Limited Utopias is a 10 month long transnational youth initiative developed by Makeshift Ensemble (IRL) and Postmodernsquare (FIN), members of the Firestarter Network. It will consist of the development of a site-specific collaborative theatre play exploring multiple perspectives on European core values and the mapping of the process of creation of this play: resulting in the development of a toolkit - including an online resource and co-working space – and a guide for best practices for international collaboration for young people. This project is a response to the current debate around migration, core European values and social responsibility as well as the particular context of the 1916 centenary in Ireland. It was based on an idea that was initiated during the “Wonderous Stories, and it’s perfect as it is” youth exchange (Small House Productions, NL), becoming a practical response to a lack of resources available for young people to access opportunities on a European level both in the youth context and within the particular context of the arts.The aims and objectives of Limited Utopias are to create a collaborative theatre play that can be presented in a professional context, involve different communities in the creative process, learn and exchange skills and methods in theatre making and producing and to develop and extend resources necessary for European collaboration to other young people.The project is initiated by a core group of eight young people from our two organisations but through the sharing of resources and the collaborative process it will have an impact on the young artists of Cork and Rovaniemi, the international and migrant community of Cork as well as a wider community of young people interested in transnational opportunities.Makeshift Ensemble and Postmodernsquare are both members of the Firestarter Network and while they have a background in theatre and film respectively we share an interest and commitment to socially engaged practice and use of documentary approach. We also share a sense of responsibility toward creating opportunities for ourselves and other young people working or interested in the arts.The activities of the project are primarily in support of the main results which are a theatre performance presented in the professional context of the Cork Midsummer Festival and a toolkit -including an online resource and co-working space – and a guide for best practices for international collaboration for young people. After an initial six week research and development period the core group will spend 11 days in Cork meeting with the local migrant community and together exploring the different themes through video and theatre. This process will form the basis of the theatre play. This will be followed by a three and a half month period where the production will be develop further with the young artists working remotely using the online co-working space. The toolkit will also begin to be developed in this period. In order to support this remote process, evaluate and plan the dissemination of the results we will have a project meeting in Cork in April. This will be followed by a second residency in Cork and the presentation of the finished performance as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival. The following period will see the finalisation of the toolkit, dissemination, evaluation and a final project meeting to evaluate and plan future follow-up activities and a public event to launch the toolkit in Helsinki, Finland.The primary methodology used will consist of games, practical theatre workshops, a public performance and public conversation, round table discussions, film making and production, one on one mentoring, online collaboration, skype meetings, interviews, short field trips (visit examples of good practice in both Ireland and Finland), monthly project management meetings and evaluation, as well as small group discussions and a weekly meeting for the participants to reflect on their learning and evaluate their process in smaller groups.The practical outcomes of the initiative will be a public performance and a toolkit developed about our findings about best practice and collaboration on a European level for young people. Another result will be the learning of the participants who will broaden their horizons about theatre practice, possibilities of collaboration and producing, learn new theatre skills and processes, broaden their professional network, share experiences and learn about other cultures and practices, gain the ability to plan and execute projects in the local community and develop facilitation skills. Importantly the training will have a significant impact on the local community on the future local and international projects of the partners and the Firestarter Network and very importantly on the resources available to young people to work in an international context. On a longer term this learning and impact will change of perception of the way of enga
Limited Utopias was an eight month long transnational youth initiative developed by Makeshift Ensemble (IRL) and Postmodernsquare (FIN), members of the Firestarter Network. It consisted of the development of a site specific collaborative theatre play entitled 'Utopia Ltd' as well as the publishing of the 'Collaborations Toolkit'. Loosely based on the biography of Roger Casement, ‘Utopia Ltd’ explored our multiple perspectives on eurocentricism and questioned our responsibility for action in a globalised world. The ‘Collaborations Toolkit’ and an online resource space is a guide of best practices for international collaboration of young people. This project is a response to the current debate around migration, core European values and social responsibility as well as the particular context of the 1916 centenary in Ireland. As well as a socially engaged art project it was also a practical response to a lack of resources available for young people to access opportunities on a European level both in the youth context and within the particular context of the arts. The main objectives were to create a collaborative theatre play that could be presented in a professional context; involve different communities in the creative process; learn and exchange skills and methods in theatre making and producing among our two groups; and to develop and extend resources necessary for European collaboration to other young people. The core activities of the project were structured in order to support of the two key outcomes which were ‘Utopia Ltd’ a theatre performance presented in the professional context of the Cork Midsummer Festival in June 2016 and the ‘Collaborations Toolkit’ launched at Galleria Napa in Rovaniemi, Finland in August 2016. After an initial research period we met in Cobh, Ireland for our initial project meeting where the objectives and learning outcomes were reestablished, roles assigned and the planning of the toolkit commenced - as this was to be an ongoing process throughout the project. This was followed by a 10 day residency at Sample Studios, Cork where the entire team worked together with members of the local migrant community on exploring the themes and the research gathered through artistic processes, games, discussions and site visits towards the development of ideas for a theatre play. Following this intense period we worked remotely for the following months with Makeshift Ensemble taking responsibility for onsite rehearsals and project management while Postmodernsquare was working on the development of video for the show and the management of the Toolkit and related documentation. We also collaborated closely throughout this time on the development of the playscript and managed to secure funds from other sources to undertake a short residency at Kunstcentrum Vooruit in Ghent, Belgium as well as to shoot material for the video in Cork during May. June was the main month of activities for the final development of the play to premier as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival and most of our activities during this mobility were focused on achieving this goal. After the evaluation of this process we then started the process of editing and publishing the Toolkit that we launched as part of our final project evaluation meeting in Finland in August. The main impact of this youth initiative is on the core group and their two organisations. They have learned new skills in socially engaged theatre, producing (and particularly producing larger scale international projects) and film; became empowered to take part in civic life and debate; learned about different cultures both through the process and the research; and widened their horizons personally as well as professionally, becoming more employable through a widened professional network, an international context for their work and as a result of professional development. Further, and very importantly, as the dissemination of the results, through the publishing of the 'Collaborations Toolkit', was also a core part of the project and the main outcome was a very public theatre production presented as part of a high profile festival the project has had a significant and wide reaching impact on young people and artists, the play’s audiences, Irish and Finnish organisations, and members of the Firestarter Network. These impacts are: raising the skillsets and awareness of young people and young artists of the opportunities for transnational collaborations; changing the perspectives of audiences and the general public on the issues of migration as well as on the legacy of 1916 through the play and its appearances in national media; and increasing the visibility of the Erasmus+ programme and particularly awareness of the possibilities of the KA2 transnational youth initiative among Irish and Finnish arts organisations and young people as well as further in Europe through the Firestarter Network.