theme, is to regain or grow a sense of pride and love for the natural environment through creative expression. This programme is about self expression and encouraging participants to express their inner emotions and explore their personal identities. In addition, it allow them to explore other people’s emotions by drawing upon experiences within the community and expressing this through movement and dance. Programme facilitators encourage participants to look more closely at their surroundings in the natural environment.

The goals of this theme are to help participants recognise their position within their natural surroundings and help express the natural beauty of the country where they are from. This programmes also has the option to touch on issues which may have had a negative impact on the natural environment.

Animals WorkshopFocus: Recognition and self portrayal of other living creatures.

Activities:• Preparation• Creativity• Performing• Working Together

Current Issues WorkshopFocus: To help participants gain an understanding of some current issues affecting their own country and also to help build confidence to allow them to feel comfortable to express their views through dance demonstrations.

Activities:• Preparation• Creativity• Performing• Working Together

This workshop can be altered to become appropriate in any country and for any topic of discussion, such as: the conflict of deforestation, the necessity for water, poaching of animals and the effect war has had on animals and environment.

The important aspect to this exercise is that the topic will have two opposing valued arguments. In this workshop, participants are able to discuss some of these issues and will are provided with information from both sides of the argument. Each participant is able to decide for themselves which side they agree with and why they feel it is important to them.Photo:

Friends working together in a small village in Guatemala.

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The Brain Muscle Work Out Programme

The Brain Muscle Workout Programme is a progressive physical exercise programme that helps children and adults of all ages. It is a physical fitness activity, and therefore, Artfully AWARE has chosen to incorporate it under the Dance Category.

This innovative fitness programme incorporates intense brain activity through movements requiring balance and coordination to improve concentration or attention while performing hundreds of challenging exercises. The exercises are structured to advance gradually.

The individualised programme for schools and communities includes a personalised programme consisting of over 350 different exercises structured in 9 different stages throughout several months. It can benefit children which are 5 years and older. By continuously teasing the body with balance and coordination challenges, the programme simultaneously stimulates the brain, muscles and nervous system. Therefore, it promotes greater physical strength and endurance, Improvement in balance and coordination, an improvement in ones perception of their body and their body related to space. It also gives greater improvement in concentration and attention with a boost in self-esteem and mood.

Principles• Intense brain activity through movements that require balance, coordination

and movement precision. • Constant learning of new challenging movements.• Constant multitasking combined with physical activity (raising heels and arms

at the same time).• Neural Plasticity (changing the programme constantly). The program consists

of over 350 exercises structured in 9 progressive levels.• Voice and coordinated movement following successful studies in The Autism

Group at Harvard University.• Voice combined with a coordinated movement. Following successful studies of

LSVT/LOUD, where patients improved voice quality and many other important factors such as motor movement, swallowing or limb functioning after 15 years of study.

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Photo: The Brain Muscle Work Out Programme in Action in Central Park, NYC.

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The Exercise Fitness ProgrammeFor schools, the Brain Muscle Workout Package includes: Professional development (gym teachers training), visual documents with exercise sequences, community development (parents are also trained in fitness and nutrition), monthly family exhibitions and website content. Slightly modified versions are available to communities and other interested parties.

The individualised programme will include a personalised programme consisting of over 350 different exercises structured in 9 different stages throughout the season. 2 weekly sessions of approximately 20-2 minutes are recommended.

With the constant change of exercises every 4 weeks, scientific studies have suggested that we can quantify it at a cellular level by neurogenesis-- the creation of new neurons and increased functional connections of synapses and dendrites between neurons. Physical exercise increases the brain’s rate of neurogenesis throughout life while mental exercise increase the rate at which those new brain cells survive and make functional connections into existing neural networks.

By continuously teasing the body with balance and coordination challenges, the programme simultaneously stimulates the brain, muscles and nervous system. The programme is tailored for the individual patient adjusting 4 important variables: range of motion, intensity, and weight bearing and resting between the sets.

Programme OverviewStructure of the programme:• The routine of exercises are structured in 4 levels that gradually advance.• Each level is designed in a progressive mode with different muscular and

neuromuscular goals.• There is a total of 9 different stages.• Each movement has been designed to combine balance, coordination and strength. In

each movement the upper and lower body are performing different movements at the time a challenging balance position is added.

• The system will eventually result in increased mind-body awareness.• The programme keeps it fun for patients by allowing them to guess which movement

comes up next.

