Cradle of Creativity 2023

What is it?

The Cradle of Creativity Conference and Professional Development programme is an exciting opportunity to explore the latest research and cutting-edge work being done in the field of theatre and performing Arts for young people globally! The programme includes intercultural conversation, research (both academic and creative, artistic and action based) workshops, discussions, play readings, insights and approaches into theatre and performing arts for young audiences.

We have workshops, discussions and research that range from countries such as Belgium, Brazil, Germany, India, Mexico, Switzerland and The United Kingdom and closer to home Malawi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. We also have some of the best local practitioners working in the fields of theatre, therapy and education who will be presenting their work and pedagogical approaches.

Each day of the festival offers workshops, presentations, panel discussions and roundtables, focusing on a topic connected to the work on at the festival. The formal conference activities take place between 13h00 - 15h00, in a session that will be livestreamed to ASSITEJ members globally, with workshops taking place outside these hours.

By reaping the rich harvest of experiences from across the globe, we can question, deepen and expand our own practices. Ultimately, ASSITEJ SA sees the Cradle of Creativity Professional Programme as a space in which we can meet across cultures, disciplines and perspectives. We invite you to join us and take part in a significant moment in the field of theatre and performing arts for young audiences with participation from all around the world!

While the overall theme is intercultural exchange, the specific areas of focus include: 

·       Sunday 20 August - Inclusivity and Accessibility in Theatre for Young Audiences

·       Monday 21 August - Playwriting for Young Audiences

·       Tuesday 22 August - Performing Arts for Teens (14+)

·       Wednesday 23 August - Performing Arts for Early Years (0-6 years)

·       Thursday 24 August - Dance for Young Audiences

·       Friday 25 August - Arts as / in Education

·       Saturday 26 August - Child/Youth Participation in the Arts

·       Sunday 27 August - The Art of Listening in Theatre for Young Audiences

Our children and young people deserve the best quality arts experiences we can offer, and in order to provide these, we need to be both rigorous and generous - rigorous in researching the efficacy and impact of what we are attempting, and generous in sharing our knowledge and expertise across our network. By reaping the rich harvest of experiences from across the globe, we can question, deepen and expand our own practices. Ultimately ASSITEJ SA sees Cradle of Creativity Conference & Professional programme as a space in which we can meet across cultures, disciplines and perspectives.

Who is it for?

If you are interested in any aspect of the arts for children and young people, whether as a researcher, teacher, artist, theatre-maker, student or interested audience member, you will find something in this programme to stimulate and engage you.

What does it cost?

A. Individual Event Registration: R50 per hour for participation in workshops/conference

B. Registered International Delegate (Full event - R3500; 4 day registration - R2600; inclusive of 3 tickets a day and lunch)

C. Registered African Delegate (Full event - R2300; 4 day registration - R1500; inclusive of 3 tickets a day and lunch)

D. Participating Artist or BABEL artist (FREE Professional programme; discounted tickets at R70 - thank you for performing your work at Cradle!)

E. ASSITEJ South Africa member (Full event - R550, inclusive of 7 tickets, no lunch; OR Free 1-day only access, but pay for any tickets on this day @ R70 a ticket; thank you for paying your membership fees)

F. SEF participant (will be covered by Arts4Youth training budget in consultation with your Provincial coordinator)

How do I access the programme?

Sign up for the events you’d like to attend here

Queries:  Alison on education@assitej.org.za 

17, 18 and 19th August:

Workshop
Sensory theatre-making for audiences with complex needs

Workshop description: Margot and Sudisha will lead a workshop that will enable participants to create their own sensory theatre presentations for audiences with sensory, neurological and cognitive challenges. Participants will explore the basic principles of sensory play and how to structure presentations around the needs of such audiences. They will explore what theatre-making means for audiences with such complex needs entails.

