Young Thespians
Youth Performing Arts Education for All!
In September 2022, EDUCULT (Austria) and Reykjavik Ensemble (Iceland) entered into a small-scale partnership when they received funding for an Erasmus+ project ‘Young Thespians: Young Performing Arts Education for All!’. Over the course of the next 16 months, both partners will combine their experience and expertise in research and performing arts respectively, to support diversity and inclusion of youth, particularly those with fewer opportunities due to ethnicity, race, language, gender and religion, through performing arts education. The partners will work closely with both youth, as well as art educators, social workers and artists to conduct a needs assessment, which will form the baseline and provide evidence from the field directly from practitioners and youth representatives on issues surrounding marginalization in performing arts.
The research conducted here will contribute directly to formulating the second result – toolkit for inclusion and diversity. It will be developed for youth, theatre practitioners and art educators, and will consist of techniques, tools and recommendations to address the need for diversity and inclusion in theatre and performing arts in both Iceland and Austria. The project will conclude with pilot courses held in Reykjavik, and in Vienna with the support of associated partner Musisches Zentrum Wien (MZW), where the practical use of the toolkit will be introduced to its future users.
Young Thespians’ Toolkit – For Youth Educators and Youth Leaders
We are proud to announce our new publication: Young Thespians’ Toolkit – For Youth Educators and Youth Leaders, available in English, Icelandic, and German. The Toolkit is a collection of resources, materials, and guidelines compiled and organised to assist youth leaders, educators, and professionals in performing arts education. This 32-page digital publication is available under a Creative Commons License and free to download on this page.
The Toolkit was developed during the 16-month Erasmus+ project, titled “Young Thespians: Performing Art Education for All!” from September 2022 to December 2023, thanks to a collaboration between Reykjavík Ensemble International Company in Iceland and the research institute EDUCULT, and Associated Partner Musisches Zentrum Wien, based in Austria. Starting from the research in Iceland and Austria, through international training and pilot workshops with local youth, the partners gathered immersive tools, focused on inclusivity, that will help youth educators and youth leaders, facilitators of all levels who want to start a project for and with youth.
The research in Iceland and Austria, shed light on the ongoing tension between social reality and institutional practice in performing arts education, as well as numerous challenges in ensuring equitable access to performing art education for youth. The stories, exercises, and methods included in the Toolkit will be helpful to anyone interested in ensuring that all individuals have equal opportunities to participate fully in the performing arts, regardless of their background, abilities, or circumstances. The Toolkit was created with the aim to promote a sense of belonging, equality, and active participation for all youth and facilitators.
Young Thespians’ Toolkit
Editor: Rida Arif Siddiqui
Authors: Anna Gaberscik, Pálína Jónsdóttir, Jessica Marie LoMonaco, Ewa Marcinek, Stella Radovan, Cristina Sandino Rossmann, Rida Arif Siddiqui
Publisher: Reykjavík Ensemble / EDUCULT
Design and Layout: Michael Jung, metaphor.me, Icons HDM from the Noun Project
We would like to express our deepest gratitude for all contributions and unwavering support throughout this journey of creating the Toolkit. The dedication and enthusiasm of Austrian and Icelandic researchers, practitioners, youth educators, and youth have shaped this publication into what it is today.
The project has been supported by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.
Picture: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0), https://pxhere.com
