Youth unemployment has been a serious issue in Europe for some time as the trend since 2015 (20,3% unemployed youth according to Eurostat) is to decrease it (in 2017- 16,8% unemployed). Not that positive situation is observed in Turkey: in 2015 youth unemployment rate was 18,6% whereas in 2017 was 20,7%. This increase has posed a threat to the self-esteem of the young people as well as to the country economy as a whole. Tackling problems of such a scale often requires innovative and out- of –the –box approaches.
Bread Houses Network has the honor and pleasure to be part of such creative project as the Erasmus+ “Theatre Pitching for Employment”, which was organized by Akdeniz University between the dates of 6-10 May 2019 and focused on youth unemployment problem in Antalya/Turkey. The workshop called “All Different, All Equal” tried to use theatre techniques to empower young people and help them present their ideas in a more effective way. Led by the talented actors from the private theatre Kirmizi Kalem Sanat, we could experience various Image theater methods, developed by Augusto Boal as a social change tool, also known as the Theater of the Oppressed. The project aimed not only at developing a stronger self-image and social awareness but also at the ability to present the idea for 30 seconds called pitching. You can watch the final forum here.
The project “Theatre Pitching for Employment” is coordinated by the Trešnjevka Cultural Centre in Croatia and implemented together with five partners from Poland, Greece, Slovenia, Turkey and Bulgaria. It’s aiming at improving the access to employment of people from unprivileged group (e.g. people with disabilities, unemployed, stigmatized people, and ethnic and/or religion minorities). Each partner country will hold a workshop based on educational theater techniques and pitching. The first workshop took place in Krakow, Poland where the Polish organization Multicultura introduced the partners to a method of collective poems writing – a unique instrument which can be used for empowering marginalized groups and expressing their social messages. You can watch the poem here.
The next workshop will be in Maribor, Slovenia between 8 and 14 September 2019.