Workshop

Fantasy/ Special makeup Effect For Performing Artists

20th August: Inclusivity and Accessibility in TYA

Presentation

Community Digital Storytelling: Strengthening Voice for Better Access to Services

Presentation Description: Community Digital Storytelling (CDST) approach is innovative in its strategic approach to improving access for marginalized population (Children and Youths) to the services they require through collaborative visual storytelling theatre and Arts that generates community-driven visual evidence and narratives. It prioritizes community knowledge and insight into their lived experiences as the best starting place in advocating for better service accountability. CDST aims to be sustainable and replicable through its train-the trainer approach and technology choices.

Workshop

Crafting Youth-Aimed Imaginaria

Workshop description: In this 2-hour workshop, Katlego Kai Kolanyane-Kesupile leads participants through crafting youth-aimed imaginaria on matters that might otherwise be deemed ‘grown people’s business’. Understanding that theatre for young audiences serves both to teach and to entertain, and with concerted belief in teaching at the right level, Kolanyane-Kesupile will guide participants in building approachable, safe and fun outlets for alternative narratives - while also facing their own subconscious ageist biases. Using a human-rights lens, participants will unpack censorship, debunk conservative fear mongering and confront their own biases. The final outcome will see participants leaving with a basic structure for ways to create youth-aimed, age-sensitive ‘grown people’s business’ and a sample scene from their respective imaginaria. This workshop entails solo and group work, writing, and sign-making.

Workshop

We Dance... We Share

Workshop description: A Integrated Dance workshop, for young dancers living with disability, accessible for all young dancers, an exciting dance /improvisation opportunity to share creative exploration and to make a short dance there of The participants will also share their experiences of this type of workshop during show and tell session.

20th August: Panel

Presentation

Breaking Barriers: Art for All

Presentation description: This presentation aims to explore the critical importance of inclusivity in theatre for young audiences and proposes innovative strategies to create accessible and diverse theatrical experiences. Drawing upon extensive research, cross-cultural collaborations, and practical experiences, this study delves into the realm of Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) to address the pressing need for inclusivity in this field.

Presentation

Heightened Senses – The Making of The Stories We See

Presentation description: Gcebile Dlamini focuses on her role as facilitator and director on what it meant to direct a play with both abled and differently abled young actors. She focuses on the nuances of creating, scripting, directing, and producing the play and putting it in ensemble. Sibongile Bhebhe brings in the research aspect of the project where she proposes an investigation into how drama and theatre methods enable the differently abled with the abled young actors to explore love, acceptance, inclusivity and discrimination in a world that is divisive and not able to embrace diversity and difference.

Workshop

Crafting Youth-Aimed Imaginaria

Workshop description: In this 2-hour workshop, Katlego Kai Kolanyane-Kesupile leads participants through crafting youth-aimed imaginaria on matters that might otherwise be deemed ‘grown people’s business’. Find the information above.

Presentation

Is Integrated Dance relevant today?

21 August: Playwriting for Young Audiences

Workshop

Speaking back to violence, loss and grief: A play reading of LOCKDOWN

Workshop description: LOCKDOWN (English and IsiZulu versions) is a play for children and their communities of caregivers. It is about loss and grief, prejudice and violence, fear and love. It is a play about the impact of violence on children, about children’s innate relationship to the healing powers of the natural world, and about how children’s voices matter. The play reading will be directed by Leila Henriques.

Workshop

Breaths of Joburg: Writing and Performing Johannesburg in Public Spaces

Workshop description: This three-hour workshop considers the Joburg Literary Site-specific Theatre project produced in collaboration with UJ Arts & Culture, the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study and Malmö University. The project started with a writing competition for short-form, original writing by unpublished authors on their experiences of Johannesburg. Teneal Naidoo, Lerato Mahlangu and Zandile Dube were the three winning authors, all young people between the ages of 16 and 28. Theatre director, Jade Bowers, worked with professional performers Lebo Mashile, Tina Redman and professional musician, Yogin Sullaphen, along with UJ Arts & Culture Arts Academy students, to produce a play called Breaths of Joburg, inspired by the three winning texts, made for young audiences, and staged on a public space pavement outside the Windybrow Arts Centre in April 2023. This workshop starts with the screening of a half-hour documentary on the project. This is followed by a conversation between the three winning writers, reflecting on the process of writing and seeing their texts inspire a theatre work. In the second part of the workshop, Jade Bowers (as director of the play) and Alex Halligey (as lead researcher and project co-ordinator) will facilitates interactive exercises and a discussion between all workshop participants and the three writers to explore the productive connections between young people, creative writing, theatre and the everyday lived realities of cities.

