Blogs - SkinnyTwin Theatre

Isolating the Art from the Agenda: A review of Youth policy and a summation from State youth funded programs

By Simon Tengende 2009 Abstract “Young people are our future…” A Sierra Leone community elder Contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Why the Review 3. The Big picture-Values 4. Isolating the Agenda 5. The problematic and application of CCD principles 6. Conclusion 1 Executive Summary: This review will examine the Victorian State Youth policy, Future Directions: An action agenda for young Victorians, rolled out through The Office for Youth, how it’s influenced by the State’s Pol… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on October 28, 2009 at 3:58pm — No Comments

Supporting communities toward better representation?

The West Papuan community working group posed a serious threat to the credibility of the Cultural exhibition by adding a component of money making in the exhibition. Throughout the time I have beeen working with them, they have held cultural nights which in discussions with other people have a monetary fume about them which might have turned people away. I raised this issue with them and amongst them I could see this concern had been raised , The following points were discussed: 1. How do we ma… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on October 8, 2008 at 11:41am — No Comments

DESTINATION ZIMBABWE-A CCD PROJECT?

Destination Zimbabwe was a resultant script from collaborating with International students at RMIT. I was invited by the International Students Union World week committee to work with them and their membership to develop a body of work to be presented at the 2007 RMIT World Week celebration. The decision on the final presentation rested with the committee and their membership as they wanted control over how they were to be represented. I sat in the committee meetings as they outlined potential… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on September 17, 2008 at 2:41pm — 1 Comment

Sustained..............a play about finding each other in extraordinary circumstances

A SKINNY TWIN THEATRE PRODUCTION www.skinnytwin.com Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on September 3, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

Duty of care by CCD practitioner in availing diverse artforms to communities not only their practice?

As a theatre practitioner collaborating with a community, more times than one, the artistic outcomes of CCD projects I am involved in are Theatre arts based. This does not necessarily mean it was the best possible art form or the preferred option by the community but my own area of expertise. Is this power of influence restrictive in community expression? And for the practitioner, is this a duty of care failure as not all art forms are made available to the community to self determine the best m… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on September 2, 2008 at 11:30pm — No Comments

Communion of spirits-TOWARD SOCIAL EMERSION?

Sharing lifestyles and worldview between CCD practitioner and community, a communion might be the first step or is social emersion. I was mentoring a colleague recently on a project involving African Youth. It happened straight after lessons at NMIT in the same class and involved multi -art forms. Within the workshop were workshops on drumming, beet boxing, dancing, acting etc for weeks on end she felt that she was not connecting with the group to an extent that she felt the project was noy goi… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on September 2, 2008 at 11:30pm — No Comments

Colonialism-a subjugation of indigenous peoples through continuously refined methods?

In Zimbabwe, we say Rhodes had sugar and the bible and we had the land, after he had our land and we had the bible which was not enough to pay for the sugar. Through history of colonialism, the colonizers have always had economic motives for subjugating a people, their lands, manpower are well documented. The stealing of cultural artefacts and the viewing of indigenous people as objects of study seem to have been central. The most significant showcase of objectifying a people has been the Egypt… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on September 2, 2008 at 11:00pm — No Comments

How do practical constraints impact the amount of ownership we can hand over to communities?

Practical constraints I am sure as a CCD practitioner need the same attention as other aspects in community colloboration, my list of considerations revolve around the following, 1. What are the practical constraints? 2. Could you broker with other providers to alleviate responsibility and encourage ownership? 3. Could you initially as a practitioner facilitate capacity building within/ amongst community to instil ownership? 4. Before you think" of handing over ownership" consider how you becam… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on September 1, 2008 at 12:36pm — No Comments

Important part of facilitation is to recognise when to step aside → context dependent

"significance of silence on the part of others which can cloak unexpressed opposition" In facilitating a discussion or group, it is easy in my experiance not to be conscious or aware of sometimes enabling silence to prevail amongst the group so as for participants to digest and express their views. The significance of silence amongst a group can be a signifier in itself for the need of a moment to reflect . It might also reflect a walk alone in the woods for the facilitator, it can be a sign of… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on September 1, 2008 at 12:06pm — No Comments

What are the ethics of picking out particular movement/ideas?

In facilitating a group, the facilitator in my eyes walks a fine line in how they coordinate and negotiate ideas especially if its a discussion and sharing of ideas. Ijn my, the Ethics of picking and selecting ideas for exploration in this setting are entrenched in power , control and facilitation. By being the facilitator, control and most of the power rests with you on what mevemnet and ideas are picked. In CCD , as a practitoner, I am tempted to think that it would be ethical in realising th… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on September 1, 2008 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Stakeholder Cultural Development.

