CTW2012 - Evaluation Report by We are Frilly

CONTACTING THE WORLD

2012

{the evaluation report}

CONTENTS

context baselines to movement

March Meet Evaluation Processes Festival Week Evaluation Processes Toolkits

company selection what was ctw2012? companies: boundless productions companies: crown troupe of africa companies: yard youth theatre companies: moradokmai companies: cyac companies: arts-in-action wordsmiths alumni company: first wave audience experience volunteers schools digital platforms & social media venue staff artist facilitator & artist mentor finance outcomes & progression evaluation recommendations credits

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CONTEXT

History

Contact Theatre were still determined to deliver the festival as part of its core programme, and succeeded with the twinning of 6 companies - a scaled-down version of the earlier ambition of working with 10 companies.

Even though it is the 10th anniversary of this truly pioneering theatre festival for young people, you would be forgiven if you didn’t know what it is. This bi-annual festival began from a conversation between two artists, Noel Grieg 1 and Kully Thiary 2, back in 2000 to twin a UK company with an Indian company for collaboration, exchange and the creation of new work inspired by each other.

Money

The first festival twinned 6 companies as part of the Commonwealth Games’ cultural activity, more recently in 2008 with the festival moved to Liverpool, 12 companies were twinned, and in 2008 Each year the ambition remains to grow and develop: to twin as many international young people’s companies as possible with UK based theatre companies. As one festival draws to a close - the planning is already beginning for the next, and as CTW2012 fell to the backdrop of the Queen’s Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics the ambition for growth remained.

New corporate partnerships have been developed since last year’s festival with Duerr’s, Yaba and Barbakan Delicatessen.

Funding has continued from Arts Council England, with new funding agreements from the Granada Foundation and the Zochonis Charitable trust.

Energy The passion and commitment shown by staff from Contact to deliver this festival is just as evident in the companies selected to participate. For the members of staff, alumni companies present and returning volunteers, this year’s festival brought a different energy compared to earlier years.

Ambition vs. realisation The final workshop of 2008 saw the greatest ambitions emerge: companies suggested plans for a fortnight-long festival, a feature role within the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, and longer-term sponsorship.

For those who were experiencing CTW for the first time - the connections, cultural sharing and creativity experienced still delivered a life-changing experience.

With the effects of the global financial crisis resulting in fewer funding streams and increased application demand, the hopes of developing longer-term sponsorship during this Olympic period were restricted. This also led to the professional development programme being deferred for 2012.

“the humble spirit inspires transcendental creativity.” - Emma, CYAC, 2012

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noël_Greig - accessed September 2012 2. http://twitter.com/kthiarai - accessed September 2012

THE HEART OF CTW2012 Selection & Twinning Utilising networks and through open callouts youth theatre groups around the world are invited to apply. A two-stage application process is used, starting with a basic form and finishing with a video piece. Groups are selected from this material, and are then commited to the project - the next stage of which is the twinning. Twinning is a key part of this festival. This isn’t simply a festival showcasing new work, but a 9-month period of shared experiences, creative responses and learning that results in new theatre performances directly influenced by the collaborative process. The social and professional learning that takes place is personal to each individual. With exchange visits, social media platforms and an artist facilitator to help support that dialogue and creativity, the outcomes and work produced cannot be planned for.

Major Obstacles An important factor to highlight in this year’s festival is the absence of one full company. Due to rejected visa applications one of the visiting companies could only send two representatives of their company along with a film of their performance. The social connection and collaborations that are the foundations of this festival meant that this loss was felt throughout the week, however the shift in perspective that this created only fuelled a greater desire, passion and commitment to theatre, art, the festival and in sharing experiences from the participants who were present to the company who were still left at home.

Crown Troupe have been here in spirit through the video and their two company members and I am SO inspired to continue our collaboration! - tablecloth quote, Friday “

”

Another amendment to the festival was the street performance. In previous years the companies have collaborated and performed as part of a street parade through Manchester. This year the companies were divided into smaller groups to create a performance to be staged in the family tent at the Mela Festival. Sadly due to the unavoidably dismal summer weather, the event was cancelled due to the state of the site. This allowed for greater show rehearsal time for companies within the week instead of working on their Mela performances. The Mela pieces were shared with each other on the final day, however it meant the festival, the companies and the collaboration had lost another outlet for engaging a wider audience in the programme.

New Developments As the festival format adapted to the current climate its ambition still pushed the festival in new directions. This year’s festival tested the boundaries of using technology in interesting ways. With the explosion of Twitter and other newer platforms such as Instagram, alongside the development of live streaming and Telepresence technology, CTW2012 took on the challenge of embracing the digital community as much as possible throughout the festival and across the 9-month collaboration process. The other new addition to this year’s festival was the inclusion of school groups for the first time. Embracing the next generation of local young people, and raising their awareness of Contact, three Manchester schools were also twinned with participating international companies. Schools were invited to share the creative challenges, join in the conversations, learn about theatre, experience new cultures and to create a new piece of work for festival week.

“I think opportunities for theatre are rare, especially good theatre for young people - therefore the schools performance was not only a beautiful involvement but also a fantastic chance for the kids and a way of keeping theatre alive and thriving.” - bodymap, Boundless member 2

BASELINES TO MOVEMENT WHY WE MEASURED IT

Frilly were commissioned to report upon the sustainability of the festival and to deepen understanding into the range of benefits and challenges to all key stakeholders - including planned and unexpected outcomes. We have gathered evidence reflecting upon all elements of the festival with a focus on the festivalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to meet its aims and objectives from key funders alongside Contactâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core ambitions.

We believe the success of CTW2012 can and should be evidenced through: 1. 2. 3. 4.

What is evaluation? It is a means of proving and improving what has already taken place to measure the impact and value of a programme of work. Evaluation is an artform in itself: producing creative outputs, learning new skills, and sharing new experiences. By documenting the qualitative narrative, we are contextualising the data gathered & vice versa. Our report will present both qualitative and quantitative data hand-in-hand to enable readers to share in the journey and experiences of individuals and groups impacted upon as part of CTW2012.

the experiences of those involved the artistic quality of the work created the experiences of the audience the quantitative data collected

It is also important to reflect upon the economic and social impact of the festival on its host city, Manchester through the exchange visits and the mass sharing of festival week. Reflecting on the impact of the scaled down festival will support the case for the full scope of the festival ambition to be realised.

BASELINES TO MOVEMENT HOW WE MEASURED IT

We joined the project after the twin visits to the international companies had taken place and just before the March meet, where the international companies visited the UK, and so we were conscious of evaluation methodologies being a late starter in this process.

The key remit of the evaluation methodologies employed were to be as creative as possible, steering clear of traditional questionnaires. We were conscious of the demands on the company members, the schools and the volunteers during festival week and so deliberately kept activities as light, engaging and flexible as possible to suit the schedule of activities, and to hopefully slot seamlessly into the CTW experience without feeling like an added ‘burden’ to anyone.

As the completion of creative tasks by both the companies and the schools were behind schedule, it was agreed that additional burdens of contact and questions from another source would have been counter productive to the objectives of the festival being achieved. With this in mind we focused our methodologies on the March meet and festival week, with us observing the content and interactions on the festival’s social media accounts as the main documentation source for the 9-month exchange.

The following pages outline the range of methodologies we employed to collect data and information, and the types of information we gathered.

MARCH MEET EVALUATION PROCESSES

Twins creative blog workshop Inspired by an icebreaker task the twin representatives discovered more about each other and Contact for a joint blog post »» »»

Blog posts Notes

Schools Washing Line A scale of comments – pre and post activity the young people were asked a series of questions based on skills and knowledge to be placed on a scale of confidence level »» »» »» »»

Photographs Notes Comments Scale

Observations Workshop and tech rehearsal observations »» »»

Photographs Notes

FESTIVAL WEEK EVALUATION PROCESSES

Dot Voting

Post-it Feedback

Volunteer Zines

Audience members were given 5 sticky dots and asked to place them on 5 scales of experience after each performance

To supplement the dot voting volunteers asked audience members for feedback comments post show

Mini magazines for quick daily comments reflecting on their experiences and observations - sized to fit inside their lanyards to be with them all the time

»» »»

Photographs Charts

Photographs Notes

»»

Zines

Body Mapping

Six word stories

Interviews

Tablecloth doodles

A drawn outline of one member from each company used as catalyst for reflection at start and end of festival week. Body parts related to specific questions

Creative writing task. Everyone wrote a ‘reflective story’ in 6 words to sum up their time at CTW2012. Inspired by a challenge Ernest Hemingway was set in the 1920’s.

Recorded interviews with all companies on their journeys, and the intent behind their work

Open activity in the Contact foyer for thoughts and responses to a series of changing questions based upon the festival day

»» »»

Photographs Bodies

»» »» »»

Photographs Stories

Audio recordings Photographs Notes

»» »»

Photographs Tablecloths

FESTIVAL WEEK EVALUATION PROCESSES

Presentations In small groups the school children shared the learning and journeys experienced with their twins to each other in 5-minute presentations »» »»

Photographs Film footage

Post Show discussion Activity Working with the artist mentor to instigate creative reflection tasks related to the different shows »» »» »»

Post Show Discussion Q&A

Afternoon discussion

An opportunity for the companies to quiz each other on their shows

Another opportunity to explore issues and topics raised in the post show discussions in more depth.

»» »» »»

Audio recordings Photographs Film footage

»» »» »»

Audio recordings Photographs Film footage

Post-it Q&A

Workshop Attendance

Shows

Visual documentation

Companies and schools shared their learning and knowledge gained from the different companies

We attended and observed workshops lead by each company designed to share skills and creative processes with their peers

Attendance at all shows

Film and photos taken across the week

»» »» »» »»

Photographs Post-its Charts Notes

»» »» »» »»

»» »»

Photographs Audio recordings Notes Film footage

Photographs Notes

»» »»

Photographs Film footage

POST FESTIVAL EVALUATION PROCESSES Online survey Survey Monkey – one survey for staff, and one survey for volunteers to reflect upon the impact and challenges of the programme »» »»

Quantitative data Qualitative feedback

Workshop Attendance at final evaluation workshop with CTW2012 core team – a final review as plans for 2014 are already in development »» »» »»

Notes Minutes Photographs

Social media review Examining NIng, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other social media activity »» »» »»

Quantitative data Analysis of engagement Qualitative statements

Comparison & stats Comparison of previous CTWs – using reports, looking at online information. Additionally quantitative collation of all data – facts and stats »» »» »» »»

Quantitative data Past report data Qualitative commentary Charts

TOOLKITS

To inform the collection of data and to help us analyse the wealth of qualitative material collated we have selected three toolkits that best reflect the anticipated objectives and outcomes of the festival. These offer three different scales of measurement enabling us to view CTW from a range of angles. 1. 2. 3.

Museums, Libraries & Archives ‘Inspiring Learning Framework’ Independent Theatre Council’s ‘Capturing the Audience Experience Handbook’ West Midlands Cultural Observatory’s ‘Economic Impact Toolkit’

1. Inspiring Learning Framework how they define a learning organisation as one that develops and encourages the following:

With the core ambitions of Contact underpinning this programme and the collaborative process of sharing, creation and showcasing between the young people lying at the heart of CTW, the Inspiring Learning Framework was an appropriate toolkit to utilise.

»»Shared vision of its role and purpose »»Initiative, teamwork and flexible approaches »»Personal and professional development »»Openness to new ideas and approaches3

“Inspiring learning is built on a broad and inclusive definition of learning. We believe that learning:

Against Contact’s core values of:

»»Is a process of active engagement with experience »»Is what people do when they want to make sense of the world »»Can include the development of skills, knowledge, understanding, values, ideas or feelings

»»A young people centred approach to decision making »»Artistic excellence, integrity and creative risk taking »»Respect for diversity of cultures, creativity, and understanding within and between communities »»Development of new artists, audiences and practitioners reaching under served and excluded young people who may not have connected to theatre or the arts.4

There are five Generic Learning Outcomes which: »»Describe what and how people learn »»Help you to identify and evidence the benefits for people of taking part in activities »»Have a proven track record of measuring outcomes”1 The Museum, Libraries and Archives services developed this framework for their organisations - but their broad definition of learning as “active engagement with experience”2 reflects perfectly the CTW experience, particularly when comparing

It is clear that this toolkit is appropriate for this evaluation as what it measures is not museum, library or archivespecific experiences, but the experience of learning as a whole and through using Generic Learning Outcomes we can apply measureable benefits to first-hand participant narratives in a systematic way.

1 http://inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk/ - accessed September 2012 2 http://inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk/learning/index.html - accessed September 2012

3 http://inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk/learning/index.html - accessed September 2012 4 http://contactmcr.com/about/what-we-do/values/ - accessed September 2012

Example Enjoyment, Inspiration & Creativity statement

“New: people, stories, venue, inspiration me” - 6 word story, final day - Bukola, Crown Troupe

Example Knowledge & Understanding statement

“Discussing american social issues with Marvin” - Tablecloth quote, in response to the prompt “What are you looking forward to today?”