21 August: Panel

Presentation

ingemeng / mixed-in: Developing New Writing for & with Young People

Presentation

Breaths of Joburg: Writing and Performing Johannesburg in Public Spaces

Alex Halligey, Jade Bowers and writers/cast

Bio: This three-hour workshop offers a window onto the making of Breaths of Joburg, ... Find info above

Workshop description: This three-hour workshop considers the Joburg Literary Site-specific Theatre project produced in collaboration with UJ Arts & Culture, the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study and Malmö University... Find info above

Jade Bowers is a theatre director and designer from Cape Town. She currently works at the UJ Arts & Culture as Resident Director.

Alex Halligey is a researcher and theatre-maker, who uses artistic processes to explore everyday placemaking practices in cities. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study.

Workshop

What criteria do we use to judge work created for young audiences?

22 August: Performing Arts for Teens

Workshop

Creating in and with public spaces

Workshop description: A dance and physical theatre improvisation and composition workshop / laboratory with the aim to explore and create with and on public spaces. Public space is conceived as a form of time and a research area, a horizon where the spectator can reconnect with the urban, historical, architectural and relational fabric of a specific place. The goal is to produce performances that create a dialogue with the urban space and its inhabitants

Presentation

"Shattering Stereotypes: Building an Inclusive Future for Theatre and Young Minds”

Presentation description: Step into a transformative journey of breaking down stereotypes and fostering inclusivity in the world of theatre. Join us for an engaging and thought-provoking workshop that explores the power of theatre to shape an inclusive future for young minds. In this workshop, participants will delve into the ways we can challenge and dismantle stereotypes within the theatrical realm. By examining the impact of representation and diverse narratives, we will explore strategies for building a more inclusive and empowering theatrical experience for young people.

Workshop

Outdoor theatre for young audiences

Workshop description: Outdoor Theater; A unique opportunity for young people to present new forms of live performance focusing on work that is immersive, participatory, site-specific, and interdisciplinary.

Workshop

Serious PARTY (Serious Practical African Rap Technique for Youth)

Workshop description: Rap has for a long time now been an artform of ubiquitous presence in popular culture for any young person. But it is hardly ever treated as a topic of serious study and practice, outside of hip-hop culture. This workshop backs up rap technique training with theory and study of rap-containing musical genres from a South African viewpoint. It is a critical skills development crash course, that allows a deeper engagement with rap as a famous but misunderstood everyday element of popular music.

22nd August: Panel

Presentation

TEEN / Young Critics / - international/African

Presentation

We are Instructables

Presentation description: WE ARE INSTRUCTABLES uses the framework of ‘dialogic art’ as a means of artistic production. It is a socially engaged practice that blurs the lines between outreach and art. The process aims to democratise the act of art-making, demystifying the role of artist by investing ‘audience’ in the process of the artwork’s creation.

The partners benefit from knowing that the project is process-led as opposed to product-based, engaging them in an ongoing process of discovery, research and practice that is iterative. The original project involved three groups of learners: based in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Belgium. It has now expanded across Cape Town and Johannesburg. We Are Instructables is funded by the Government of Flanders, with artists from Belgium and South Africa.

Presentation

The Young Critics Programme

Presentation

Making work for and with teens: a conversation about Pen(t)s Down Haha! with Lalu Mokuku, Kidding by Market Theatre Lab and Whistleblowers (Verity Productions)

Presentation description: A conversation between the casts and makers of three impactful theatre pieces which have been developed directly involving the stories and experiences of young people in South Africa.

