Theatre and learning in the Catalan pre-Pyrenees
Organizing, hosting and coordinating an International mobility project is always a challenge. Fundació Catalunya Voluntària is not only a challenge but a huge il-lusió where a lot working hours gave their result on creating learning spaces to share culture, knowledge i different perspectives. For this reason, FCV decided to start the Youth Exchange THE POWER OF THEATRE from the 2nd to the 10th of August in the small and charming village of Cornellana, Lleida.
The name of the Youth Exchange clearly expresses the main topic of the project which 6 national groups worked on during 10 days in the Catalan pre-Pyrenees. Theatre was the heart of the Youth Exchange which developed multiple activities based on artistic methodologies: improv theatre, forum theatre, oppressed theatre, clowning and body awareness among others. The location chosen to hold the project was magnificent; Cornellana, a small village surrounded by mountains and forest. The house were we slept was a typical “colonies house”; it was old but really original and it was great place to build a community.
Youngsters coming from Croatia, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy and Romania, together with the Catalan local group lived 10 dies in community creating safe spaces to talk, debate and learning from others. Some of the participants were professional actresses and actors which enriched technically the overall activities. Days were intense, starting with energizers to activate body and mind and ending the day with the evaluation among group leaders.
To make this happen, is important to highlight the work of FCV team: Gemma, the facilitator during the whole project, was a hurricane of energy and contagious happiness; and Laura who was in charge of the kitchen and prepared us an original vegan menu.
At the end of the project a lot of participants already created friendship relations which were demonstrated during the “secret friend” and with buckets of flowers, picked up in Cornellana surroundings, which you could found all over the house. The last day of the project, it was time for the evaluations, which in general were pretty positive but there is always room for improvement to take into account for future projects.
In conclusion, THE POWER OF THEATRE has been an intense, enriching and cultivating project where participants have learned from theatre, emotional management, body awareness and intercultural learning. From FCV, we look forward to coordinate another Youth Exchange in a nearly future, to be able to provide to young people from all over the world, intercultural spaces of knowledge, respect and mutual admiration.