Example Skills statement

Funky dance moves with Courtney from Boundless”

“

- “What did you learn today?” zine response, Joe, Volunteer Coordinator

2. Capturing the audience experience: a handbook for the theatre “I thought that it was not necessary to rate the quality of the shows as an audience member, as I think that the point of CTW is the connection between the twins and the experience for the young people, not the quality of the work produced. ... it is not about the final product but about the journey that the performers have made”1 Whilst the heart of CTW consists of strong collaborative processes, it also aspires to produce work of high artistic quality, simultaneously elevating the status of young people’s theatre. We knew that dot voting would be a quick, anonymous activity suitable for a large number of participants or audience members to share their opinions easily - but as participatory visual artists we sought guidance in framing the questions through which to gauge the audience experience. For this we utilised a sample of the suggested questions from the Independent Theatre Council’s handbook that was made by the Centre for Well-being at NEF (New Economics Foundation) in order to measure what matters - to participants, audiences and funders. “The capacity of theatre to deliver meaning, entertainment and a shared experience gives it the potential to deliver a deeper impact on society that goes far beyond the economic or the instrumental.”2

This handbook provides a model for theatres to understand the audiences’ experiences, and a language for describing how audiences experience a theatre’s programme. The audience’s experience of the new work showcased in the festival measured against the intent of the pieces (shared by each company) was something we wanted to measure in terms of artistic quality, success and relevance. The immediacy offered through dot voting allowed audiences to see whether their feelings were mirrored by other audience members in an anonymous way. The visual qualities of dot voting enabled companies to quickly gauge at a glance the audience’s response to their work. Dot voting is not a nuanced response, so it was then contextualised further through vox pops collected by frontof-house staff.

3. Economic Impact Toolkit In order to reflect effectively on how CTW connects to its host city, as well as provide a solution for a toolkit to be utilised to greater effect in future year evaluations, we wanted to use a relevant process designed for cultural activities. The Economic Impact Toolkit was developed in 2011 as part of the Cultural Olympiad in the West Midlands. It was piloted and monitored through a steering group of West Midlands based cultural organisations as well as tested and endorsed by the Sports Centre Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University “On the basis of our testing, we find the Economic Impact Calculator to be an accurate device that produces reliable results irrespective of the Route used for events, activities, or indeed a combination of the two. Moreover, we find that the results achieved are highly consistent with more specialist approaches to economic impact studies. In our view, the Toolkit strikes a happy balance of being usable by practitioners, whilst delivering results that are consistent with the principles of a national evaluation framework for events.”3

This framework enables us to measure the economic impact, the monetary value of social capital of a project and the gross value added as well as estimating the impact on the geographical base for a project, in this case Manchester.

1 Quote from Rebecca, volunteer, from Surevy Monkey September 2012 2 Taken from the foreward of ‘Capturing the audience experience: a handbook for the theatre’, http://www.itc-arts.org/uploaded/documents/Theatre%20handbook.pdf - accessed September 2012 3 Taken from http://www.eitoolkit.org.uk/Page.aspx?pID=1 - accessed September 2012

COMPANY SELECTION

Past and present

Schools Twinning

“We look for a diverse range of companies spanning different cultures, locations, approaches and levels of experience. Selection is based on how young people are engaged in creating their work, commitment to collaboration and innovative practice, either in the company’s artistic product, how they are organised, how they recruit and work with other young people, or their aims in creating theatre.”1

With the involvement of schools for the first time this year, the twinning of companies also required a local school partner for each international company. The original vision for 10 companies to be twinned meant the hope was for the selection process to happen with an audience consisting of participating schools and to be live streamed so that all participating companies could share the event. Through the delay of the schools programme due to lead Contact staff capacity, this wasn’t possible and instead a film of the twinning selection was shared through Youtube.

With 10 years of evolution behind this years festival it’s easy to assume the networks and avenues used to promote this opportunity would see it oversubscribed by youth theatre companies both nationally and internationally. The application process in 2008 was hugely successful, yet this time the application process hasn’t been directly disseminated to as many organisations as the festival organisers would have liked. This is in part due to a changeover in filing systems resulting in lost information.

The twinning selection process echoes the Contact commitment to transparency and fairness by companies being picked at random out of a hat. This means that anything can happen with the twinnings, avoiding any sense of favouritism to Contact’s own participating young actors company

“For 2008, the pool of contacts and networks who received the information on the application procedure was larger than ever before. It comprised a database from past years, the British Council network and contacts from the 2008 CTW Advisory group. The process was extended to be a two-tiered process. For the first stage Contact received 70-100 written applications and shortlisted 25 companies.”2

Key Questions Two key questions within the application form focused on internet access and the frequency of which the companies meet. The international collaboration relies heavily on regular access to digital technology for sharing and communication, as well as the companies being able to regularly complete creative tasks and engage their twin company in critical debate and shared dialogue.

This year CTW2012 received 24 applications in the first stage, with this being further shortlisted to 12 for stage 2. Had the festival realised the ambition of previous festival twinnings then all second stage applicants would have been accepted. The Contact staff and core festival team recognise the distribution of this opportunity through different networks as a challenge and an area for development.

Key concerns that resulted from the selected companies this year included: • •

As a bi-annual festival, the core delivery team is recruited each time in the form of a Festival Manager and Festival coordinator. These two roles are the lynchpin of the festival being organised effectively and delivered successfully. The low numbers of applicants may have been affected by the slow recruitment of a strong core festival team in place early enough in the festival planning.

•

This affected the exchanges that took place between companies as well as the strength of the collaborations and completion with creative tasks behind schedule.

The selection process remains the same two-tiered process initiated in 2008 with the second stage requiring a film application. 2012’s remit was to create a film that best reflects who they are as a company. This second stage task offered the selection panel an insight into the quality of the company’s work, their use of digital technology, and the role of young people within the company. This is particularly important when considering international companies with little or no English.

1 2

the frequency in which companies actually met vs. what was stated on their application forms their levels of access to the internet due to geographic location and poor infrastructure platform accessibility and utilisation

Taken from the CTW2012 GFA application Taken from the CTW 2008 evaluation by Polly Moseley

COMPANY SELECTION

Recommendations 1.

In order to overcome the loss of most of the contact details for past alumni; the application should be disseminated to as many arts professionals and organisations as possible. We need to utilise good relationships we have with venues across the country, such as the Roundhouse, to spread the word to their contacts as well as any partner organisations we may work with in the future.

Send a ‘save the date email’ with a link to the CTW advocacy video to as many theatres, companies and arts professionals as possible, in the next few months.

Create an online form on the website where companies can start to register their interest for Contacting the World 2014

Tweet this opportunity with the festival’s hashtag to begin tracking levels of interest, new networks and retweets of the opportunity

In the spirit of the online element of the festival invite national and international companies to book in a Skype or Telepresence date with Contact staff and CYAC for a Q&A about the festival, it’s benefits and challenges after they have viewed the advocacy film

The time of year that the application pack goes out at is crucial. The summer months and Christmas holidays should be avoided.

The application form should be more detailed e.g. names and dates of birth of members should be requested, a high res photo provided, and their access to internet and use of various platforms questioned further. They should also give an indication of how they intend to raise funds for their involvement in the project. More specific open questions need to be asked that don’t allow for YES/NO responses.

In future companies need to be given enough time complete the creative tasks associated with the application process: this year due to time pressures companies were only given a few weeks to submit a film. This is an unrealistic time frame for many companies as most, in reality, only meet once a week

The selection panel needs to be given a detailed list of the companies that have participated in the past to avoid duplication of companies when other applicants are of a similar suitability (Segun, Crown Troupe, and Marvin, A-I-A Wordsmiths, had both been involved in CTW in the same year).

blogging, the brochure, and performance spaces, right from the beginning as part of a comprehensive welcome pack. 11. Build project milestones into the contract, including: fundraising targets, marketing information, visa application and tech specs. This will allow Contact a greater ability to address issues early on and manage risks to the success of the festival. 12. UK companies that will have minimal participation costs should be galvanized early on to support their twin in the fundraising efforts and given a reasonable target to reach in supporting their twin’s participation. This could also form part of one of the creative tasks in which companies are encouraged to fundraise creatively in the public realm. 13. Festival administrator should have a phone call with each group leader and talk them through their contracts to ensure they understand the process and demands they are committing their company to. In the case of international companies, if their level of English is low, a translator should be engaged within the conversation. 14. Selected companies should be informed of their roles and responsibilities to the project right from the start with a clear timetable of events and milestones that also includes regular check in between group leaders and the festival team to check on logistical challenges as well as the artistic ones with the Artist Facilitator. Included within this welcome pack to the project should be all relevant forms and social media log ins and hash tags.

10. Before initial contact with the companies the CTW team - including the Artist Facilitator and Evaluator - should have a meeting with relevant departments in which decisions are collaboratively made around deadlines companies need to meet. By doing this, the companies will have all relevant information they need about

COMPANIES: BOUNDLESS PRODUCTIONS

Who are Boundless?

Boundless are a vibrant collection of performance artists based in Manchester who are committed to honing their music skills to create innovative new art, through the vision of ‘Defying limits….How will you defy yours?’ Based at Studio 25, a home for dance classes and groups, Boundless are a new company with their debut work premiered as part of the festival from a preview performance at the March meet to their final festival work ‘Trust your Struggle?’

BOUNDLESS PRODUCTIONS THE EXCHANGE AND TWINNING “Why do you want to be involved in an international exchange? Having experienced CTW2010, I was really inspired by the whole experience. A whole week dedicated to creative arts. It’s a rare opportunity to have a privilege of viewing or even working alongside theatre companies from across the world. To have an event that encourages debate, ways to create new understandings and look at new models of youth leadership in an international context, was such a positive and motivational process that not only engages with similar peer groups but also provides insight for change in existing models. It will be an inspiring and life changing moment for them to embrace different cultures on the same plain and to be celebrated for their commitment to learning.” - Taken from Boundless’ application form to participate in CTW2012

Jumping straight in with the ‘Who am I?’ box task of sending items relevant and important to the members of Boundless, they showed commitment to their twinning through sharing an experience of Manchester by creating a soundscape of the journey they would take from the airport to Studio 25. This start to the exchange instantly gave Crown Troupe (CT) a rich creative dialogue to engage with and utilise as inspiration for their work. NING Comment by Jere Ikongio on February 6, 2012 at 5:59 Ok...now we have the sound and we are going to work on it... Its really cool sound...thanks guys for uploading dis...

NING Comment by Kenny Williams on April 23, 2012 at 21:17 Hi crown troupe, i did some doodles / sketches a while ago based on what segun said about struggle not always having to be serious and bad. Im very sorry for the quality i couldn’t get to a scanner today, but these are just some ideas.

Despite this early start the dialogue and exchange was slow with CT’S difficulties due to the power and communication infrastructures of Nigeria, as well as the difficulties faced by the majority of Boundless members in finding a voice on the NING. As with the other twinnings, the exchange only really found its feet after twin visits occurred, both UK and internationally. This collaboration relied on Blackberry Messenger as an alternative to the NING, with the dialogue on CTW’s platform sustained mainly by Toni and Kenny. Even though there wasn’t an active voice from a lot of the group there was a sharing of the actions and ideas from the group meetings as well as videos and other creative stimuli such as Kenny’s drawings. Having this dialogue stretched through other creative outputs was a great way for the participants to challenge themselves and produce results they hadn’t expected. Montse (AF) offered great prompts between the two companies to open up their creative dialogues as well as pushing to hear more individual voices from Boundless to enrich the diversity of culture and experience. The March meet brought about the realisation of what the programme actually entailed and a greater sense of urgency to be more active in their contact with CT. With little contact and exchange upto this point, and with their box from CT being lost in transit meant that Jerome (B) was quizzed intensely about his time with Segun (CT).

The first one is struggling in the gym if you haven’t been in a while or your not warmed up it can be real struggle to do your work out.

And the third is me struggling to come up with ideas about struggle :P

The next is sometimes men and women struggle to understand each other especially in relationships its sometimes like we’re speak different languages.

Segun wants to embrace us and take in as much magic as you can . . . circles grow as you make more contacts. Struggle, that’s something that he wants to incorporate into the piece - Jerome sharing learning from March meet

“Segun knew how it would work from the energy, I’m trying to f nd ways to absorb and get more from Segun, picking out things from the Boundless performers to filter back in and will get CT to send it back to Boundless Courtney after CT visit to the UK

BOUNDLESS PRODUCTIONS EXPERIENCE “What do you most hope to gain from participating in CTW? We want all of our young people to feel empowered in the rare opportunity where the focus is solely on them and their desires for the future of creative arts. It will give them the chance to engage with people from different cultures, thus breaking down any preconceptions.” - Taken from Boundless’ application form to participate in CTW2012

March Meet

“I’ve learned a lot about this way of contact.......it’s more of a lifestyle because you constantly pick out different cultures and things, and that’s what’s really sparked it for me, into how you understand different cultures and how they conduct themselves and how it affects their theatre - Jerome, March meet video interview The March meet with Segun (CT) was the turning point in the exchange to generate themes for their pieces, explore commonalities and learn about the processes used by their twin. As Boundless was a new, young person led company with a wide skill set they were still finding their feet in developing their process. Jerome was the representative for Boundless during the March meet and upon taking his learning back to the whole group at their next meeting, the ideas and processes he wanted to instill in the group were evident. “Lets work as a company and point out where we’ve gone wrong and correct it” - Jerome teaching new warm-up games to the rest of his company

The connections made between the ambition and direction of the company versus their ability to focus and explore creative energy were interesting to observe - fuelled by ideas of having fun with like minded people. It was only during the sharing across the March Meet that the wider company really learned about Montse (AF) - who she is and what her role is. “Montse is the overseer of the whole CTW companies - she travels to meet all the companies to see how they work and why they do what they do - more along the lines of a mother. Every group she treats as if its her baby and she wants us all to grow. Embrace whatever she has to offer as she is an amazing woman'' Jerome sharing learning from March meet

Recommendation

For the group to not understand the role of AF 5 months into the programme suggests a need for AF to be supported to visit the UK groups as soon as the selections are made. Earlier visits in the programme could also mitigate against lost “Who am I? Box” tasks: if the companies make their boxes before this visit then they could be taken and exchanged on the first company visits made by AF in those first few months of the programme. This recommendation connects back to the company welcome packs of milestone timetables and roles and responsibilities set from the very beginning in their contracts.