The Market Theatre Lab’s latest production, “KiDDING,” is a captivating and innovative play that offers a fresh take on the challenges and complexities of growing up in modern South Africa. Set against the backdrop of high schools, the play delves into the unspoken traumas and guilt that teenagers face in the era of social media.

Whistleblowers explores themes of gender-based violence through the metaphor of a hockey game: As the lines between the game and social commentary start blurring, and the team finds a collective voice of anger and frustration at the plight of women in this country, the team needs to make a vital choice: attack or defend. A war cry for the soul. In “Pen(t) s Down’ Thembekile Nkosi is a lifestyle influencer unknown to her followers, she struggles to free herself from social addictions. She sinks into a dark hole and is saved by her grandmother's stories. The play explores the vulnerable lives that young people live in their bid to be liked.

Book of Love - Meet Pakistan

23 August: Performing Arts for Early Years

Workshop

We are born performers

Workshop description: This workshop is focused on the caregivers of infants and toddlers. We will start of with greeting and social skills then move on to body identification, rhythm, movement, balance and coordination. I will then introduce props that help little ones engage. Throughout the workshop, I will also be explaining to the caregivers what each activity helps to develop in their babies.

Workshop

BODY - SPACE

Workshop description: The workshop offers an experience of body recognition, from its potential relationship with space and with others, as a fundamental element of the performing arts for children. A body playing in the space allows for a language of dialogue with the public in early childhood. A body moving in space opens endless possibilities of communication between the player-spectator.

Workshop

PLAY OUTSIDE Experiences of scenic intervention in public space.

Workshop description: In the workshop, we will find a perceptive and sensitive disposition to put the body into play, open to interaction through gestures, the creation of images, spatial compositions, collective and individual actions that explore the various possibilities of public space. The workshop is aimed at stage creators, students, cultural promoters, teachers and cultural workers interested in generating significant artistic experiences for and with children.

23 August: Panel

Presentation

Theatre for Early Years: A Poetic of the Encounter

Adrián Hernández Arredondo and José Luis

Bio: Find info above

Presentation description: In this presentation, the directors of the Compañía Teatro al Vacío (Mexico / Argentina), Adrián Hernández and José Agüero share the ethical, aesthetic and political position that they have gone through in their stage research experience in search of a language that makes possible a dialogue with the younger audiences. Children in their early years as subjects of the right to participate in artistic and social events; the game as a liminal stage language; minimalism as a creative search and a production with an ecological ethic.

Presentation

Humanizing the Zoom (Play) Room

The British Council Wales

Presentation description: The project ‘Humanising the Zoom (Play) Room’ began during COVID-19 as a digital collaboration between 8 Welsh artists and 8 South African artists as part of the British Council Wales #Godigital funding. The project was an online cultural exchange with the intent of connecting young artists with an interest in creating theatre work for young artists.

The project continued through zoom and online in 2021 and 2022, and the final phase of the project has been a face-to-face artists residency/exchange in 2023. In this phase of ‘Humanizing the Zoom (Play) Room’, 4 South African artists and 2 Welsh Artists visit each other’s countries, collaborate, further develop their work and present their respective projects for some local schools, organizations and communities, as well as at the ASSITEJ SA Cradle of Creativity Festival. The artists visited Wales earlier this year. The work which has been developed through the last two phases of the project is a play script and a series of podcast children’s stories in 4 languages (Welsh, Zulu, Afrikaans and English). Artists in the project include Nia Morris, Ceri Morris, Sizwe Vilakazi, Schoeme Steenkamp, Miriam Mayet, Nompumelelo Mtshali, Sarah Argent and Kevin Lewis,

Presentation

Babies on the scene

Workshop description: Bruna will share her artistic and educational experience developed with babies from the principles of Sensatio research, which is oriented through the construction of a community and intergenerational environment and based on an ethics of baby care in the artistic field. Considering listening to what the young people/babies (who can´t speak with words yet) have to say, the performances showcase a willingness to listen, create and display situations where babies are placed at the front and as the protagonists of the scenes.