Empowerment, control, local solutions for local issues, local initiatives all point to CCD being conscious to the needs of the community being paramount to the project or engagement, Being informed by the community is king and the community taking ownership and therefore empowered hopefully translating into participation is a key to success. Every one involved in such is a stakeholder and this seems to be the key to CCD practice. Ownership and control of CCD could be arguably cultivated if ever… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on September 1, 2008 at 11:49am — No Comments

Can you “support local initiative” without feeling like it’s all “give give give” on your behalf

I have experienced a sense of " giving too much" in a project, this was though a project I had structured without much consultation with the community. It was part of a program and it was more like ticking the boxes, The participation levels from the community were very low and a sense of disempowerment and lack of ownership prevailed within the community. What I learned from there is sometimes you cannot impose an idea on a people and get away with it. You cannot also have a preconceived idea t… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on August 30, 2008 at 11:00am — No Comments

Caring vs Inspiring Communities

In class, inspiring a community was mentioned as one way within the development and process stages of a project to keep participation and enthusiasm up in a CCD project. I argued that a practitioner seeking to inspire a community might fall short in many cases hence instead of spending time thinking of how to inspire with the potential of failing , it might be worth brainstorming why a community would participate in a project in the first place, are they 1. bored, nothing to do? 2. unfulfilled… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on August 28, 2008 at 2:54pm — No Comments

social inclusion - a paradox?

initiator disregards the other and facilitates them coming into their realm? Initiator is in a strong position to decide how much or how little control others have on different levels? Empowerment means the people have the power to,-achieve their purpose? Role of the practitioner? Control and power? Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on August 28, 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments

The politics of leadership

A leader sometimes displays an amazing propensity to be reactive as a style in an effort to appear in touch and in control. This is noticeable in a work space where innovation is displayed and encouraged initially. Such a leader can encourage it until it as a flagship to complement their agenda, and if this agenda is driven by the ego or an effort to “show”, sometimes it might overwhelm them and the people they lead. This might end up drowning their intentions and short comings in a mileage of d… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on August 26, 2008 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Emersion in culture of community you are working with..

It is easy to" look in" sometimes when you are working with a community. coming and going sometimes makes it easy when dealing with communities with complex issues. It becomes easy to just address the issues and not deal with the human side of it , the effect on community members for example. As a n artist working in the community, I have worked on projects where social workers worked alongside with myself for assessment and refferals of participants if need be. These were communities with a ref… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on August 24, 2008 at 11:50pm — No Comments

space for - the other

What can be spaced in Who sets the moral boundaries? and how can you before you set these boundaries confirm you have the same understanding of what constitutes morals, or whatever priciples and ethics you subscribe to. Culture-religious beliefs for example influences one's understanding of their world. If then two people or entities don't explore beyond simple words the world of the other, then a lot of pacts maybe be based on false undestandings, these can be explored in this space.... Confl… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on August 24, 2008 at 11:30pm — No Comments

Frustration and Disengagement? A reflection of some communities?

In my critique of the enquiry model of teaching, I noted with this method and structure, it would be easy for some people to feel intimidated, confused, not intelligent enough, which might be the intention and not say or participate in any of the discussions whilst some might feel not fully engaged by the subject matter, rationale, the organic nature of discussion etc then the law of increasing cost in participation kicks in. A need to engage within a higher reflective and meaningful debate to s… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on August 24, 2008 at 11:16pm — No Comments

outcomes/artforms

Ideas inspire communities to come together, participate in creating and presenting. This is a general comment and observation especially in search of a CCD praxis .In terms of artists colloborating with communities, ideas meant to inspire a community in my view can influence a communities thinking/output hence ownership they might claim, its not really community generated though it can be community informed. In worse cases, the ideas if not well researched can totally isolate and result in ex-co… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on August 24, 2008 at 10:18pm — No Comments

Internalizing the tensions that are external-an ability for a CCD worker

Supervision in Psychology and other disciplines including in some leadership structures is a platform for externalizing conflict within, reflections and tension that an individual may encounter whilst dealing with another, group or work. The ability to internalize the tensions that are external needs to be developed, its an ability most dont possess. In CCD finding the culture of another within might be a hard thing if you have not experienced it before, is this where cultural emersion comes in?… Continue

Added by SkinnyTwin Theatre on August 21, 2008 at 2:00pm — No Comments

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