A NEW STORY FOR KAUNAS:
AUTMN 2022
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This experimental storytelling residecy was the first of its kind for a European City Of Culture and the city of Kaunas. Lithuania. It was funded by the Kaunas International Storytelling Festival and the European Commission.
As an outsider, I carried out creative research with local sonic arts collective Kaunas Zoo as well as staff, volunteers and service users from the Red Cross. Through storytelling, observation, interviews and playful public interventions 'A New Story For Kaunas' emerged, a performance grown from the theme ‘incoming’ and the question "How can we find and meet each other?" The residency culminated in a public participatory performance event during which the local audiences shaped and shared a new story for their city. |
MARYHILL BURGHHALLS:
AUTMN 2022
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As an associate with the Village Storytelling Centre, I was invited to partner with Glasgow’s historic Maryhill Burgh Burgh Halls on an exciting project blending heritage research and community engagement. The process involved a workshops series in the community, engaging with around 200 locals aged 5 - 90 in various community settings.
In the workshop, through sensitive storytelling exercises and creative map making, participants considered 250 years of the area’s changing lifestyles and were gently invited to share stories of their own relationship to the area and the changes they’ve seen. Supported by professional Historians the groups were introduced to the real Mary Hill, the actual person after whom the area was named. Given that there is very little historical information known about her, we had to imaginatively filled in the gaps... |
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This project was used as a case study in the European Union funded project People, Places Stories (PPS). The project's aim is 'to raise the capacity of citizens, facilitators, and local authorities to engage in their heritage communities.’ (PPS website)
Access the PPS toolkit and find out more about the project by clicking the icon below.
Access the PPS toolkit and find out more about the project by clicking the icon below.
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AGE SCOTLAND: 2021 - 2023
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We believe the voice of lived experience should be at the heart of decisions made about people living with dementia. As the experts of their own experience, those living with the condition are best placed to understand their own needs and wants. However it can be difficult to create the conditions to hear crucial points of view and gather expertise (About Dementia) |
Working closely with About Dementia, Age Scotland’s dedicated advocacy team, we created a robust storytelling resource to support conversations with people living with mid and later stage Dementia. The resource gently focuses on themes such as finance, housing and human rights as well as related policy, taking inspiration from evidence based sources such as Cognitive Stimulation Therapy and the creative educational tool, Process Drama.
I carried out the project as an associate for the Village Storytelling Centre as a continuation of our work with Life Changes Trust (more below). I participated in in-depth training on dementia and cognitive impairment and delivered a facilitator training course in storytelling approaches, creating among other things an Age Scotland - Story Code of Ethics which can be via the button below.
The resource is in its final stages of creation and due to be launched later in 2023.
I carried out the project as an associate for the Village Storytelling Centre as a continuation of our work with Life Changes Trust (more below). I participated in in-depth training on dementia and cognitive impairment and delivered a facilitator training course in storytelling approaches, creating among other things an Age Scotland - Story Code of Ethics which can be via the button below.
The resource is in its final stages of creation and due to be launched later in 2023.
LIFE CHANGES TRUST:2020 - 2022
The “Community and Dementia: Creating Better Lives” programme facilitated by The Life Changes Trust (LCT) were a nation wide consultation through regional workshops and conferences. In 2018 took the pioneering step to commission the Village Storytelling Centre to undertake the national information gathering through their sector leading, creative story-led methods.
I took over the running of storytelling aspects of the program in 2020.
I took over the running of storytelling aspects of the program in 2020.
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The films below share: An animated overview of the completed programme and my contribution to the Edinburgh and Lothian online conference. |
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THEATRE SENZA
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Senza are an international collective of physical performers and spear headed by director and anthropologist Valentina Zagaria. We create innovative performance, carrying out residences across Europe and in Tunisia embedding ourselves in communities to uncover, share and document the stories of those places through performance, film, academic and creative writing. We operate across English, French, Italian and Arabic depending on where and with whom we are working.
Our work began in 2013 on the Island of Lampedusa, the southern most European Island, which has come to be known as ‘la porta d’Europa’ (the doorway to Europe.) |
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We observed, interviewed, talked, ate, mourned and walked, immersing ourselves in the island and its life. We worked alongside the local municipality running workshops with young people in order to understand their crucial opinions, which are often overlooked by the media. We also worked closely with the cultural and activist group Askavusa, learning through them, local dialects, songs and myths. They also gave us an insight into the humanitarian efforts volunteered by islanders and the political struggles faced by all who, as a result of geography, are impacted.
Daily rehearsals were focused on digesting theatrically our observations and discoveries. By playing with our various languages and movement training we drew pieces of the island together and in doing so began an exploration of bigger questions of belonging, responsibility, and humanity. We presented our research through street performance and received feedback from the islanders and those passing through.
Théâtre Senza returned to Paris three days before the shipwreck that put Lampedusa on the front page of newspapers worldwide. On this occasion, over 300 people died. However, thousands have died in the seas around the island over the last 20 years with minor media coverage.
We continued exploring themes of migration - creating together, through this blend of theatrical and ethnographic with purther residencies in the Suburb’s of Paris, the Medina in Tunis and most recently in 2019, in Govanhill- Glasgow, my home neighbourhood at the time. During our Scottish residency with the Workroom and SURGE we explored Victoria Road as one of the most politically scrutinised, diverse and transforming areas of the country.
The residency ended in a community treasure hunt, in which participants where given a small budget to find specific, unfamiliar picnic items in the streets’ shops. Along the way the treasure hunters were met with planted mini performances: primed shop workers provided riddles, charity shop dressing rooms became puppetry stages, even a barbershop quartet appeared in front of the hairdressers. The treasure hunt culminated in a shared picnic, the treasure hunted food items prepared by a local chef, in the Tramway and Gurdwara garden.
Find out more about our methods in the short film below by Giulia Candussi
Daily rehearsals were focused on digesting theatrically our observations and discoveries. By playing with our various languages and movement training we drew pieces of the island together and in doing so began an exploration of bigger questions of belonging, responsibility, and humanity. We presented our research through street performance and received feedback from the islanders and those passing through.
Théâtre Senza returned to Paris three days before the shipwreck that put Lampedusa on the front page of newspapers worldwide. On this occasion, over 300 people died. However, thousands have died in the seas around the island over the last 20 years with minor media coverage.
We continued exploring themes of migration - creating together, through this blend of theatrical and ethnographic with purther residencies in the Suburb’s of Paris, the Medina in Tunis and most recently in 2019, in Govanhill- Glasgow, my home neighbourhood at the time. During our Scottish residency with the Workroom and SURGE we explored Victoria Road as one of the most politically scrutinised, diverse and transforming areas of the country.
The residency ended in a community treasure hunt, in which participants where given a small budget to find specific, unfamiliar picnic items in the streets’ shops. Along the way the treasure hunters were met with planted mini performances: primed shop workers provided riddles, charity shop dressing rooms became puppetry stages, even a barbershop quartet appeared in front of the hairdressers. The treasure hunt culminated in a shared picnic, the treasure hunted food items prepared by a local chef, in the Tramway and Gurdwara garden.
Find out more about our methods in the short film below by Giulia Candussi
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