The 4 Core Programme Levels:• Level 1,The Owl• Level 2, The Hawk• Level 3, The Eagle• Level 4, The Ostrich

Length of the Programme:• Duration: 6-8 months• Initial Results after 10 weeks• Session duration: 20-30 minutes (for very young children, time will be reduced)• Frequency: 2-3 times per week

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Expected Goals:• Improvement of motor skills (balance and coordination)• Blood pressure (reduction)• Fitness Heart (Reduction of resting heart rate)• Improvement in children’s attention• Improvement in concentration• Improvement in multitasking• Improvement in learning and memory• Improvement in Cardiovascular functioning• Weight loss (if necessary)• Increase strength and stamina• Body fat reduction• Children will benefit individually from the programme• Apply the principle of individual differences if necessary• For special education, the programme will be slightly modified

Programme StagesDesign Stage:• Defining the goals of the programme particular to the group• Designing the different exercises• Selecting the most effective exercises to improve children’s health• Designing specific exercises to focus on in the cardiovascular system• Selecting the most effective exercise for each grade• Applying individual differences if necessary

Implementation Stage:• 3 weekends seminars • Interactive seminar with educators, parents and children • Implementing the programme • Brainstorming with the educators for professional and community development• Observation

Monitoring Stage:• Bimonthly monitoring is optional• It should be coordinated with school nurses or school doctors• Monthly regular readings of blood pressure, resting heart rate, weight and body fat

are recommended• Conference calls with educators that amount to 8 calls a year• Nutrition seminar for families, provided by a registered Nutritionist (optional)• Nutrition book for the school (optional)

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The Detailed Programme PackageThe Brain Muscle Workout Programme can be adapted and used my many types of communities and groups. The example below features a sample package that can be used by schools. It details everything that is offered by the programme.

The Package includes:• Training of educators with 2 hours of each: formation, practice, modelling and

exams/monitoring• Design and Implementations Stages• Visual material showing around 200 different movements• Visual material explaining the different parts of the anatomy involved in each exercise• Community education consisting of 4 - one hour seminars with parents and children• Community education classes where families exercise together to promote family

interaction• Website content that includes interactive tools and games for children, families and

educators• Conference calls with educators that amount to 8 calls a year• Nutrition seminar for families, provided by a registered Nutritionist (optional)• Nutrition book for the school (optional)

EndorsementsThe Brain Muscle Workout Programme has been endorsed by several experts in the medical field such as John Martin, PhD Columbia University, neuroscientist specialist in the Motor System and Dr Gregory Lombardo, Md Psychiatry. According to Dr Lombardo, who is board certified in adult, child and adolescent psychiatry and is a diplomat of the American Society of Clinical Psycho-pharmacology, the Brain Muscle Workout Programme may produce children’s benefits in three major areas: motor skills, psychiatric benefits, academic function and cardiovascular benefits.

"[The programme’s] exercises require new coordination patterns. They seem to mix a challenging posture requiring balance together with a limb movement. This may be similar to creating a cognitive reserve by learning a new language later in life, or learning to play a musical instrument. The exercises likely drive more neural activity in more parts of the brain. This can strengthen neural connections in the action systems of the brain. Perhaps, the more you need to think during a complex movement, the more you recruit connections in the cognitive systems of the brain. While speculative, this may be a way for exercises that require you to think about your moves to benefit parts of the brain for memory and for learning facts."

(Dr John Martin, quote from an interview featuring the Brain Muscle Workout Programme in the Chicago Tribune)

Photo: Leading by example.

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Category FourMusicArtfully AWARE’s Music Programmes encourage the preservation of cultural heritage through traditional instrumentation and music. They hope to bridge the gap between traditional forms of musical expression with current trends. The programmes work with children and teenagers alongside adult participation, using folklore as a medium, in order to promote the continuance of community and family structures. We liaise with community representatives in order to determine the needs that will outline programmes’ structures.

The development of educational music resources are aimed at empowering people whilst strengthening their existing culture. Future music exchange between regional, national and international communities will ensure sustainability of the programmes.

The facilitator develops a sense of what the group needs are and what the needs of the individual members are in order to plan music sessions for the programme. Cultural tastes refer to certain interests or beliefs that are a unique part of a specific ethnic or religious group. The chosen music is consistent with the cultural tastes of the group members and age differences.