Presentation

Mapping Research Book

24 August: Dance for Young Audiences

Workshop

Moving centres, locating selves

Workshop description: Artistic practices, as currently learned and taught, embody a kind of ‘epistemicide’ due to the exclusionary nature of other ways of knowing. It further embodies forms of erasure for practices that institutions of teaching and learning have not legitimated. As such, practices of locating and centering the Self, the body, and the home as points of departure for artistic and academic research propose an exploration of knowledge production in Africa that rejects the notion that Africa has knowledge without a point of origin, history, or position – centers of knowledge. The proposed workshop positions the Self, the body, and the home as spaces of possibilities for initiating and exploring culturally and socially located contexts for movement and choreographic practices. Perceiving the Self and the body as sites of embodied knowledge is an essential project in South African dance studies.

Workshop

I DANCE IN MY MOMMIES LANGUAGE

Workshop

Investigating Body investment-Confi-Dance

24th August: Panel

Presentation

Chiffonnade transmission

Presentation description: Chiffonnade is a choreographic piece created in 2003 by Michèle Dhallu. It has been performed over 1500 times since its beginning in France, Europe, Morocco, South Africa… This project was born from the idea that traveling across the world to perform isn't the most relevant way to work, in terms of economy and ecology. With this kind of project, we are targeting countries where dance for young audience can be developed, challenged and deepen. Chiffonnade was given in 2018 in South Africa to Lulu Mlangeni, in Morocco to Col’Jam Company and more recently in Germany and Brazil to Teatro 4Garoupas. With this project, companies will receive the entire piece, strong advices from Michèle Dhallu (who has been created shows for children since 1990) and will have the opportunity to perform Chiffonnade in their own country.

Panel Discussion

DYA mentorship programmes

25 August: Arts as / in Education

Workshop

Learn to build better mind-body connection with brain gym and clown skills. Physical play with a purpose.

Workshop description: A fun, interactive introduction to body movement methods developed by Adi Paxton that links Brain Gym, and its body and mind connection with the clown skills of juggling and poi that she uses as a professional clown, since 1986.

Dress Comfortably and bring a pair, or two, of socks

Workshop

A name is a leopard

Workshop description: A person's name is a leopard. You know how it looks, since they put it everywhere in pictures and use it to talk about an idea of you. But if you ever encounter it in real life, it is a very special day. I don't know my own name most of the time, because names don't hang around waiting for you to know them. They float on the wind and are invisible most of the time. They only really exist in the mouths of certain people at certain times. "!Gwē ē ǀeǀeta hi eng-eng" (Letters are inside the flesh). A story is like the wind, it comes from far. The breath originates in the body. Outside presence is surely known from the inside. There is a tapping of the flesh. A name is a leopard. It's rare to know it in real life...

This is a sound-and-movement storytelling presentation and structured improvisation workshop about personal names, based on the MAPP Lab at School of Commons 2021/2022 (https://www.schoolofcommons.org/) called UBUNGXENYE: PARTHOOD (https://www.instagram.com/ngxe_parthood/) which was engaged by Chantelle Lue and Pule kaJanolintji (ߔߎ߯ߟߍ߫ ߞߊ-ߖߊ߬ߣߏ߬ߟߌ߲߯ߗߌ). UBUNGXENYE is an experiment in how to organise and programme more fulfilling guided learning, using a principle of wandering (or ukuzula)—how to be confidently unsure.

Workshop

Hastas as a pedagogical tool in Arts Integration

Workshop description: This workshop will explore and provide a spotlight to learning movement using hastas (hand gestures) of the classical Indian dance form, Bharathanatyam. Aimed at teachers, this arts integration workshop will explore concepts of lesson planning with consideration of the CAPS curriculum. Participants will be taught these hastas and will therefore extend them into larger movements in their bodies.

