Young Thespians - Youth Performing Arts Education for All!

<< Background >>The EU has witnessed a rise in migrants recently, which has in turn diversified its society, necessitating equal access to information, education, social support, culture and arts. At the same time, concerns for inclusivity and acceptance towards this diverse population has brought about challenges that affect many age groups, who have experienced marginalisation in a multitude of ways, but also in access and participation in culture activities. One of these has been youth, who face similar difficulties when it comes to the field of performing arts. Icelandic and Austrian youth with a foreign background are at higher risk of marginalization as most cultural projects are targeted towards young kids or adults. This project linked theory with practitioners in performing arts education to address this need, making use of the unique strengths of both EDUCULT (EC) and Reykjavik Ensemble (RE), who focus on culture and inclusivity in their work.<< Objectives >>‘Young Thespians’ was conceptualised with the intention to support diversity and inclusion of youth, particularly those with fewer opportunities due to ethnicity, race, language, gender and religion, through performing arts education. Performing arts encompass ‘theatre, dance, performance and spoken word’ and include numerous cultural expressions ‘that reflect human creativity’ (UNESCO, n. d.) and its education allows for learning new skills that promote cohesion, inclusion and diversity. EC and RE envisioned to combine their expertise in evidence-based research, arts education and performing arts respectively, to address the needs of the performing arts education sector, as well as youth in both Austria and Iceland. Through the activities of the project, we wanted to provide creative performative practices for marginalised youth, who have suffered due to the growing diversification of Europe’s population, and issues such as racism, class and gender divides. << Implementation >>The activities conducted as part of Young Thespians included the following: a)Project Management for planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and dissemination. EC took the lead, and RE supported in the respective tasks. b)Transnational Partner Meetings for project development. A total of two meetings were held in person; the kick-off was hosted by EC in Vienna, and the final meeting in Reykjavik. Online meetings were held as and when needed. c)Needs assessment to identify the needs, challenges, and opportunities of performing arts education in both countries. This project result was led by EC, and supported by RE. d)Toolkit with methods of facilitating inclusion in performing arts education for the use of educators as well as youth leaders. Led by RE, and supported by EC. e)Transnational Training to apply and test out the project results. It was hosted by Reykjavik Ensemble in October 2023. f)Pilot courses, to test the project results and objectives. Held in both Austria and Iceland in October and November 2023, supported in Musisches Zentrum Wien (MZW) in Vienna. << Results >>The project produced the following concrete outputs: 1.‘Needs assessment of the inclusivity of performing arts education for youth’. This transnational report shed light on the current needs, challenges and opportunities in the field of performing arts education with marginalised youth.2.‘Toolkit to promote inclusion and diversity through performing arts by improving skills and empowering youth’. This practice-oriented tool was based on the results of the needs assessment, and imparted knowledge and exercised for inclusive performing arts education practices with young people facing marginalisation. Through the activities carried out, including research as well as implementation of the Toolkit, the project was able to highlight the crucial needs of the performing arts education field, which was the first step in working towards a more inclusive environment for young people. The inclusion of the direct target groups allowed for co-creation of exercises, which facilitated an atmosphere of ownership and responsibility towards addressing the identified needs.