BOUNDLESS PRODUCTIONS EXPERIENCE

Festival Week

During the first two days of festival week Boundless embraced and learnt new skills in beat boxing from Alumni company First Wave and reflected on the learning from their peers. Their reflections saw a refocusing of perspective on the possibilities of theatre and what it takes to make a new piece of work. As a new company, the examples set by their peer companies – both processes and work ethics - influenced the creation of their own working dynamic.

I think it’s fair to say that if I’d not been having this sort of opportunity I think a lot of what we’re creating and what we’re doing now would never have happened - it probably would’ve still been a pipe dream - in terms of thinking ‘oh what would it be like if we had this person to work with, or this person, or.. Having a goal to go for actually made us come together quicker. We started talking more, and we had to start talking more cos there was a deadline. – Boundless interview Montse (AF) continued to offer guidance throughout festival week, posing questions which encouraged companies to find their own solutions rather than just having solutions provided. Boundless’ biggest challenge, identified in the Post show disccusion:

Honestly - egos and each other. - Jerome Everybody has egos and every group is special and its about finding out HOW do we deal with it - Montse

BOUNDLESS PRODUCTIONS COMPANY LEARNING What did Boundless Productions learn from the other companies? Moradokmai Crown Troupe • • • •

Taught me about their language and writing Theatre creates stronger community bonds Language barriers are easier to break than I thought No language barriers in theatre, other cultures styles of communication

• • • • •

Wordsmiths • • • •

Wordsmiths have such an infectious energy. I need to go to Trinidad! The beauty and power of words To appreciate every moment Wordsmiths’ accents sick, have so much energy, enthusiasm, passion

First Wave • •

CYAC • •

Their dedication and hard work is inspiring!! Truly something I’ll always remember! Perspective To always bring a focussed positive and energetic spirit to rehearsals How to fight for what you want and work hard for it Taught me the importance of hard work and dedication Learned Crown Troupe wake up very early to rehearse. They work hard. Sometimes they don’t eat

• •

Taught me hard work Taught me how to keep it real

Learnt how to beat box from first wave and what there company is about Beat box/rhythms, there good experience, work ethic was good to watch and take into consideration for our own company Learnt about schooling system and frats and sororities I learnt about different states and their ethics and taught me new slangs

Yard • •

They welcome people from other cultures Slang words they say in Nottingham

Boundless Body Map Reflections on programme at Start of festival week Skills/Knowledge/Activities

Boundless • • • •

• • • • • • •

I heart boundless Group bonding The experience has pushed everyone’s emotions to the max It’s been a brilliant experience; we’ve worked very hard. But the process has brought us together to be a tighter company and we’ve learnt a lot and gained advice from other countries across the world, has given our company advice and improved our company ethic – Emily Making the video – seeing the group get together, assign roles This task has made me happy about theatrical stuff I am learning to beat box..I also learnt a new song Lots of creative people from boundless have grown in a short space of time. Some of the shyest people have become so confident A variety of skills and disciplines learnt that we’re a team, it’s not just about your own performance Enable me to experience other forms of media and develop my skills in other areas, grow as a performer

• • • • • • • •

Having things changed or taken away from us was frustrating Communication is the key A free bird – when it all went right and when rehearsals were overriding A caged bird – especially when rehearsals went on for too long Learnt a lot about myself, my company and other companies in a short time. The deadlines have kept us on our toes, kept us focused Making new friends and learning new talents/skills e.g. becoming a rap master general Really close to my heart, struggled a lot but got through in the end and it’s helped me as a person

Twin •

It was a challenge to get to know crown Troupe, had issues with technology, visas, electric and lack of time with Segun at March meet

BOUNDLESS PRODUCTIONS PARTICIPATION

“What do you think you can give to CTW? We are known for our commitment to creating movement work to a high level, we have a story to tell fusing poetry, dance and song to create a performance that will definitely be memorable.‘‘ - Taken from Boundless’ application form to participate in CTW2012

Performance and audience experience

Boundless’ new work for the festival was ‘Trust Your Struggle?’ a piece that recognised the range of diverse skill sets within the company. “A fusion of dance, original music, singing and acting”1 ; the piece explored the day in a life experience of one young person’s struggle and the rippling struggles surrounding her circumstances.

The ensemble nature of Boundless was both a positive and negative in the overall response to their performance. As a new company the desire to take on board CT’s way of working which they were so inspired by may have been a stretch too far for the company whilst also navigating through the range of skills and personalities involved. Boundless members also reflected on how the piece only came together in the last two months before the festival, with timescales tight to get everyone together for rehearsals.

Comment by Kenny Williams on April 23, 2012 at 20:35 We discussed the title and we came up with: TRUST YOUR STRUGGLE. as it is about trusting what your fighting for and that its worth it. We want to focus on what struggle makes you do, what your meant to do according to the world, struggle of the unknown path.

“It wasn't just about pigeonholing – because you're a singer you must sing, or because you're a dancer you must dance – it was about “ok – this is our challenge” our struggle – we're going to share the role between the whole company. – Courtney, Group leader” – Post show discussion “To make it an ensemble you haven’t got your typical actors just acting – with everyone, they’ve sort of switched roles and changed their skill sets – the idea for this process was trying to learn each other’s parts and we’re all proud in our own stuff but then trying to use a skill you don’t normally do, and trying to learn from other people...” – Boundless interview on how they see their roles in the performance

The theme for this piece was very much embedded by their twin during the March meet and led to a discourse around the theme of struggle across the Ning. The dialogue between the two companies regarding the themes of struggles saw them bridge cultural differences to see the commonality between human experiences.

The extra demand on company members to challenge themselves whilst making their first work together caused conflicting opinions within the audience.

“Because that’s one of the things with Crown Troupe - a lot of their struggles are very similar to ours which initially we hadn’t thought that would be the case... but they are…. We were very careful and we didn’t want to portray THEIR struggles because I think that’s theirs... I think obviously we’ve received and used the feedback that you got from your trip.” – Boundless Interview on their intent behind the piece 1

Taken from CTW2012 marketing material

Post show feedback • • • • • •

Boundless show was very deep Boundless- very slick but lacking in content I enjoyed the way boundless all took on the same character Loved movement; strong confident actors. Sometimes too many things going on. A very brave performance, very raw and full of emotion Performance was good but felt like too much was put forward and made it not very moving in emotion

“Some thing’s worked, some things didn’t. You cannot deny you grabbed it by the balls, and I really appreciated your complete commitment and bravery – you really grabbed it by the balls and showed 100% dedication to what you were doing.” – Adam, Artist mentor, post Show discussion

Performing their first major production to a group of their peers gave Boundless a rare opportunity to have their work received by a group of people whose comments and criticisms come from both a place of appreciation and a theatre knowledge base. The focus on the fusion of different styles and inclusion of every skill set within their company meant that the strength and intent of the story became a secondary feature. I dont think we planned what we wanted the audience to get from this. I think if we had something to work towards earlier on and then had this time. I think we would've worked much more smoothly. I think it would've gone much more smoothly if we'd already done something. but that's being a new company, this is our first thing Boundless interview

“That’s something that I’d like to come out in the piece - is that we’ve all come together as individuals, but through learning from Crown Troupe who are such a slick machine and they work together and they work with hardly any props or anything like that and yet they make amazing impactful performances with next to nothing - just with each other and I think that’s something we’ve learned over the process and we’ve taken closely from Crown Troupe - Boundless interview on how they see their roles in the performance CTW2012 provided Boundless with a learning curve that new companies don’t often get the chance to embrace. To have the opportunity for critical reflection from their peers on their work, to experience the processes of other companies and to have an immediate deadline to work to provided them with a great testing ground of creativity they can take forward to future productions.

“It's been a brilliant experience; we've worked very hard. But the process has brought us together to be a tighter company and we've learnt a lot and gained advice from other countries across the world, has given our company advice and improved our company ethic” – Emily – Body Mapping exercise

COMPANIES: CROWN TROUPE OF AFRICA

The boys and girls of the Troupe have their own problems, some have jobs, most don’t, some go to University, most can’t make it there (because of the cost), but one thing unites them: the love for what they do best, performance, and their commitment to it. They get up, some as early as 5am, most of them at 6am every day to make their way to the rehearsal space and start working at 7am. They meet up, and without much faffing around, and without anyone telling them what to do, they start warming up. And I don’t mean one of those really light warm ups, where we stretch a bit like a cat and then complain of the heat (it is already very hot at 7), no, I mean a full work out! Drums, music and high energy traditional dance mixed with stretches, push ups and sit ups! – Montse, Visit to Crown Troupe Blog1

Who are Crown Troupe (CT)?

Crown Troupe are a dance-theatre company founded in 1996 that create socially relevant works. They believe in the arts as a tool for social re-engineering with this foundation creating a sense of necessity for their organisation to exist. “First and Foremost as young people lookin at things happening around us we wanted to talk about it, make stories, sing it - our society needs a lot of talking to” - Segun, CTW 2012 March meet This passion for arts as a vehicle for social change often sees their work taken out of the arts centre base and into unconventional spaces within local communities to challenge perceptions and engage more young people. 1 http://contactmcr.com/blog/2012/mar/8/ctw2012-adventures-artist-facilitator-lagos-nigeri/

CROWN TROUPE OF AFRICA: EXCHANGE AND TWINNING

“Why do you want to be involved in an international exchange? An international exchange will afford us among other things, the platform to present our work to an international audience as well as expose us to other theatre makers of diverse background.” - Taken from Crown Troupe’s application form to participate in CTW2012

Segun, the group leader of Crown Troupe had previously been involved in CTW, and so had an understanding and respect for the journey, outcomes and possibilities of this international exchange festival. In 08 I came here and it's full of luxuries, where I come from it's a very poor area and if not engaged young people can get in trouble. Imagination is boundless where you are right now - where there is not enough money and education young people are idle and so we don't leave them on the streets but get them to come in and sing about it. - Segun, CTW - March meet Despite issues with getting their collaboration with Boundless off to a good start (their “Who I am? Box” from the first creative task is still lost in transit with ETA unknown) the connection and sharing of experiences that emerged were quickly cemented. The twin visit to Nigeria didn’t happen until after the March meet when Crown Troupe sent a representative to the UK. Participating companies are normally encouraged to send one of their young people on the exchange, however Crown Troupe already encountered visa obstacles and this marked the fate for things to come. Despite late attempts at seeking visa acceptance for a CT member, applications were denied, and Segun attended instead. Until this meet, the dialogue that had been able to take place between the two companies was limited as Nigeria regularly suffered power cuts affecting their Internet capabilities. Identifying useful social platforms for exchange between the companies was key and Blackberry Messenger became a more appropriate communication method than the Ning. NING Comment by SEGUN ADEFILA on April 25, 2012 at 7:39 Montse! Now I know where to catch you ma’am! Saw you on Facebook, tried to reach you, blinked my eyes and you were gone! We miss you so much in Crown Troupe and you need to see how your seeds are germinating here. Thanks Kenny for your generousity. I am almost sure sure we are all going to rock CTW 2012. I find your contribution illuminating Toni and you know what? It’s just the same struggles here basically. The slight difference is just that for so many reasons, we are a ‘third world’ country or a ‘developing’ nation so you can imagine the scale of the struggle. But hey! The questions is: What is the tribe, language status or colour of hunger, laughter, sorrow, joy, thirst or aspiration? It was a massive struggle to get on Skype during the March Meet in Manchester! Courtney and I were toying around some texts on BB, maybe we all develop on that and also see how our characters evolve? We await Cat’s arrival today! I have to go for rehearsal now.

CROWN TROUPE OF AFRICA: EXCHANGE AND TWINNING

in the run up to festival week saw the exchange of different stimuli, common points for discussion within their themes with added prompts from Montse (AF) to develop the dialogue further. As Crown Troupe struggled with their visa applications their positivity remained strong throughout the digital dialogue, with great encouragement from Kenny of Boundless.

Boundless are both culturally and creatively diverse, including skills such as MCs, singers, musicians, actors and dancers on their company CV, making Boundless a suitable twin for Crown Troupe. NING Comment by SEGUN ADEFILA on June 12, 2012 at 19:11 Boundless! We are struggling not to burst at the seams. We are struggling to keep abreast of event Struggling with the birth of a new work-ITIRAKA Struggling with keeping the pace Struggling to get our visas Struggling to be who want to be Struggling to convince those who decide certain parts of our fate that we are for real Struggling to be strong for the struggle Above all, struggling to contain our excitement of finally meeting you all!

Recommendation

Visa acquisition will always present challenges in any international programme of work, and in CTW2012 despite making every effort this caused CT to be refused entry. Early dialogue with the Home Office as soon as festival applications are received, and before selections have taken place, may help ease these challenges. Should successful visa entry be a factor in the selection process? It would be unfair to exclude any company the right to apply, and the contribution that Crown Troupe made to the exchange, their twin and the local school is undeniable. After CTW2012 finished, the British Council held a conference on enabling the UK to work with more Nigerian artists. Perhaps this experience has helped to highlight the challenges in working with international companies that will see CTW2014 able to continue to create dialogue with developing countries.

Despite the early warning of visa application issues, despite Contact’s and CT’s steps at lobbying Parliament, ACE and the British Council, and despite putting hopeful solutions in place to enable successful visa entry to the UK for Crown Troupe, their applications were denied.

