Educational theater, a tool for improved awereness of the art and culture of the roma ethnos in Bulgaria

Name of the project:

Educational theater, a tool for improved awereness of the art and culture of the roma ethnos in Bulgaria

Beneficiary:

Peoples Chitalishte «Dimitar Peshev — 1998» — Plovdiv

Operational programme:

Cultural Entrepreneurship, Heritage and Cooperation

Priority:

Awareness of arts and culture of ethnic and cultural minorities improved (Roma focus)

Name of procedure:

First call for project proposals under Outcome 3 “Awareness of arts and culture of ethnic and cultural minorities improved (Roma focus)”

Deadline:

14 months

Short description of the project:

The project proposal meets the need for better understanding between the general population and the cultures of minorities with focus on the Roma. The overall objective of the project is to improve the situation of the Roma in Bulgaria, using culture and art as a tool for developing skills, capacity and as a pathway to education, as well as to stimulate greater social cohesion in Bulgaria through improved mutual understanding as a bilateral process between the general population and the cultures of minorities. The target group of the project are 200 Roma children and young people from Stolipinovo district in Plovdiv and villages around the city. The project will include also 10 young Roma artists and art students. In the presentation of the project products representatives of different ethnic groups from the region of Plovdiv and Lom will be involved - more than 500 people. The focus of the project will be the inclusion of 60 children and young people in theater workshops led by a professional Roma actor and NATFA graduate, who will prepare two theater plays - one based on a Bulgarian author text and the other on the topic of traditional Roma wedding, with public performances in Plovdiv. The process will be filmed and a short film will be produced and disseminated in Bulgarian and English. A parallel ethnographic study of the Roma wedding as a cultural phenomenon will be carried out in Plovdiv and Lom areas, and the results will be presented at two educational seminars in the two cities. The project will be finalized with two press conferences in Plovdiv and Lom, which will precede the opening of two photo exhibitions of 50 art photographs to further promote the results of the project and its implementation. To ensure successful implementation of the project and the events, the teams of the applicant and the partner will be trained in competences and skills to organize and conduct public cultural and educational events. A bilingual project website will be developed.