Photo: :Playing music for an enthralled crowd in a remote part of Namibia.

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Objectives• To promote social interaction• To provide people with the means to express emotions, such as: homesickness, loneliness,

despair, etc.• To keep and develop people’s cultural identity and their orientation according to the culture of

their native country• To develop doing things together constructively, having positive experiences and enjoying things

together• To stimulate initiative• To stimulate people to use their own musical environment • To offer the conditions to grow stronger• To increase social interest• To increase functional motor skills• To increase reality orientation• To improve receptive language skills

Music Workshops

AfA plans effective strategies that involve the process of determining the client’s strengths and weaknesses while including the client’s particular problems or areas of need. These assessments help formulate the correct music workshop to use to be the most effective. The examples listed below show the many types of workshops that we provide.

Sensory Skills WorkshopsConsist of:• Instrumental interventions that require clients to play music instruments on a visual cue from a

conductor• Musical games that require clients to imitate movements demonstrated by another person• Moving, playing or clapping with the beat of the music• Identifying the location of hidden sound sources• Indicating by word or gesture when sounds start and stop • Performing locomotor movements (walking, running, jumping, etc.) to a steady or rhythmic beat• Performing non locomotor movements (bending, swaying, rocking, etc.) to the beat of the music• Performing actions described by songs lyrics• Participating in marching bands, drums corps or drill teams

Language and Communications Skills WorkshopsConsist of:• Picking or pointing to objects or pictures as requested by songs lyrics• Respond to commands to stop, look, start, touch, etc.• Playing simple wind instruments like kazoos, whistles, and recorders to help develop the breath and

muscle control needed for speech• Singing or signing phrases, choruses, verses, or entire songs• Singing or chanting original answers in questions and answer or fill-in-the-blank songs

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Emotional Learning and Expression WorkshopsConsist of:• Choosing words to describe moods or feelings

expressed by certain songs, improvisations, or instrumental compositions

• Singing or performing songs’ lyrics or improvisations with certain emotional themes

• Writing lists or drawing pictures to describe feelings that emerge when listening to music

• Contributing words or phrases to a group song about a specified emotion

• Writing songs to express one’s own feelings

Interpersonal Skills WorkshopsConsist of:• Songs or chants that require clients to name

themselves or other group members• Group songs, dances, or instrumental interventions that require clients to play, sing, or move together

with one or more other group members• Rondo form chants and songs that alternate group and individual responses• Incorporating the constructive suggestions of others in revising composition projects or refining

performance techniques

Self-help and Survival Skills WorkshopsConsist of:• Special songs or musical games that teach the sequence of steps needed to perform various tasks like

dressing or washing hands, practice grooming, personal hygiene skills, etc.

Academic and Cognitive Skills WorkshopsConsist of:• Singing or playing or listening to and discussing songs referring to some aspects of person, place or time• Learning songs or accompaniments by note then performing by memory

•Discussion of lyrics dealing with problem solving methods•Experiential, structured instrumental interventions, such as playing instruments in rhythm or with the proper chords or at the proper time

An example schedule of full programme activities consist of:•Assessment of the creative process•Introduction•Instrumental improvisation•Story about the music•Performance•Interpretation/analysis of the performance•Second and final performance•Conclusion

“I’m constantly trying to advance my musical ability by working with people. It is my passion.”

Ashley Radford, Music Consultant

Photo:Bringing peace through music on a special day in Berlin, Germany.

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Category FiveMediaArtfully AWARE's Media programmes support individuals of all ages to define community resources, strengths, issues and other themes of importance via participatory media workshops. Media training includes the areas of story telling, media literacy, ethics and child protection through media work, interviewing techniques, filming and photography.

Following the training, individuals go back into their communities to mobilise and engage other community members interested in participation as subjects of short videos or photo essays about their lives, culture, history or struggles. Programme participants edit the films and and select photos-- those of which are uploaded onto DVDs that are distributed by Artfully AWARE to link community groups/schools to other regions worldwide. DVD packages also contain background information on the featured community and their personal issues, so that people worldwide can see the realities of life in that community. Viewers of the DVD are be encouraged to learn more, engage, advocate and fundraise for community projects through Artfully AWARE in order to promote awareness of global issues.

Photo:Capturing a unique moment in Central America.