Workshop

Sexual Education and theatre for Teens

Workshop description: How can sexual education and TYA be thought of together? What performative strategies are needed for this? And why is it so necessary to understand TYA as an extended place of diverse sexual education? The workshop will provide insights into the work of CHICKS*, whose productions bring together theater and sexual education from queer and female perspectives. We will try out performative strategies together, acquire knowledge and Develop performative moments of sexual education.

Workshop

Think Tank Workshop

Workshop description: Think Tank is a storytelling and puppetry workshop that will be focusing on the Arts as/in Education theme. The workshop will be based on understanding the value of arts in education/schools and the relationship between children, youth, people and environment. This workshop deals with Creative flow,the process of creating, encourages critical thinking/ thinker/ creativity/ imagination and how to create connection using storytelling and puppetry.

25 August: Panel

Presentation

Born A Star Express: Empowering Namibian Youth through

Presentation description: Born A Star Express, a groundbreaking project initiated by ASSITEJ Namibia in collaboration with Born A Star Academy, has emerged as a transformative force within Namibian schools. This presentation showcases the project's remarkable impact on empowering Namibian youth through the power of theatre and arts. By harnessing the creative potential of young individuals, Born A Star Express aims to combat prevalent social challenges, address high school dropout rates, and foster holistic growth.

Presentation

Decolonizing the curriculum/ Updated Syllabus for the Woke.

Presentation description: An Updated Syllabus For The Woke is a play on South African history, tracing as far back as possible. A line is drawn between how history has been taught/represented and the effect that it has on our understanding of the world and our South Africa realities today. As all good satires do, this play holds a mirror up to the system but also to ourselves as we seek to recognise where and how we lost consciousness, leaving you questioning ... Are we woke?

Presentation

Knowledge Unzipped

Presentation description: Unzipped Kids uses a theatre -based creative process technique in a series of bespoke exercises, scenes, and plays to address social behavior and misinformation among young people, focusing on pre-teen topics such as puberty, relationships, and body image. Through empowerment and education, it looks to equip young people with skills to manage life's defining phases, functioning as a preventative measure for difficulties such as unplanned pregnancy, mental health, bullying, growth in identity, and sexual health.

Presentation

creating a legacy necklace to heal the wounds of trauma”: Establishing healing-centered arts-based pedagogical approaches and practices in South African schools

Her PhD dissertation focuses on finding a drama therapy training model: innovating and implementing a healing-centred, professional development program for teachers to address trauma and build resilience in South African schools.

Danieyella Rodin is a Drama Therapy MA candidate, performer, facilitator and arts project manager. The shift in her career trajectory towards becoming a Drama Therapist began with being exposed to, and creating theatre for, young audiences. Being dedicated to the young, also means working with their school, family and social structures – which is exactly why she was drawn to the Masphefumle project which combines her interest in young people with her interest in, and research into trauma. The vision of the HAPPY (Healing Arts Pedagogies and Practices for the Young) training is to establish psychologically safe educational spaces in South Africa using arts-based practices that, not only promote safety, but stabilise and self-regulate, build resilience and hope, and promotes agency, self-efficacy, and capacity.

Presentation description: The presentation aims to begin by outlining the project to date, including an overview of its impetus and pilot project within schools. From there it will provide an experiential report from the trainer-in-training model which was implemented in May this year. The trainers will each present a different aspect of the training, including their own experiences and as well as those reported by others during the training. This will serve to highlight the importance of the experiential nature of the training since HAPPY believes that no one can establish psychologically safe educational spaces if they haven’t experienced that safety themselves. The trainees will speak about how the themes of safety, capacity building, resilience, and hope and joy, relevant to the arts-based healing-centered encounters, were experienced during the practical training.

26 August: Child /Youth Participation in the Arts

Workshop

Unzipped: Teens

Workshop description: Unzipped Kids uses a theatre -based creative process technique in a series of bespoke exercises, scenes, and plays to address social behavior and misinformation among young people, focusing on pre-teen topics such as puberty, relationships, and body image. Through empowerment and education, it looks to equip young people with skills to manage life's defining phases, functioning as a preventative measure for difficulties such as unplanned pregnancy, mental health, bullying, growth in identity, and sexual health.