“No visas don’t mean no Crown Troupe, still here, still there, still standing” - CT Body Mapping

NING Comment by SEGUN ADEFILA on July 8, 2012 at 15:11 It’s a huge blow after the months of toiling but then we stay strong and take the gesture in our stride knowing that ‘the show goes on’ wherever we are.

The visible support and dialogue between the two companies

CROWN TROUPE OF AFRICA: EXPERIENCE “What do you most hope to gain from participating in CTW? Exposure, networking possibilities, interactive platform to see the content and form of theatre from other places“ Taken from Crown Troupe’s application form to participate in CTW2012

Same enthusiasm as 2002 - let new ideas come up - new insights – Bukky CT representative The interactive platforms became the focus for CT’s integration into the festival. With all performances live-streamed it enabled Crown Troupe to see the work created and showcased at the festival. Daily shout-outs and messages were filmed and uploaded for Crown Troupe, sharing the atmosphere and thoughts of participants. At the March meet, a scheduled Telepresence session between Crown Troupe members in Nigeria and the schools had been rehearsed and run through in preparation - only for the connection to be lost during the schools visit. The inclusion of Telepresence opened up a host of possibilities for a more active presence during festival week, however with any new technology there are learning curves for the future and the reliability of connection and power within Nigeria was too much of a concern to make it a reality. The presence of two CT representatives of Segun and Bukky meant that the experiences of the week and the skills learned were still taken back and shared with the rest of Crown Troupe, despite their absence during festival week.

CROWN TROUPE OF AFRICA: PARTICIPATION

“What do you think you can give to CTW? CTW has been a platform for dynamic and artistic interactions among theatre makers, so our participation will enable us to share with others our theatre making processes and thematic concerns“ - Taken from Crown Troupe’s application form to participate in CTW201

Performance and Audience Experience

“They kept track of the whole Ning it was all in there – Emma CYAC

Crown Troupe’s new work for CTW was ‘Itiraka’, a performance exploring struggle from both a personal and public perspective, as a study of humanity and how challenges bring people together. This theme was echoed by CT members on the Ning and shared not only with their twin company, Boundless who welcomed the audience to join their struggle, but also their twinned school, St. Anne’s who were inspired by one of Segun’s poems.

I’m gonna cry, all those bits of conversations are in there – Lauren CYAC” – Post show conversation” There was an overwhelmingly positive response to the performance from the audience. How heavily this response was influenced by the emotional connection all companies felt with CT and their absence was something that was reflected upon by some participants.

It made me feel like this whole process of collaboration has been well done, because I got to see into their lives and their emotions and feelings. Toni, Post show discussion

I was thinking about it afterwards - how much were we influenced by the fact that the team weren't here? Had the team been here, were we hinged on the story or caught up in the emotion? It's not something we can answer, but worth thinking about. To my knowledge that's not happened before, has it? No. - Adam, Artist mentor, post show discussion

Whilst CT weren’t able to perform this piece live, Contact worked with them to ensure a film of their performance could be made and screened. With the absence of CT felt by all participants throughout festival week, the screening of their performance bought the emotional rollercoaster to a head. Despite technical difficulties encountered with the filming of their performance, the power, raw energy and physicality of ‘Itiraka’ was appreciated by the audience. The interactions between companies across the NING and the learning CT had taken from Montse (AF) was evident to the participating companies.

“My worry is - was it the acts that was appreciated, or the emotions? I hope the emotions hasn’t overtaken the purpose of the entire festival, which is twinning, the collaboration” - Segun, taken from a video interview with volunteer Bruce

CROWN TROUPE COMPANY LEARNING CT’s performance was just one element of the learning and development their participation offered to other companies and schools. Without the opportunity to experience a CT workshop, the learning the companies experienced was focused more around personal responses to the plight of CT and their absence during festival week.

Wordsmiths

CYAC

Boundless

Yard

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• •

•

Be committed to the task Don't let your situation/people get in the way of your dream I know that you are outspoken young people who are dedicated to the performing arts and influence positive change in your communities.

•

Get tested but go on…be the better for it These people have an amazing spirit and are strong minded and positive under annoying circumstances That art is beautiful and worth fighting for, humility is everything

• •

•

Their dedication and hard work is inspiring!! Perspective To always bring a focussed positive and energetic spirit to rehearsals How to fight for what you want and work hard for it Taught me the importance of hard work and dedication They work hard

•

Don't give up Not letting anything stop your performance Their energy with the work and happiness

Ning Comment by christian ekpo on May 3, 2012 at 0:39 The term struggle is really a broad language because MAN himself has been mandated to struggle before he/she can have everything in life be that of success,promotion,comfort,wealth and everything that makes the totality of life. Although for me struggle like I see especially coming from Nigeria is more than just wanting to survive but the challenge and the situation one had to battle to survive, to achieve one desired goal, aim and objectives in life. So we struggle with constant electricity power supply, with good drinkable water free from Germs and diseases, from over rate numbers of unemployment and especially from insecurity, that’s constant terrorist attack, that is claiming the lives of thousands of innocent people…. So we go through unnecessary struggle that an intelligible person shouldn’t go through.

Without the whole company present Segun also performed as part of the matinee CTW2012 Dance Showcase. As part of this showcase he enlisted the assistance of Bukky (CT representative) and a member of the public. This member of the public met Segun on the CTW bus journey between the venue and accommodation. This chance meeting led to a discussion on heritage and identity, with the stranger having originally hailed from Trinidad and Tobago. With A.I.A Wordsmiths as a participating company, Segun promptly invited the gentleman to join him at Contact and perform with him on stage. This unanticipated outcome further demonstrates the ethos of CT’s way of working, and CTW’s ability to create new connections, experiences and unexpected moments.

COMPANIES: YARD YOUTH THEATRE

up on the walls... photos, maps, writings, research, brainstorming, the box and their objects... etc. and take it all down after the session. This clearly showed me how committed they are to the project and to working with Moradokmai and get their inspiration from them.” – Montse on Yard visit1

“I was very pleased to see how the exchange with Thailand has been paying dividends and how Yard has adopted some new habits, like for example they start every session with a Ritual. A way to get them into the frame of mind needed to start work but also as a way to adopt some of the Moradokmai’s way of working. That Ritual started lead by Rachel Willcock who tried to teach us some of the moves she learned in Thailand (well done Rachel!), after that it was Kyle’s turn to get us into relaxation with some breathing exercises and finally they did some dance impro to music. And not only the spirit of Moradokmai was present in the Ritual but also all around us, since they had put on the walls maps of Thailand, and other stimulus from their twin. Having all that information around them meant that before each session, they have to bring it all to the space and patiently put it

Who are Yard Youth Theatre? Yard was established in 2008 and finds their home within the New Art Exchange, Nottingham. The diversity of Yard as a company extends into their approach to theatre making, as well as their base within a contemporary art gallery. As an ensemble they use a cross-art approach to bring multimedia, physical theatre, music and text together. They use their age and experience to challenge and push the boundaries of work made by young people. 1 http://contactmcr.com/blog/2012/mar/4/montse-visits-yard-theatre-Nottingham/ - last accessed September 2012

YARD YOUTH THEATRE EXCHANGE AND TWINNING “Why do you want to be involved in an international exchange? We are always striving to challenge the company and build new experiences. As a company we have a multi-cultural and global outlook and would love to collaborate with young people from very different places.”1

Twinned with Moradokmai, both companies have the youngest members of all the participating companies of 2012 - creating a greater basis for establishing points of commonality in discussion. Yard’s members are the most active on general social media platforms out of all of the participating companies, using Facebook and Twitter almost everyday1 . Nearly all of Yard signed up to the Ning, although only a couple of them were active in posting and sharing in their group forum with Moradokmai – and others simply read and viewed content. Whilst the restrictions and limitations of Moradokmai’s access to online platforms may have disheartened members in writing general posts, (some thoughts and questions were posted without a response) Yard were still very active in posting regular blogs sharing what they’d been up to, and their progress in tasks. More than any other company, they filled the Ning with weekly posts, sharing games, processes and video updates. “Obviously the whole point of Contacting the World was the social networking platform Ning – but these guys aren’t allowed on it, only the teachers…. so when we wanted to collaborate with them, it was very difficult for us and for the young people to collaborate with one another because they didn’t have that platform to be able to talk to each other” – Rachael, post show discussion All companies struggled with completing the creative tasks set by Montse (AF) on schedule. Yard’s level of activity on the Ning is reflective of their commitment to the programme, especially as their meetings were cut from twice a week to once a week due to funding cuts.

“We had difficulty doing the missions to be honest, so I don't really think they made a huge effect. We don't meet often, so we don't have enough time.. so that kind of thing we need to do outside of the time at Yard, and that's not always easy to get together and do it – so we struggled” – Rachael - post show disucssion 1 Taken from Yard’s application form to participate in CTW2012 2 From social media feedback activity

“Pulling up to the camp I realised just how different this stay would be for me and camping around the mountains with no electricity (NO FACEBOOK!) and living very simply shocked and slightly scared me! However over the next couple of days I came to love it, the people at Moradokmai were so committed and there was always an energy and buzz in the camp, from 5 am when the drums were beating and everyone was awoken for morning ritual till evenings when play rehearsals and music was still being played. ………… Having just settled into the lifestyle of Moradokmai and spending 6 days waking up for morning ritual taking part in workshops , attempting to play the violin, washing outside, going on treks to the mountains to camp and climbing through waterfalls, it was sadly time to go, and we headed of back to Bangkok.” – excerpt from Rachel’s blog on Yard1

The ‘Who am I? Box’ exchange enabled these two companies to feel that sense of commitment to the project with both boxes arriving safely at their destinations, and video rituals documenting the opening of the boxes shared. Having a physical realisation of your twin when other methods of communication are difficult acts as a reminder of the connection and exchange. A lot of our interactions with these guys has come from us spending time out there, and then when they came to Nottingham, and when Kyle went to Manchester and spent time with them there. It’s based on the two notions of the two worlds. – Rachael, post show disucssion

The experience of the exchange formed the basis for the questions raised, and themes to pursue within their performance.

The exchange visits helped to bridge the cultural divide between the two companies shedding light on Moradokmai’s community life, and sharing Yard’s weekly process of working together.

“when I went to Thailand, I couldn't go on Facebook, so it felt really weird. At first I was like, 'oh no! No Facebook!' But then by the end of it, I was like, 'do I really NEED it?!' I've done more interesting stuff, more new stuff, without it so I would hope that the audience would question whether - do they need Facebook in their relationships.” – Rachel, post show discussion

Yard took a proactive approach in sharing and documenting their participation in CTW2012, including their process for selecting which company member to go to Thailand. Through a process of speeches and voting, Rachel was selected and accompanied to Thailand with Yard’s group leader, also a Rachael.

Materialism vs. a simpler way of living, and the idea of collectivism that Moradokmai have, and the community feel. . It was a piece we wouldn’t have created if we hadn’t had this link. - Alison, Post Show discussion

The culture shock of their experience in visiting Thailand was shared for all participating companies to gain an insight into the journey they made.

3 http://yardyouth.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/moradokmai/

YARD YOUTH THEATRE EXPERIENCE “What do you most hope to gain form participating in CTW? Grow and develop our young people’s creative talents and allow them to aspire to take them further. cultural dialogue and collaboration and create links we can build on.”1

Learn from inter-

4 Taken from Yard’s application form to participate in CTW2012

The Ning proved to be a useful space for Yard to share their process and to feel part of the exchange through observing the interactions and activities of the other twins, even though their twin’s interactions were limited. The learning they took from their twin during the exchange was shared with the rest of the company when they returned, and helped to influence the direction of the show. When we came back, we did do the ritual for them. We did a shorter and more simpler version of the morning stretches for these guys. And it was still painful for them!...... I’d done videos and stuff to show them a bit more about it. I think it was so different it was just hard to explain. – Rachel, post show discussion The context in which Moradokmai live and work enabled Yard to reflect upon the contrasts with their own sessions – time spent working together, and how they interact with each other.

Yard’s learning from Moradokmai • • • • • •

Focus and commitment, a different way of life Commitment and dedication Culture Samurai game Learning the amazing and so interesting Thailand culture. These person is teaching me how to listen each others really from a respectful point. Focus, Focus, Focus!!

Their learning took the whole group on a journey. The exchanges, tasks and participation in the programme tested the company members in how and why they make theatre, and made them re-examine their creative processes.

“How do you explain to people that yeah, last week we spent loads of time doing something, but now we're not going to do that any more, cos it doesn't fit in with what we've got, and we need to move on.. . . nursing people's egos and feelings when that happens and allowing yourself to move on. Thinking about it now, it's been more about the process of getting to this stage, getting to perform your work – more about the collaboration and the meeting of new people and trying to have an idea that everybody felt they could connect with and tell.” – Rachael, post show discussion 35

YARD YOUTH THEATRE EXPERIENCE

“I met Baba the artistic director of Contact and he seems very eager to see what we are coming up with (no pressure). Everyone here is gearing to go and i can’t say it enough we really need to step it up and slick it up! Just being here makes it a LOT more real for me and it’s really gearing me up in terms of excitement and inspiration!!” - -excerpt from Kyle’s Yard Blog post1

The ideas changed a lot - it took us AGES.. . everyone in our group, a lot of us have big voices, and a lot of ideas were coming out - clashes of ideas.. it was a lit le bit stressful. - Mia, post show discussion

Marketing deadlines can force a company to make decisions about their performance and how it is promoted before they’ve even finished creating the content through the collaborative process. Until the start of festival week the learning that takes place can be very insular to company, particularly when communication challenges restrict the depth of twin collaboration.