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Objectives• To inspire individual empowerment• To promote the exploration and experiment of media tools• To promote the exploration of colour, shape, composition and imagery• To maintain an emotionally safe environment for participants to feel safe to explore emotions

and to express themselves freely in front of a still or video camera.• To promote and develop group cohesion and trust• To provide participants a platform to discuss, explore and challenge issues faced within today’s

society• To gain insight into how one views themselves and how others view them through the lens of a

camera• To build self esteem and confidence through recorded discussions• To promote self expression• To gain the ability to focus on issues of importance to oneself and of others• To develop respect for others regardless of differences• To learn how to answer respond to perceptions, questions, thoughts and ideas felt about one’s

own country and other countries

Photography Workshops

Artfully AWARE’s Photography Workshops help to promote inter and cross cultural connections using a variety of photography skills as a method of communication. Our workshops are carried out through using a mixture of disposable cameras as well as digital. The possibilities of how large the workshops can be are endless, as it depends on the amount of equipment available.

Participants are shown the mechanisms of a still camera, and they are given full instruction on how to use it. Sessions are carried out by teaching in a group format with individual attention paid to each participant. While participants learn specific techniques that touch upon things like composition, colour/black+white, and lighting; the primary purpose of the workshops is to allow people to become more visually aware and sensitive to the issues and environment that surrounds them.

AfA’s Photography Workshops are based on several types of photographic categories, such as:• Portraits• Landscapes• Still Life• Journalism• Nature• Photo Essay

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Photo:Taking a bit of time out from a meeting in order to document it for all.

Photo:The impression media can make on the subject, the audience and the photographer.

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Virtual Community Gallery and Awareness Project

AfA’s Virtual Community Gallery and Awareness Project is used to help communities analyse the resources and risks present in their communities. Based upon a map, they can organise themselves and develop strategies to maximise their resources and reduce risks to their well-being. The maps and related community plans can be used by the community to seek support from local, national and global entities. Tools, such as art and video, are used to involve the broadest range of people as possible in analysing their risks and resources. They also allow community members to learn new skills in the process and to produce audio and visual manifestations of the issues they are dealing with. These can be used to tell their stories and to encourage support from others in overcoming their difficulties.

In addition to using their work to obtain local support, Artfully AWARE uploads the community's productions (map, artwork, photos, and short 2-minute video pieces from each community) to the web so that the broadest number of people possible can experience a ‘virtual visit’ to the community. In this way, Artfully AWARE encourages donations to its local partners who can support the community to implement projects to overcome barriers to the community's development.

We use our technical expertise together with local media organisations to carry out producing an AfA Virtual Community Gallery and Awareness Project. We train the trainers (TOT), and we provide equipment that may not be available in the host community. Adults and children of all ages can participate and those who have little or no experience in media.

“Personal relationships are not merely supportive of our mission, but they are an intrinsic aspect of the job of AfA activists as ambassadors linking the sphere of art in the developed world with the artistic expression of people in the developing world.”

John Coonrod, VP of the Hunger Project and AfA’s Chairman of the Board

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International ParticipationPartner schools and communities can be selected to participate in the project as well. Activities like contests, assignments or questions can be submitted to the community being featured in the mapping project. These can go toward a learning arts project based on local issues and how they relate abroad to the international community. Issues such as the environment, HIV/AIDS, family, history, gender roles, etc. can be focused on. From this, we are able to film the community answering the questions, record visual images, artwork and musical songs. Then they can start to form their own questions and respond back. This will begin the "cultural exchange."

This format can be repeated in multiple schools and communities. It is the participants themselves, who are answering to perceptions, questions, ideas and thoughts that others have about their home. This is the key part of the project.

Workshop OutlineIn general, an AfA Community Gallery and Awareness Project takes 7-14 days to complete. The cultural exchange portion can be any number of weeks or months, and it can continue to be ongoing.

Day 1• Welcome• Name games and other activities to build trust and confidence• Ways of being with each other

• How will we behave with each other?• Find out how much they know about the project and then explain further if required

• Who knows why are we here, and what are we planning to do?• Show examples of other similar projects

• What is similar, and what is different here and in those places? • What did you like/dislike about the videos you saw? • What would you change/what would be different if you did videos about your community?

• Participants create a map of the community and place resources and risks on the map • What are the main aspects of the community? • Resources, vulnerabilities-- what are they proud of ? • What makes the community unique or special? • What work are the youth group and other groups in the community doing?