26 August: Panel

Presentation

Co-Creating Theatre with children in Foster Homes

Presentation description: In this presentation, Nathan Curry (Co-Director of Tangled Feet) introduces their therapeutic theatre model through their production Belongings (a co-production with Rowan Tree Dramatherapy). The project brought together a group of children living in foster care and undergoing Drama therapy together with a professional creative team. The children were the co-creators in a new piece for 7-11-year-olds, that was made over a number of years through workshops, rehearsals and sharing’s. This powerful model of co-creation will offer inspiration on how to use the children's voice as co-creator and also how issue based work can help represent an often unheard community. "So much more than theatre, Belongings is an outlet for therapy, a joyful celebration of childhood play, an articulation of resilience and a message that children in care can find their place in the world." Everything Theatre.

Presentation

A conversation about Co-creating with young people Windybrow Arts Centre and Sibikwa Arts Centre

Presentation

10children - poverty/SDG

Presentation description: 10CHILDREN will share the stories of children in 10 different cities around the world. Stories that will represent 10 facets of child poverty and will honor the voices of the millions of children experiencing inhumane life circumstances. The stories of the children and their perspectives are central. Liesbeth Coltof is an internationally respected theater director. She was the artistic director of one of the most important theater companies for children and young people in the Netherlands, the Toneelmakerij, and has received important prizes at home and abroad for her work. She has extensive experience in working in war zones and countries in conflict or poverty, such as in Palestine (Gaza), Nigeria, Russia and Iran. For her 'special merits of a very exceptional nature for society' she joined the Order of the Netherlands Lion as a Knight. (extensive CV)

27 August: The Art of Listening in TYA

Presentation

UBUCIKO BOKULOBA: African Writing Systems as Creative Cultural Technologies

Presentation description: In the globalised inner-city context of African urban centres, the young student or creative must develop fluency not only with multiple language forms but also a diversity of visual symbols. The everyday digital communications landscape that every young person lives in comes with a huge array of complex graphic meaning systems, which create everyday visual/linguistic culture. Besides ancient African writing systems like Medu Netjer ( Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics) or Ge'ez script (Ethiopic abugida), there are many modern indigenous writing systems, such as Mandombe in kiKongo tradition, Mwangwego in Malawi, Neo-Nsibidi and Ńdébé in Nigeria, Neo-Tifinagh in Morocco, Zaghawa Beria in Sudan, and Luo script in Kenya. The Ditema tsa Dinoko writing system, is a local Southern African system for writing all Sintu languages of the region, based on traditional umgwalo mural art, and graphic encoding of beadwork, pottery, basketry, and metalwork, which represent ancient traditions of graphic symbolism. This is a technology of writing of growing in utility globally.

Presentation

Red Vincular. Presentation of the Latin American Network of Stage Creation for the Early Years and its actions.

Presentation

Chain Reaction International Networking Project

Presentation

Making Connections: Swiss, Senegal and Rwanda promoters/presenters in conversation supported by Pro Helvetia

Presentation description: Connecting the dots -a discussion entailing how we create new ways of sharing work across Africa and between the global south and north? How do we share experience, creative connection, process and performance authentically and with equity for all? What festivals and spaces are open for exchange and how can this best be managed?

Presentation

African participants of the BABEL workshop -a project of ASSITEJ international, Co-funded by the European Union

Presentation description: Babel: A European large-scale cooperation project, that pursues the rights of children and youth to full cultural citizenship, and aims to investigate the communication process, intercultural dialogue, and mutual understanding in TYA and more extensively the Performing Arts for Young Audiences. It is a Creative Europe programme with co-funding from the European Union.

The project has brought together African TYA practitioners from all parts of the continent for the week of the festival. These artists and delegates will feedback and present on their experiences and the stories which have moved them in the last week at the Cradle of Creativity, while sharing ideas for how we can continue to connect and exchange beyond these moments of being physically in one space.