It was only a couple of days before our actual festival performance of #faceme that we had the full show, and even after that we still changed stuff. – Zara, post show discussion The timeframe of the programme and the creative tasks tested Yard to develop their theatre skills, but also through the influence of the AF and the other companies, their team working and professional skills were developed culminating the new production.

5 http://yardyouth.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/kyle-goes-to-contact-in-manchester/ - last accessed September 2012

YARD YOUTH THEATRE LEARNING

Body Map Exercise - Reflecting on the process

Good times

Group Dynamics

Knowledge and learning

Physical and Mental Health

Fun So much jokes So much fun and laughing that my ribs would hurt next day Smiles Amazing Exciting Sensations

Become closer to each other Patience Talking Feeling love Respect Sacrifice Losing members

Finding space to perform and having everyone having to meet together Brainstorming, finding the best parts and creating the story So many ideas, which one to chose? Share creativity learning origami

Tired Sweat Injuries Stress A lot of strength Muscle pain after a lot of rehearsals Ill

Other companies

Finding out about Thai culture

YARD YOUTH THEATRE LEARNING Festival Week

Finding time to rehearse Trying to get to sleep, so excited! Not as many people as we would have liked in the workshops Communicating with twin – language barrier Travelling to contact and back Technical issues Saying bye

With their performance scheduled last in festival week, Yard faced the unenviable task of seeing all of the other companies’ work first, as well as having a week of mounting pressure whilst engaging in workshops and discussions with the other companies. As the last to perform, their reflections upon the challenges for the week revolved around their perceptions of differences between their performance and the work that had been already presented:

Despite the mounting pressure from seeing everyone’s shows first, the nightly performances still remained the key highlight for Yard. The opportunity for participants to watch new work performed every night over the course of the week was an eye opening opportunity and learning experience in itself, coupled with their engagement in critical dialogue with international peers offered an inspiring, creatively overloading week of information and new experiences.

Body Map Challenges Trying not to compare our company to others as we are all different Different don’t mean worse or better! Be different makes the world bigger! Help me to have a more open mind to the different styles lifes! Respect for the things that are different in my culture. Keeping everyone’s energy and positivity up. People’s commitment and energy Everyone being ill and tired Focus Faith

Just add that it was an amazing experience that changed me and makes me grow up like a person and an artist. All the future have a past so this is just the first step for next projects, travels, shows, and things that I can’t imagine because we don’t know really what is gonna happen or where we will be at tomorrow. For the moment lot of love and keep in touch. – Yard Body Map

YARD YOUTH THEATRE LEARNING Body Map Highlights

Moving performances on the first night – Khosal Khiev, Poetry from First Wave Inspired by First Wave and Idiots in sync Meeting and hearing inspiring youth! Crown Troupe film – amazing and inspiring Would love to keep in contact with people and ways for new collaborations. Meeting everyone

Workshops and Learning

Yard company members were active participants in workshops and post show activities despite the pressure and demands they placed upon themselves for rehearsal time during the week.

Body Map Learning

Many Many things, incredible process of non-formal learning every day! Difficult to describe. The way others create the amazing theatre that they do from the workshops Energy and power of the people Different ways of connections So many connections and similarities between companies making theatre across the world – we are so different but so alike. Different ways of expression and stimulus to create New games and ways of making work Different ways of communicating stories I have learned that creating theatre can be challenging and that sometimes the process can lead to learning new things. With fewer companies than previous CTWs, a matinee option and two companies tech and rehearsing every day meant that workshop attendees were often thin on the ground. Yard’s workshop shared a range of warm-up and focusing games, an opportunity for sharing, reflection and observation. “I had never worked with words before to make such a detailed performance and look deep into it in a short space” – Jon, Boundless during Yard’s afternoon workshop Yard company members took it in turns to lead activities within the workshop, and ensured the activities were designed to be as inclusive as possible to support the participation of Moradokmai members. As each activity was happening, Yard members would offer guidance, explain the learning points and aims of each activity and how they use and build upon them.

“I liked that you said to have fun with it and I know I put pressure on myself and it can have a negative affect on work” – Toni, Boundless during Yard's afternoon workshop 39

YARD YOUTH THEATRE PARTICIPATION What do you hope to give? Creative young people, with artistic flair who are willing to push the boundaries within youth theatre. Young people that are passionate about collaborative theatre, learning and passing on skill and knowledge and eager to explore new possibilities within theatre practice.1 1 Taken from Yard’s application form to participate in CTW2012

It's made me more cautious of what I'm putting out there. – Kudzi, post show discussion

Performance and Audience Experience #FACEME is set in the year 2022 in a world consumed by computers. Face to face communication has been lost to a digital age of ‘pokes’ over handshakes. Mel is the main protagonist, finding herself at odds with a sister consumed by webcams when she continues to hold dear vinyl records and conversation. Mel joins the world of #Faceme in the hopes of finding her sister, but once inside is she empowered enough to log off?

I had 700 people friended to my account, and never spoke to most of them. After starting to talk about this I deleted my whole account. My new one only has about 50 people on it that I ACTUALLY speak to. - Mia, post show discussion

Inspired by the contrasting lifestyle of Moradokmai, Yard presented us with a piece for reflection on our own habits and interactions - both digitally and in real-life.

This sense of caution and awareness of social media was a shared experience with Moradokmai that they wanted to convey to the audience.

I really enjoyed the fact that it [visiting Moradokmai] was base interactions with people – remembering how to talk, how to laugh, how to have fun and that’s where the ideas for the conversation came. – Rachael, Post Show discussion

I think I want the audience to be engaged with what’s going on. I want them to think to themselves how things could actually be if what happens in our piece happened in real life. – Mia, Performance intent discussion

The influence of the exchange with Moradokmai and the increased understanding of social media through their research had a profound impact on Yard’s reflections on their own online behaviour.

Audience response to the performance was fairly evenly spread across the themes of engagement, atmosphere, emotion and comfort zones. As the last show of the festival, the numbers of companies present was lower - affecting the

I think the theme from Yard is very strong because they have Facebook but they cannot know who they can trust. – Moradokmai, Post show discussion The dystopian themes and ‘Big Brother is watching you’ philosophies were explored through a diverse use of representations. From staging, the use of shadow puppetry to more physical slow-mo and engaging fight sequences the range of storytelling devices used offered an avenue for different audience members to engage with the piece.

“when I was on stage with the microphone – we could have had the voice coming from backstage without seeing me, but I see it as because I'm on stage I AM watching them all the time.. so it's like 1984 where someone's ALWAYS watching you..” – Kyle, Post show discussion Post show feedback • • • • • • • • • •

I wished there was more physicality in it, it was like a film At times I felt the piece could have done more music, it felt a bit static The subject matter was a bit over done I loved the fight scene The girl in the denim shirt really stood out as a performer So proud! Wow! Thought provoking, original idea, youth inspired! Great concept, well executed! Keep up the great work! Make yourself proud and your country! :) Very well written, loved the ensemble work, very thought provoking! Well done! The concept and theme was great, but could have been better written/acted. It felt cheesy and monotone

These conflicting responses to Yard’s work could be down to two main considerations: - As the last show, the remaining audience / participant group was smaller due to other companies having left the festival by this point. With no matinee performances on Saturday, there were no other visiting companies to add to the audience for that night. - Some of the feedback questioned the depth and superficiality of the material used, but Yard’s choice to create a piece about social media, so closely linked to Facebook, was appropriate not only to them and their experiences, but also to their collaboration - given the challenges they had experienced with online communication. As a young person led piece of theatre it was both professional and delivered a story in dynamic ways. “we were having a discussion last night about performances and I think with both companies last night, it was really striking with incredible personal performances and I think back to you guys – having such a young company, and such strong performers, it was incredible. Young powerful performances. “ –- Adam, Artist mentor, post show discussion

YARD YOUTH THEATRE COMPANY LEARNING FROM YARD

Boundless

They welcome people from other cultures Slang words they say in Nottingham

Moradokmai

CYAC

Unity Energy Enthusiasm Rhythm and tempo Focus and friend Happy Smile Lovely friend

A rockin warm up routine! They have worked very hard to be close to their twin. I also think they put the most effort in being close to their twin too. Perseverance. Humility. Dedication. How to get by with minimal support but still stay close as a group.

The future for Yard

• • • •

The personal journeys for members of Yard has seen this festival establish the foundation for their theatre practice and development moving forwards. CTW2012’s focus on skills development and cultural exchange has set the wheels in motion for this company of young people to use collaboration in future work.

• •

Body Map Plans • •

In the future I will work with people that share the same passion and drive for creating theatre!! Want to maintain connections and collaborations with companies and individual artists to enrich our work.

• •

Wordsmiths

Cool peeps, Unity in their performance yesterday You guys rock Beyonce hard. Dance helps towards the road of self-confidence and self-fulfilment

Direction is key. Trust Challenge ourselves This experience has affected me personally more than professionally, forcing me to take a step back and take stock and appreciate. Keeping in touch with everyone. Developing skills more, not just acting...dance, poetry, music etc. etc. Thinking about more ways to work in unity more and voice everyone’s voice with overriding and respecting everyone. Excited for the future Inspired to travel and work with international companies

COMPANIES: MORADOKMAI

They do everything together, from early morning when they raise to the sound of drums before the sun rises (around 5am), to perform a morning ritual that on our first day lasted for nearly 3 hours. The ritual consisted on dancing traditional Thai songs, whilst playing instruments and singing. I can’t imagine any troupe of young performers in the UK raising before the sun to perform a ritual of song and dance every day!! And they were all laughing and cracking jokes all the way through. We introduced ourselves, Yard talked about Yard and I talked about Contacting the World... After that the leader told us what the schedule for the day would hold, well he merely laid out the day for us, because there isn’t such a thing as a “schedule”, things happen one after the other to a natural rhythm... One activity is finished and then they do another without really worrying about the clock. Why should they? All the activities planned will happen and nobody has to go anywhere else, so doesn’t matter if we run half an hour extra on something.... And there is music. The music is constant in the camp. The young people play several instruments each and they just grab them and practice songs or learn more about their instruments any chance they have. Montse, Visit to Thailand Blog1

Who are Moradokmai? Moradokmai Community Theatre is a performance troupe that live, work and create theatre as part of a 60 strong, selfsufficient rural community in Northern Thailand. They are the only company in Thailand like this, and their mission is to create and continue a sustainable theatre. They perform traditional Thai theatre and folklore fused with western movement and music to reach and engage new audiences as part of the performance.

1 http://contactmcr.com/blog/2012/feb/5/ctw2012-adventures-artist-facilitator/ - Last accessed Seotember 2012

MORADOKMAI EXCHANGE AND TWINNING “Why do you want to be involved in an international exchange? The most important thing for young Thai people is to let them explore the world. Being a Thai, I notice that we hardly see any young Thai people with bag packs and go to see the world, while the other Asian countries have start this kind of culture. To witness it is better than just to hear or read about it, and to open up the mind of young people, for a real change, they must have hands on experience, by learning and sharing among other occidental cultures. What Moradokmai Theatre Community is enthusiastic to do is build young Thai theatre artists who have hearts of doing good little thing, start with oneself. So, this project will open their minds to another aspect of arts and life.” 1 1Taken from Moradokmai’s application form to participate in CTW2012

achieved through data cards.

Twinned with Yard Theatre, Nottingham, both companies have the youngest members out of all the companies participating in 2012. Young people join the Moradokmai community from the age of 12 via recommendations from their schoolteachers or parents. As a sustainable community Moradokmai is akin to our boarding schools, in that company members live at their base for a period of 4-6 years to study. Out of all of the participating companies this year Moradokmai are certainly the most unique in this respect.

Ning Comment by Tanachon Chandruang on April 20, 2012 at 12:56 I can not watch the VDO because the internet signal on the mountain was too slowwwwwww.. please wait for me I gonna back to city in a few day . I miss you all and last night I present the trip to Manchester and Nottingham , all the kid here very excite!!! and ask for the sexy mafia LOL

Whilst they are a rurally based group they have access to a wide range of technology and equipment, however the consistency of their participation in the exchange and creative tasks was affected by the flooding of their home base during Thailand’s monsoon season. Moradokmai’s base was left in ruins with the group moving higher into the mountains into a temporary campsite as flooding occurred throughout large parts of northern and central Thailand from July 2011, peaking in October, right up until January 2012. In their current living arrangements access to power is limited, with equipment such as cameras and laptops being charged during journeys into a nearby town, and Internet access

Despite these challenges to their active participation in the exchange the biggest barrier between the two groups was created by cultural differences. Moradokmai had anticipated between 12-16 members of the group participating in CTW2012, with 10 young people, and 3 adult group leaders making it over for the festival. The people who were going to come over changed, and some had problems, and then at the last minute we found who

MORADOKMAI EXCHANGE AND TWINNING

was going to come over. And the thing about the story was â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;who will be in this, who will be the naked hermit?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; - post show discussion Only 3 members of the company were signed up to the NING for exchange with Yard, two of which were adult group leaders. With so many company members under the age of 16, their access to the internet and social media is monitored and limited, with further restrictions due to the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s present power and internet accessibility. These challenges, coupled with language barriers, made it harder for the Yard members to fully engage and commit to the digital part of the exchange.

Recommendation

Whilst internet restrictions upon younger company members may be seen purely as a cultural difference, it is also a responsible safeguarding measure - but one that can be managed and monitored, as with the schools here in the UK. Had a compromise to their digital participation been reached, it could have afforded the young people the opportunity to lead their own exchanges and gain hands-on experiences desired as an outcome for participating in the project. If their young company members had been supported earlier to become active members of the NING, this would have helped break down their fears and frustrations over the language barriers before arriving at festival week, having already conversed online and used online translation tools to expand knowledge.