• Facilitator creates a list of potential things to film based on the map • Add to it if necessary and discuss why these are important.

• Group arranges the list into 4-5 thematic areas • Group plans the following day’s visit to the community

• Who and how to present the project idea to the community? • Who will get feedback from the community on other ideas and other important things to film and

show? • How to manage the community walk-about? • Which sector of the community will each group observe? • What will they look for? (According to the main 4-5 areas or types of things, they need to consider

problems or issues, what people say about them, how they can show them visually and what is being done about these problems/issues. Also their strengths and culture, traditions, commerce, plants and animals, means of transportation, houses, women’s work, men’s work, etc.).

Photo:Planning each step of a project very carefully.

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Day 2• Review plans for community visit• Make community visit• Do community walk about in smaller

groups• Each group pulls together its thoughts

and information from the walk-about and community visit/meeting and shares with others

• 4 groups prioritise 2 ideas from each of the 4-5 main areas they looked at • Place ideas on the large community

map and add details on who, what, when, where to film or photograph (use post-its).

• Add any missing issues, themes, traditions, topics, and check for anything duplicated.

• Which one will we film? • Anything missing? • Where will we get it? • Ensure that there is a variety of topics and locations spread around the map.

• Training on how to interview, ethics in journalism, child protection.

“AfA has catapulted it's way into the forefront by working on extremely exciting projects. We are moving steadily along while we go from strength to strength.”

Zillah Edwards, UK Managing Director

Day 3•Review of what we did yesterday•Review of how to fill out permission slips/waivers for filming; questions people may have on them•Revisit ethics before filming•Technical training on video (Pre-production, production and post-production, story, format, angles, edits, light, sound, etc.)•Practical use of camera•Review what was filmed as a group, critique •Show tips for filming for the following day.•Plan for the following day’s filming•For groups, who goes where to interview whom?

Day 4-Day 5•Filming•Lunchtime •Quick review and critique of what has been filmed. •Filming•Regroup – plan film schedule for next day

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Photo:Children delighted to be in front of the camera in Gyeongju, South Korea.

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Day 6 and 7 • One group goes to film in the community; one

group learns to edit, then switch• Show 4-5 short videos so youth get the idea of

what they will be doing. • Look for what the basic message of each

video is (how it’s set up to show the story or show the main idea).

• Then use projector to show basic use of editing software

• Editing practice • Split into groups of 2-3 youth per

computer. • Go through the process, first by finding

basic story as they capture the video to the computer.

• Show first 2 minute video on projector • Critique. • What worked well? • What questions/problems did they have? • What do they think? • Do they feel proud, surprised that it’s so

easy?• Continue editing until other group returns

from the community• Debrief with everyone

Day 8 and 9• One group films, the other edits

Day 10 and 11• Finish editing all films• Start translating all finished films • Organise and caption photos from the still cameras• Evaluation, debrief (on film)• Celebration!

At the end of the workshop, all of this data and community assessment will go on to a webpage and a DVD devoted to the participants’ journey and how it has affected their lives and their own community. The webpage and DVD will provide information dissemination and promote awareness of lessons learned, accomplishments and challenges. DVDs will be given to schools, refugee centres and other community groups in order to promote further education.

Thank you for reading Artfully AWARE’s Programme Manual. Please contact us for questions, comments, prices or requests for detailed information.

“It is a high calling to encourage and assist others in their personal healing and, therein, the potential healing of their families and the growth of their communities. Artfully AWARE, through the creative arts, helps children, women and men access their individual, joyful and infinite creativity. This is an elegant and powerful contribution to the greater healing of our species, and ultimately, our planet.”

Paul Saltzman, Author, Photographer, Filmaker and AfA Advisor

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Photos: Right: Dressing up in colourful costumes for a performance in Kyoto, Japan.

Far right: Seeing apart of the wider picture in northeastern South Africa.

“This innovative initiative addresses an often neglected but vital humanitarian service with the ability to empower and create much needed global awareness while bringing together unique opportunities for collaboration throughout the NGO and development sectors.”

Shari Gruber, Director of Policy and Procedure for Child Care and Head Start for NYC’s Children’s Services and AfA Board Member

Photos:Bottom: The love felt between grandmother and child in Sapa, Vietnam.

Right: Stirring up emotions through music.

ARTFULLYAWAREwww.artfullyaware.orgcreate@artfullyaware.org

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