Theatre and community course

This is the outline of a course I taught to level 7 technical students in 2009-10.  I include it as reference material. Links to detail pages are scattered across the site, sorry. The powerpoint presentations more or less reproduce the section “Beyond the Playhouse”

Student Area

  • Course brief – theatre and communities
  • Arts project funding bid – Theatre futures
  • C4 Big Art Project – Artscheck file
  • Discussion area 2009-10 Forum

 

1   The community as place:  street arts.

Recently there has been something of an upsurge in publicly funded street performance; everything from living statues to large scale public processional events. British practice is taking in influence from the Caribbean, from Europe, south Asia and the Far East; taking in and adapting, while adding elements of its own.

  • Street arts Powerpoint presentation
  • Art Car Parade
  • Independent Street Arts Network
  • Example companies: Kinetika, Mandinga
  • Bibliography
  • Street Arts Network – Outdoor strategy 2008

2  Community as an age group: Theatre for young audiences
Youth theatre
Interactive theatre / Theatre in education (TiE)
TYA/Children’s theatre
Attached education departments.
The lecture also looks at schools drama and training policy, and suggests ways of looking at finding funding for applied theatre projects.

  • Youth & Community Powerpoint presentation
  • Chapter on Youth theatre
  • Ken Robinson on creativity (video)
  • GLYPT Master Juba video
  • Schools theatre/drama intiatives (online video)
  • Arts Awards, Artsmark
  • Dorothy Heathcote links inc. video
  • Youth theatre – its history
3    Communities as minorities: Equality and diversity.
With the development of equalities and human rights legislation, this lecture celebrates theatre’s achievements, and explores the current issues of culture, politics and identity. While concentrating on Black and minority ethnic theatre, we also look at developments with other equalities.
  • Equality & diversity Powerpoint presentation
  • Talawa Theatre Company
  • Disability arts online
  • London Disability Arts Forum
  • SHAPE
  • Graeae
  • Nitro Theatre
  • Eclipse project Report
  • Collective Artistes file

4    The community as technology: Digital Communities.

This section looked at the impact of digital technologies.
Three basic sections: Digital scenography; mobile technologies; Web2 ideas.

  • Digital lecture Powerpoint presentation
  • Cirque de Soleil – Ka
  • Blast theory

 

5  Community as politics: Community Policy
A quick look at the policy of the arts council and others. Contains some case studies.

Contained some material on how to set up a community project, with a view to the project assignment.

  •  Public policy for the arts  Powerpoint presentation
  • Arts in regeneration – Futurity arts
  • Asking questions about community arts
  • Example – Gravesham Cultural Strategy 2008 – 2011
  •  Instrumental theatre  links
  • Arts Council England – grants for the arts
  •  Cultural policy

6  Postmodernism: politics, power, and forms of ownership.

This bonus session, which wasn’t presented as a lecture, explored some of the cultural theory which is being used to critically examine contemporary performance, and outlines some of the critical tools available to tec / management practitioners in analysing the demands on their creativity.

  •  Performance theory
  •  Postmodernism Powerpoint presentation