MORADOKMAI EXCHANGE AND TWINNING Visits

The twin visits saw two Rachels from Yard, one group leader and one group member, visit Moradokmai at the same time as Montse (AF). These two visits occurred concurrently which meant that any challenging issues relating to the exchange itself were difficult for Montse to address at this. The timing of the twin visits is key in cementing the relationships between all of the twinned companies, and so is the timing of the visit from the AF - especially when communication is difficult. The intended participating member of Moradokmai due to embark upon the exchange visit had their visa denied. Tan and Gai, two of the group leaders, made the exchange instead. The visiting company member’s place of residence whilst at their twin company’s location is intended to be at the home of one of their twin members, however due to the age differences between Moradokmai’s group leaders and the member of Yard this meant that it wasn’t deemed suitable for valid safeguarding reasons. This also meant the quality of the exchange visit experienced by Morodakmai was affected: they weren’t able to fully experience a British home life, and it also meant the support and engagement on the Yard leg of their UK visit was minimal. Despite this, even the shortest amount of contact and exchange provided farreaching learning experiences and points of dialogue. “Definitely empowerment, encouragement and inspiration. Their way of performing is very different and so they had to incorporate this new way into their way of acting. I tell them, when I went to Yard, they have a short time for rehearsing, but very strong. I told them, ‘Because in Thai we’re very lazy..’ we learn about Yard, they’re very focused!” – Tan and Gai – post show discussion on their learning from Yard These exchange visits demonstrate how CTW develops cultural understanding, and not just for the twinned companies. As the first Thai company to have participated in CTW, the challenges that have arisen and been reflected upon have already seen learning and changes considered and implemented for future years that are relevant and useful to all participating companies.

March Meet

Whilst the twin visits were a culture shock to both companies, the exchanges and collaborations that took place have already borne greater legacies. During the March meet, Moradokmai created new work with Kyle from Yard, which was performed at the preview event for partners and stakeholders. Moradokmai also collaborated with Charlie from CYAC, when an impromptu poetry sharing resulted in performance collaboration, and this poem was taken back to Thailand with Tan and Gai to be shared and published in Thai. Moradokmai shared a warm-up game with company representatives, and this was then implemented into their performance during festival week but was also replicated by other companies when they were required to lead on

MORADOKMAI EXCHANGE AND TWINNING warm ups. From chatting to previous year’s participants, Zac a former member of CYAC in 2006 and Jamal, now a member of Contact’s front of house team described how it is often the warm up games that become the lasting memory, and in 2006 they all loved ‘Whoosh’, shared by a Scottish company. Moradokmai shared ‘Samurai’ with the companies’ representatives and their twinned school: a game of focus, sound making and sword wielding.

skills, and showcasing a series of films made on their iPad, including an improvised hotel room drama entitled ‘Sexy Mafia’.

Ning Comment by Siripawan Suebwongrung on April 23, 2012 at 13:37 Hi all, Once a week ago. I heard Tan and Gai present about Manchester and Nottingham,It makes me want to go to there.Miss all of you.

The learning for participants from their twinned school sowed the seeds for sharing with the rest of their school and a cultural learning experience that informed the themes of their show in illustrating the differences and similarities between British and Thai cultures.

During the body mapping exercise, the reflections made by the group on the process so far were limited due to their distanced participation in the experience. Reflections made were more focused on the rehearsals for their performance and their first couple of days in Manchester, seeing CTW2012 clearly once festival week had begun.

Experience

“What do you most hope to gain from participating in CTW? Exchange skills, which will be a bridge to companionships and friendships. We need to have more company to do good thing for the world as much as we can. Of course it doesn’t have to be a big thing.”

This dynamic of the company, as observers as much as participants, meant their learning and knowledge of the other companies were limited to the connections made through the twin visits and observations of the companies on a personal level.

Upon returning to Thailand, Tan and Gai shared their learning with the rest of the company through photos, new

Body Map Reflections from the start of the week

Company learning from moradokmai

Festival week

CYAC – energy, good First Wave – culture Boundless – vocal energy, rhythm

To travel and experience new things Finally in England my eyes are opened! Happy to use these legs to say Hi Headache from the flight Headache because of the weather 5 = Five in Thai pronounce = Ha, therefore 5 5 5 = Ha Ha Ha

Rehearsals

Train = pain Arms in pain from holding this position Rough fingers from playing the guitar

Yard – energy x 2, friend x 5, unity, rhythm and tempo, happy x 2, focus x 2, enthusiasm

It is interesting to note the contrasts between Moradokmai and more Western company members through the types of observations and first impressions they focussed on. Where Western company members picked up on facts and skills, Moradokmai sought out the social and spiritual natures of the other companies. This may be in part due to the language barrier, but also connects to the Buddhist philosophies and teachings that lie at the foundation of their community theatre.

MORADOKMAI EXCHANGE AND TWINNING

Festival week

As a company used to waking with the sunrise and starting the day off with music they continued this tradition during CTW2012 despite the long days. The restricted levels of participation from the wider company prior to festival week was compensated for by their attendance at all workshops, post show activities until late into the night, and in leading paid-for school workshops â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with the support of a translator throughout. The personal and social learning experienced by company members far outweighed the artistic learning, overcoming language barriers and cultural differences to fully participate in activities very different to anything they had previously experienced. The consideration to the facilitation of activities by their peer companies in workshops is something worth noting. With young people leading workshops for the first time to a group of peers from outside of their company is an achievement in itself, but to also have the forethought and consideration to respond to the participants in attendance and their needs is something that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be taught and only comes with experience. Moradokmai embraced every challenge and activity with great commitment and dedication, no matter how difficult a concept some activities were to translate or how abstract they may have seemed.

Identified knowledge and learning taken from Moradokmai Body Map

Highlights

Challenge Yes I can Watching shows everyday Knowing each others I will learn more English

Challenges

Learning

Translating/joining workshop without translator!

Language Learnt the every changing English weather New workshop Culture Friend Energy How can do, who can done Fun is real Learn English way of life Learn action of others

Feeling

Very funny Very happy

MORADOKMAI PARTICIPATION “What do you think you can give to CTW? To share our way of life that we have been practicing, our skills that can be exchanged, our connection in Thailand that the participating groups can always come to stay with us in the community. We also host Yamchao international festival on Jan every year; forever theme of the festival is theatre is a gift not for sale The most important thing, we have energy to learn and all my youngster they are theatre 24 hours, they will be good listeners, good absorbers and good contributors in all activities you do.“1 1 Taken from Moradokmai’s application form to participate in CTW2012

Performance and Audience Experience

from Thai literature to reflect a message of caution around social media relationships.

Moradokmai’s new work for the festival adapted a traditional Thai fable, ‘Sudsakorn Meets Seven Ghosts’ which follows a Prince’s quest to find his father with the aid of a half dragon and his faithful horse. During his journey he encounters the seven ghosts of anger, love, greed, jealousy, illusion, revenge and lust.

“The students have taken a story from Thai literature, and they have made it their own. They used their life in the story, everybody did. I want to see afterwards, if our twin knows who Champ is, who Bee is, who Bon is - who they are, and where they come from. If that can be conveyed through the performance. Also I think that Facebook is not real. With Facebook we can see the pictures - ‘ooh, very nice!’ – but I don’t know the background. This is my aspiration.” - Gai, Excerpt from Moradokmai intent of piece discussion

“We adapted this piece to make it shorter for this festival. They have to switch out parts and change up all the time depending on audiences and cast – who is acting in it. It changes every time. I put some of the workshops we got from you in that – Trinidad gave us a workshop, and we put that in too. We tried to put every workshop in our show.” – Moradokmai, post show discussion

This connection of real time interaction over digital inspired the twinning to include a piece of each others work in their performances. Moradokmai invited Mia to be dressed in a traditional Thai costume to open their piece with some spoken word to complete the collaboration.

The sharing and collaboration integral to CTW impacts upon all participants, with core themes influenced by each twin company. In this pairing, both companies were inspired by how much reliance the world has on social media to communicate and how ingrained in our lives it has become. Whilst Yard were inspired by how levels of participation and communication online throughout the exchange affected their experience of CTW2012, Moradokmai sought a reference

I just wanna say thank you to you guys so much for having me in your show. I feel very blessed. – Mia, post show discussion

MORADOKMAI PARTICIPATION

Challenges

The biggest challenge Moradokmai faced in producing a piece for the festival were technical: staging was a new consideration for the company, combined with the language barrier. For me, it’s a test, my big examination, to communicate without English – because the children and the actors do not speak English. How can we merge or integrate something to make sense without English? ……. I want to know if the audience can understand the symbols of Thailand, and when the symbols come together with Yard – will they have a new meaning? There’s no correct answer! – Tan, Excerpt from Moradokmai intent of piece discussion Adapting an existing story saw them reduce the amount of dialogue usually used, and increase the emphasis on actions and movement. The performance was subtitled thanks to support from their translator and Contact’s technical team, providing the performance with a contextualized projected backdrop. Lack of familiarity with staging and technical requirements emphasised the importance and diversity of the role of AF in supporting companies. The dialogue between companies and AF regarding staging and technical specifications is something usually explored during the company visits in March, however it was highlighted by Montse that these conversations should begin when the AF undertakes the international visit along with tech specs sent out in an initial welcome pack so that the venue’s technical team can further assist and offer creative solutions earlier on in the process. As Montse visiting Moradokmai at the same time Yard visited, specific support and dialogue was harder to develop and implement.

Key learning

A further challenge to the casting of the performance came from the company’s decision to perform at other venues in the UK straight after their CTW2012 week. Their decision to perform two different pieces affected their casting decisions due to limited funding and meant the inclusion of younger company members who, for safeguarding reasons, were too young to stay in the group accommodation budgeted for as part of CTW2012. Whilst further programming of festival companies to other venues extends the reach of the festival and exchange as well as promoting Contact, it impacted the international companies participation within the festival. Consideration on what impact this may have in future festivals needs to be given, regarding the work to be performed, Contact’s role and profile within the marketing of the partnership, and wider CTW2012 marketing through other venues distribution networks.

Audience

As the final performance of festival week the tone and presentation of their piece offered an uplifting end to the festival.

With many of the other company members and volunteers having participated in Moradokmai’s workshop, and the knowledge of Thai theatre and performance they gained enriched their experiences as audience members during Moradokmai’s show.

George (CYAC) - I love the way you used music in a comedic way at times. You’ve mastered how to use the exact right note at the right time. I thought that was amazing - post show discussion

The workshop was really helpful for the Moradokmai performance as it helped me understand the story. It was very creative and fun. – Post show feedback

Post Show feedback • •

Moradokmai remarked on how much talking everyone does at CTW. With the levels of discussions, debates, and the intensity of the day, the language barrier and cultural contrasts were considered by all. Moradokmai focused on how to bridge these barriers, and the remaining companies - where monologues were used extensively – noted how Moradokmai conveyed meaning with great simplicity.

• • • •

Volunteer – The power of storytelling that you have is so powerful and charming and funny and the way that you use music to help tell the story, and the way that you use gesture and movement is lovely. Even the language – despite the fact that we don't know Thai – we understood from the emotion, the way that you performed. So thank you for that.

• • • •

Moradakmai: very slick, amazing, best show of the week. Really enjoyed this, I need to get more Zen in my life! It was very gentle. Really funny and really well performed It made me laugh and it showed that a story can be told without knowing the language The live music was fantastic and the physicality was amazing Very entertaining and visibly striking. A testament to Thailand and CTW, very strong! Precision and skill by young “cute” people should not be laughed at but reflected in awe by silence. Amazing. Beautiful, very entertaining and funny. Felt really engaged and really enjoyed it. Very slick together, entertaining and the most enjoyable piece of the week. Incredibly entertaining lively and fun, loved it!

Company Learning from Moradokmai

Courtney (Boundless) - The baby scene was BEAUTIFUL. The way that you come together and worked to show that scene was amazing – it’s really something I’ve taken in. How you translated it through.

Whilst the show wasn’t a challenging piece of theatre for the audience compared to other work showcased in CTW2012, it was never the intention of the piece to be provocative. The audience was comfortable with this production style and with it’s intent to provide reflection for the audience, it succeeded in keeping them enthralled by the story.

Charlie (CYAC) – I just wanna say how amazing it is for a group such as yourselves who hardly speak a word of English to perform on an English stage. You must have a lot of bravery to do that.

Recorded votes from audience members highlight the decrease in audience numbers for the final night. This is due to a number of factors: 1. 2. 3.

Wordsmiths A.I.A. had already left the festival due to conflicting travel schedules Alumni company First Wave had scheduled additional UK performances and had left the festival midweek Scheduling changes occurred, yet some existing ticket holders were unaware of these changes and attended original ticketed date

Moradokmai’s hopes of sharing skills, their way of life and their culture provided a point of reflection for all companies. The spiritual first impressions Moradokmai observed were reflected back in the learning and philosophies embraced by the other companies.

Wordsmiths • •

•

Togetherness, feeding off each other’s energy. FAMILY Peaceful,resourceful. Moradokmai eats, breaths, sleeps theatre and performance. The world needs more people and artists like you all!! I am very pleased that I got to know you all Live every moment in love and togetherness.

CYAC • • • • • • •

Creativity can be born of community and that each and every person, no matter how small has a voice to be nurtured, cherished and respected Really being a group (always together) Language is no barrier!!! Dedication and respect for the artform Community strength, family Lovely, lovely people whose dedication to their passion of the arts is an inspiration Wow what can I say, I WANT TO JOIN UP, where do I sign

Boundless • • • •

Yard • • • • • • •

The art of togetherness Focused Focus and commitment, a different way of life Commitment and dedication samurai game Focus, Focus, Focus!! Culture

CTW2012 was a challenging process for Moradokmai. Their inclusion this year afforded great cultural learning and barriers to be broken down on all sides. With new experiences for all and a shift in perspectives on theatre, language and traditional customs. Despite these challenges, the opportunity for international exchange with groups such as Moradokmai epitomizes the benefits to all stakeholders of CTW as a festival to invest in financially, physically, socially and emotionally.

“I really commend your bravery, and ability to stay true to themselves. They had to break the fourth wall, and you could see how they adapted themselves to perform in a communal way.” Segun (Crown Troupe) Post Show Discussion “I will do (did-dune) a community like contact for a kid’s – Moradokmai –Body mapping the future

COMPANIES: CYAC - CONTACT YOUNG ACTORS COMPANY

Who are CYAC?

Contact Young Actors Company (CYAC) were the host company for Contacting the World 2012. Aged 15 to 25, the company brings together a diverse group of performers including actors, poets, musicians and singers to create original pieces of work. As Contactâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s young personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s company they are automatically selected as a participating company.

CYAC EXCHANGE AND TWINNING

Online

Twinned with A-I-A Wordsmiths this was perhaps the most successful of the twinnings – evident in the feedback received from their performances, and through reflections across festival week. With 15 pages of dialogue on the Ning, the visible exchange and collaboration between the two companies saw them dig deeper past the aims of the festival into finding out about the individuals in each of the companies. In February, CYAC asked Wordsmiths to introduce their favourite animals and what they were looking for from their twin. Using video they presented their own hopes for who would be in their twin: some were funny, some were serious - a good sense of humour, a keen interest in music, or just being gorgeous. By exploring individual interests they proactively sought out common ground which they used to build a foundation for exploring deeper topics and cultural reference points. NING Comment by Danielle Lewis on March 8, 2012 at 1:04 So guys what inspires you? Movie clips, tumblrs, blogs, music, books, current affairs! Do share and post any links where possible. Comment by Emma O on March 8, 2012 at 8:14 Music inspires me, and its a bonus when thought is put into the artist’s video. at the moment i have this video (http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=c19BbGGJU5E&ob=av2e) on repeat because theres something about both the video and the lyrics that resonate with me. I also love the flow of movement thats maintained throughout. These discussions enabled the dialogue to open up in how these passions are used in their process, inspiring new ways of working and unexpected influences in each others work. NING Comment by Sara Cocker on March 12, 2012 at 22:36 Hey Danielle! In response to your question about how important music is to our process, the answer is that we haven’t experimented with it much up to now. We have had some fun dancing to Michael Jackson’s Scream trying to lose some inhibitions (dancing with our eyes closed like no-one’s watching) and often a bit of singing will creep into our devised work. You have inspired us to work with sound: we created a short scene last week built around the rhythm from the stick game that you sent us (Montse filmed it, so you’ll hopefully see it soon!). We have a few musicians within the companypiano, clarinet and saxophone! Our break times from rehearsals are often accompanied by people tinkering on the piano that’s in the room. Ruby plays this one a lot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFLF-gh4C2M. How important is music to the way Wordsmiths work? X

Visits

With a keen dialogue already initiated between CYAC and Wordsmiths the twin visits were seen as an opportunity to expand their cultural learning and to cement their bond. Even though only one member from each company could make the journey, the excitement was felt by the whole company. “It’s a chance for us to really get to know our Contacting the World twin and to understand their ways of creating theatre. It’s an exciting tangible moment within this surreal process of somehow making a show with a company on the other side of the world. Suddenly it all feels real. At the end of the workshops we wave goodbye to Jason. All of us are nervous, hopeful and excited in the knowledge that this exchange will somehow, in some way that we can’t know yet, form a huge part of our work as part of Contacting the World.' 1 The selection process to decide which company member would visit their twin was different for each company, and decided by them. Historically, the Contact way to make such a decision is the democratic process of drawing names out of a hat. Sadly for CYAC, their chosen representative left the company upon returning from Trinidad and Tobago. With no photos, notes or observations from the trip shared, the rest of the company felt it had been a wasted opportunity. The remaining company members embarked on intensive research to develop the Trinidad & Tobago influence on their show, and continued dialogue with Wordsmiths to support them in this research. Lauren (CYAC) – We learned about the Trinidad carnival, and when Danielle (W) came over we spoke a lot about it – all the different carnival characters. We did loads of character work about it, and one of them has a rope. – Post show discussion The research undertaken as part of CTW wasn’t just limited to finding out more about the twin’s culture and country. The conversations that took place sparked a broader understanding and knowledge base of a diverse range of topics and history. The March meet enabled greater discussions into themes highlighted from the Ning for the company to develop further. There was specific relevance in that because Danielle (W) talked to us about loads of characters, but the thing about Jab Jab that resonated with us was what he represents. We looked at traditions and religions, and how different people will view the devil or the serpent, and what kept coming up was conflicting things. In the Christian faith, the devil represents lust and lasciviousness and unbridled passion – with no control, rebellious against morals. We looked at the serpent as well, but in Hindu religions the snake represents life and rebirth and growth – because when the snake sheds its skin it’s a new life and a new creature, so it’s a conflicting thing. For me, Jab Jab meant a character who might be misrepresented and misunderstood and in actual fact if you look closely at Jab Jab, he’s just a reflection of you. – Emma, CYAC, post show discussion When CYAC met Danielle from Wordsmiths in March, it provided the connection that had been missing since the previous exchange visit had taken place. After the March meet, their contact increased and diversified, boosted by the face-to-face interaction. The dedication to exploring the dynamics and collaborative potential of this twinning saw the companies schedule Skype exchanges during rehearsals and meetings to continue to develop parallels and themes between the two shows. NING Comment by Emma O on April 20, 2012 at 23:52 As I mentioned yesterday on Skype, we’ve used a lot of site-specific theatre and made attempts to take the audience on adventures around the building, with storylines and characters formulated to aide the experience. Maybe this is a method you could experiment with? 1 http://contactmc.com/blog/2012/feb/22/cyac-week-2/ - Last accessed September 2012

CYAC WHAT DID THEY GAIN FROM CTW2012?

The process of creating through the CTW model brings personal, intellectual and company learning with each journey completely unique. Like other companies, CYAC lost members along the way, but working on CTW provided the creative stimulus that cemented the team dynamic. Reflecting on the process leading up to festival week, CYAC identified the following learning points: • • • •

How to be a team, tight company A new warm up exercise to help be as one Wisely chose who goes to TT I am as close to them as I can be, can’t get closer. I would hold everyone in my heart

As a Contact company CYAC had support and access to a range of creative professionals who had been through the CTW experience before. Their group leader, Steve, participated in CTW2010 alongside one of their directors - Sarah. Workshop masterclasses to develop skills inspired by their twin were delivered from previous member Yusra, who is now a working professional artist in her own right. Although they benefitted greatly from the support network around them, they were also challenged and under greater scrutiny as the host company.

George - Our piece, the process and the piece - is very much about the comfort zone being left behind.

The comfort

zone is just.... it doesn’t even exist any more.

We were so OUT from our

comfort zone that we all thought, ‘woah will this work?’ Charlie - what I found quite difficult was how fast we changed from the workshops into rehearsals.. we had to start getting the basics of the performance together, and work on those basics. It was just a really complicated process. CYAC performed at the March meet, and found this to their advantage as the whole company were able to gain an early insight into the other participating companies and established stronger connections as a result.

CYAC LEARNING

BODY MAP REFLECTIONS

Skills /Activities/Knowledge • • • • • • • • • •

During the first body mapping exercise, CYAC reflected upon their journey so far including both emotional and skills development.

Twin • • • • • • •

Candice – beautiful energy, vibrant and deep Tirakee Jalakee Getting to know TT better 3 min performances Justin – cool wisdom Ning – talking to twin We met Danielle in March We loved opening our box from our Wordsmiths twin

• • • • • •

CYAC and contact • • • • • • • • • • •

Just going crazy Ben – we want him back Team Unit Jude has been great I came very close to leaving CYAC this term but how close we were, my friends never gave up on me, they are my dearest mates I HAVE NOW! Love you guys Tears and tantrums We all worked incredibly hard and helped each other through harder times ahhhhh Having fun, laughing a lot Become a lot closer as group We lost a couple of our group members, which was a bit of a knockback but brought the rest of us closer.

• • • • •

slow motion Learning capoeria Warm ups Leant a lot about riots, past riots, state of emergency Introduced to spoken word We make great circles Making costumes Usra taught us how to free write poetry Filming for the show We all learnt valuable skills about poetry and spoken word from Yusra Eye contact Mask work with Tuheen Not being afraid to share our personal free writing Movement on the spot Patience Stick work Strong! - movement and rhythm, small choreography with partner and having fun trying not to hit each other Workshops were really enjoyable Mirroring each other with our hands and reacting to each other Fitness increase – stamina endurance Rhythm work with Ben was something we all loved and have been using throughout the process, ta Ben. Gotten fitter from all the physical work, developed a better understanding of physicality and an appreciation for the discipline that goes with creating audience worthy work.

CYAC EXPERIENCE

Body Map Reflections – Final Day As festival week drew to a close the connections with people and the opportunities to step up as performers, facilitators and collaborators with their peers were some of their identified highlights. • • • • • •

Meeting people whose creativity is both of their love for each other and others Deep meaningful conversations with lots of people Humility aids creativity. You have to start from a humble place if you want to create work that really resonates. Feel enriched for this experience, so grateful, will never forget it – life changing – inspiring An absolutely incredible experience we couldn’t forget it if we tried and wouldn’t. Learnt about spoken word for the first time - something I will continue and want to thank T&T for!

CYAC PARTICIPATION

of the rehearsals after that, we were like, we know we’ve got something, we just need to make it even better for this. “ - Fran, intent of performance discussion

CYAC’s show “The Third Side” was inspired by the debates and conversations from the Ning and in their rehearsal room. Charlie – In one of our rehearsals, we had a small debate on the subject of the riots. We had a lot of different views on it, and that’s how we came up with the name of the show. – Post show discussion

The self doubt felt during the creation of this performance challenged their perceptions of self, their abilities in creating high quality theatre and reflected the challenges that youth theatre productions face in being acknowledged by local media reviewers and critics. This challenge was echoed in their representations of young people in their show.

Inspired by the origins of carnival, the Trinidadian state of emergency and the UK riots, The Third Side explored themes of chaos, unrest and revolution. Whilst the themes and discussions provided a fixed foundation, the process of creating the show offered a huge learning curve of self-doubt for CYAC.

Young people are portrayed in this way – but if everyone’s telling you you’re shit and you can’t get a job, you’re rubbish, you’re not gonna do anything with your life.. then you’re gonna think why not? – Fran, post show discussion

We even did a home performance here only, like, four weeks ago and even, like, the day before. I know personally, I had zero faith in the performance. I was like, ‘I don’t want my parents to come and watch, I don’t want any friends to come and watch, I think I’m gonna embarrass myself, I don’t wanna do this!’ And then after the first night, after all the feedback, I regretted feeling that......I think we had to do it once to see, ‘oh, right, this DOES have stuff!’ and then I regretted, like, the fact that I’d had no faith in something we’d worked so hard on, and then.... then the second night of our performance topped the first one, and then after that, for the rest

In creating a piece of theatre reflecting the oppression of the voice of young people, it mirrored challenges encountered by Contact’s marketing team in promoting youth theatre as an artform worthy of review and featuring in local guides.

CYAC PARTICIPATION It was to do with young people, and not being able to express what you want to be able to express. You're angry about something, but you're not quite sure what it is you're angry about. You've been told not to do things, but you don't know why. It was more of a rebellion - breaking free of a system - and we used the riots as a symbol of that. - Fran, post show discussion In all performances during festival week the underlying hope was for each company’s twin to feel a sense of pride and representation of the collaboration. I think most of all I wanna make our twin proud that we’ve used what they’ve shared with us of their culture and their heritage and done it justice. - Emma, Intent of performance discussion CYAC represented the values and mission of Contact theatre throughout the CTW2012 festival. They delivered a high quality performance that pushed their creative talents to take risks in their staging of their work. They respected, engaged and increased their understanding of the cultures represented at CTW2012. As participants in this festival they started the journey to develop their facilitation skills as they continue to grow as practitioners. The future for this configuration of CYAC members will soon end, with members reaching their full term and new members to join and learn from their company members that has experienced this unique opportunity. Ready to get back into the rehearsal room and explore all that we have learnt - CYAC Body Map

CYAC AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE Fran - It’s meant to be quite shocking and full-on, and • make people think about how they behave - how ‘youths’ • behave, and the perceptions of young people and what • they’re actually like. • The intention that ’The Third Side’ should be shocking saw • CYAC deliver their expectations, with 57% of respondents feeling challenged and provoked by the piece. Completely • absorbing and enthralling the audience, CYAC maintained a buzz in the audience throughout their delivery. • • • Post show feedback • • •

I didn’t understand the storyline but it had strong performances • - Crowne TroupeGreat use of theatre aspects, abstract and comedy aspect loved it!

The opening scene to the third side was incredible Some lovely moments with some interesting comments on society today! CYAC continue to impress me, keep them on for the next CTW Visually strong, enjoyed humour and darkness, strong stage presence of many of the actors CYAC- really relevant- love the music and the energy. It was all really tight. Thank you!! AHHHH! What I needed. Didn’t know I needed it. Changed the way I think about art!! I really liked the element of humour in CYAC’s shows. Simply mind blowing, taking you to another dimension. Assault on the senses, meaningful, thought provoking, brilliant :) I liked the use of video projection and the way in which the space was used to create images. I found CYAC was very abstract and delivered well!

CYAC COMPANY LEARNING CYAC delivered workshops to their peers for the first time during festival week with different members taking the lead on different activities. CYAC shared techniques and processes for warming up and engaging with the physicality of movement as part of a performance, as well as sharing how they developed the slow-motion scenes as part of their performance. CYAC adapted and delivered a workshop to be inclusive to the Moradokmai company members, showing skill and adaptability that only comes with experience for many facilitators. Building in the opportunity for reflection at the end of their workshop enabled participants to share their thoughts and perspectives whilst feeling comfortable and safe despite happening offsite from Contact at Manchester Student’s Union.

Company learning from CYAC identified at the start of festival week

Wordsmiths •

• • •

Loving, welcoming, generous group of young people. It was wonderful being twinned with you all. I know that I have made lifelong friends Danielle Be a family Working together really well. Ensemble instead of assembly Nothing is too hard no matter what, understanding is key importance of teamwork

Boundless • • •

Yard

Taught me how to keep it real Taught me hard work rum liqui de dolorro dipsunt aut utatione quate voluptatin

•

Confidence

Moradokmai • •

Energy Good

CYAC KEY LEARNING

As the host company, CYAC had extra pressure to embrace the CTW process and extend it to all companies. Despite this, CYAC were not required to fill out any of the application forms that other companies were required to fill out in the application process. The application questions form a baseline for their participation in the project, and act as a catalyst and starting point for them to think about their commitment and process within CTW. It would be beneficial for the host company, to undergo this process to ensure everyone starts their CTW journey from the same point. This year two Manchester companies participated. This resulted in unnecessary tensions and perceptions of rivalry placing extra expectations on CYAC as the host company to be more active in their engagement with Boundless over other participating companies.

Recommendation

For future festivals where multiple companies are located within the same city consider any existing tensions or rivalries that may exist. Create extra opportunities for shared activities between these participating companies from fundraising planning for their twins, to skill sharing and festival promotion in order to create stronger relationships and links.

COMPANIES: ARTS-IN-ACTION WORDSMITHS

Who are Arts-in-Action Wordsmiths (Wordsmiths)? Arts-in-Action Wordsmiths was established in 2008 as a public literacy and performance programme designed to mentor young people. Serving as the Applied Creative Arts outreach programme of the Department of Creative and Festival Arts at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, they specialise in using creative and performing arts disciplines to develop educational content for a wide range of audiences. Locating participatory arts-based interventions in non-arts venues.

ARTS-IN-ACTION WORDSMITHS EXCHANGE AND TWINNING “Why do you want to be involved in an international exchange? We believe in a global community. We believe that the opportunity for young people to make art with others across the globe builds empathy and understanding as well as broaden their frame of artistic reference.”1 1 Taken from AIA Wordsmiths application form to participate in CTW2012

Online

Twinned with CYAC, this pairing had the most visibly active collaboration with great discussions and sharing of cultural references on the Ning. Whilst Wordsmiths had hoped for 15 company members to be involved in the programme, only 4 performers and the two company directors participated. As with all companies, participating members were lost and new members were brought in during the 9 months. Well I’m the last man in the whole scheme of things… but the process that they have done before was so strong that it was sort of inviting - an easy invitation for me to come in and pick up . – Candice, Intent of performance discussion The reduced number of company members had little impact on the collaborative experience with Danielle from Wordsmiths leading the sharing and dialogue with CYAC. For us, we were doing this since November and I’m the only one that’s not in school. For the rest of them, everything was always during exams – and the exams were back-to-backto-back very stressful every day... so there was always the stress of exams and finishing school and then Contacting the World and we didn’t know what to do – Danielle, intent of performance discussion This twinning really embraced the different methods of communication available to them, whilst maintaining reference points for Montse (AF) to observe and support their process. Ning Comment by Lauren Banks on April 19, 2012 at 15:00 We also did a great session last night using different movement and rhythm techniques too which we can hopefully share with you if we get to Skype!

In the box itself it’s not just the items that were in the box itself, but it’s what the items meant to us - like Charlie’s scarf, it was his great grandmother’s scarf, and when we look at our piece we felt we had a collection of generations right here. The meaning of the items also worked the basis for us making the work in the first place. “Justin, Post show discussion - twinning in performance

Ning Comment by Danielle Lewis on April 20, 2012 at 1:37 Hello guys. It was so good seeing all of your faces today. Our skype session went pretty well too :) :) Before we got cut off I was asking you all a question. I wanted to know what has given you the most inspiration in the past months. What were the “ah-ha” moments so to speak? In terms of music we’ve been listening to the calypsonian David Rudder more specifically his song “International Chantuelle. The historian Justin was talking about is Gordon Rohlehr.

I fell in love with the scarf and every time we did improv workshops every week we just gravitated to that scarf and we just used it.. . . With the scarf we started to play with transformation and transitioning, and we knew that whatever we were going to do would incorporate that kind of movement. Also we LOVED the outside of the box - all these tarot cards with magic and we found that magic is something that could take you anywhere that you want to go, you can create anything with magic – you can do anything if you're a magician. - Danielle Post show discussion – twinning in performance

The active sharing of reference points, challenges and activities outside of the creative tasks set by Montse enabled a rich collaboration. The creativity and extension of skills led and shared by the two companies was strong, even when the completion of designated tasks on time seemed a struggle. Ning Comment by Emma O on April 20, 2012 at 23:52 I dont know if this will be of any use to u, but as i was typing it, something dawned on me. Carnival tradition is about being over the top, performing with exaggerated gestures and explotions of colour, keeping the audience at a distance. Maybe we as CYAC could challenge Wordsmiths to play it down, to the point where your piece will not feel like “performance”, but simply the opportunity to participate in life- and for the purpose of teaching participants a lesson about themselves?This is a view that really inspired me, and made me question my perceptions about performance and my reasons for wanting to act.

The commonalities between the two companies regarding each country’s current mood and situation provided the theme for their performances - drawing comparisons between Trinidad & Tobago’s State of Emergency, and the riots that shook the UK in 2011. The cultural awareness fostered during the CTW process provides common ground for the shared creativity.

What we came up with at first was based just on our interactions - we’d talked about riots, we’d talked about classical music. - Justin, post show discussion From an outsiders point of view, I think they’re gonna look COMPLETELY different - but they’re gonna be the same. I feel that, I can feel that. - Danielle, Intent of performance discussion

The tried and tested first task of the “Who am I? Box” continued to be an effective foundation for the collaboration. The physical connection it provided acted as a bridge to the distance and digital communication that takes place. The box became a company member in itself, offering prompts and reference points for their twin to be inspired by.

ARTS-IN-ACTION WORDSMITHS THE EXCHANGE AND TWINNING

want everyone back home to know that the CTW experience is a genuine meeting between cultures with a common love for the arts. The staff at the Contact offices are working tirelessly to make this experience a truly unforgettable one! -Danielle, Contact MCR blog1

Visits

As the chosen company member to represent Wordsmiths at the March meet, Danielle ensured that connections were maintained whilst everyday pressures for the rest of the company limited their activity on the Ning. The March meet remains a turning point when all companies realise their commitment and the uniqueness of this experience.

As part of her visit Danielle performed via Telepresence with the rest of Wordsmiths as part of the preview night. Drawing inspiration from the box task the whole company were able to participate through the use of this technology.

After talking and sharing with everyone online for so long itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great to finally meet everyone in person. The interactions between us have somehow solidified the entire experience. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s definitely made it real! I

1 http://contactmcr.com/blog/2012/mar/27/ctw-march-meet/ - last accessed September 2012

ARTS-IN-ACTION WORDSMITHS EXPERIENCE What do you most hope to gain from participating in CTW? Being exposed to the techniques, stories and performances of the other groups. We hope to create a network of young artists who will continue to want to make contact through other opportunities that they themselves create and initiate1

1 Taken from AIA Wordsmiths application form to participate in CTW2012

Being exposed to the techniques, stories and performances of the other groups. We hope to create a network of young artists who will continue to want to make contact through other opportunities that they themselves create and initiate” The twinning and exchange instigated a process of shared skills and techniques, which continued throughout the March meet involving all company representatives and Montse (AF). When I was here in March we did some other writing exercises, which I took back to Trinidad, and that became the opening sequence. - Danielle, Post show discussion The skills sharing from the exchange visits enabled a process of peer learning that informed and changed how companies make theatre, alongside insights into their twins. The learning that took place provided the opportunity for growth and self-reflection that wasn’t instantly anticipated by Wordsmiths, and was only realized through reflecting on the programme during festival week. We are stronger and more resilient than we think. Danielle, body Map exercise

“Back in Trinidad, a lot of our lecturers like to say 'Trust the process.' And in trusting the process it MEANS what it MEANS. You have to go with it, and if you think you're taking too long working on one part you have to remember: no – you have to do what you have to do as part of this process.” – Candice, Intent of performance discussion “We had to trust the process LITERALLY because at the creative arts centre where we come from we are a process-oriented people. We don’t believe that you just give somebody a script and they learn it - they need to go through a process, and whatever process that is, they need to trust it.”- Danielle, Intent of performance discussion When asked to reflect upon their learning from the other companies, Wordsmiths responses revolved around the impact developing a level of connectivity to their peers has had on them.

Wordsmiths body Map Reflections

Skills/Knowledge/Activities

Wordsmiths found the opportunity to reflect an important part of the CTW 2012 process. They were active reflectors throughout the festival week however were unable to attend the final reflection and body mapping day due to their travel itinerary.

• • • • •

Wordsmiths

•

• • •

• •

Thanks Dani 4 talking things tru Justin ur positivity has kept me smiling Shev, I couldn't ask for a better friend

Twin • •

I get to meet so many amazing people. I love my ppl from CYAC Contact is huge

• • • • •

Connect the dots Poetry It's still daylight at 9:30pm WTF! So years later I'm independent from my four walls The place is cold. Did not like it at first. I want to have my own festival to bring the world, young people, to my country. To share. Long live Contact. Keep it up De past heavy but the present doesn't need to be – heavy with hurt but doesn't need to be Pain from long hours of work I can't understand certain choices that ppl make. I have realised I am slightly OCD, controlling and believe that if I think something, others need to think so as well, especially if the situation is beneficial to the individual. I just can't understand it. I want us all to think the same but I don't want us to. I am confused lol lol I know in my gut that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I always knew it but this process cemented it for me You need belly for this work Strength Patience The process continues

ARTS-IN-ACTION WORDSMITHS PARTICIPATION What do you hope to give? Our stories and performance traditions, it is Trinidad and Tobago’s Carnival that is the inspiration for CTW’s closing event. At the very first CTW in 2002 our workshop ended with a parade through the Contact venue and this was seen as a fitting way to share with the community what took place over the past week. Thus the CTW closing parade was born. Ten years later, we’re hoping that our theatre/performance experiment can yield something just as potent, engaging and lasting. 1

1 Taken from AIA Wordsmiths application form to participate in CTW2012

Performance and Audience Wordsmiths performance, ‘50/25’ draws upon the cultural power and signifiers of numbers to explore independence, festival arts and their twinning experience through folklore, carnival and movement. I want the audience to know that in life, we can want to paint the perfect picture and we want things to go a certain way but there are things that happen and because they happen we have to live with them. And that’s life. Bring tissues! – Candice, Intent of performance discussion Wordsmiths joined CTW2012 whilst their country had been placed in a State of Emergency, with curfews and stop & searches in effect for 6 times longer than had initially been called for, in response to a period of heightened gang activity. Creating a backdrop of restrictive freedom, they felt a strong connection to the UK riot situation and this was explored through discussions between the two companies. If we just did a play based on what we spoke about online it wouldn’t have been any good, so we actually threw some other elements that is important to us and our culture, so that others could learn from our performance – Justin, Intent of performance discussion They utilised skills and processes shared throughout the collaboration to create a series of scenes inspired by their twinning and discussions. This enabled them to weave a story using the poetics of Hosay, Kalinda, other traditional Mas, and Indian dance, to share a story about loss, legacy, responsibility and triumph.

ARTS-IN-ACTION WORDSMITHS PARTICIPATION

Their commitment to portray and embody a range of characters connected with the audience and reflected the development they had put into their performances as young actors.

It's really yours, one West Indian guy got all the Trinidadian jokes” – Camille, post show reflection with Wordsmiths.

When we had the script, we had to think and realise how the person on the page would walk, talk, breathe - work out the details of the person, and see how it works. - Justin, Post show discussion

The humour, song and physicality of their performance saw an even spread of responses to their performance with respect to audience atmosphere, challenging and emotional content. Whilst it wasn’t a provocative piece of theatre, it successfully shared the spirit of Trinidadian culture with new audiences.

You have to change and stretch your voice, and different ages have different voices, so you have to stretch it. We did a range of voice activities, to link these to the characters. - Candice, Post

Post show feedback •

show discussion

•

With strong accents and a lot of localised references, it offered a Trinidad and Tobago experience, providing new insights and cultural reference points.

• • •

“They loved your whiling in that story, it gave me the energy to really move” - Danielle, post show reflection with Wordsmiths.

•

Didn’t understand how the projections connected with the show Magical presence! Capturing! Funny! Thought provoking story State of emergency - violence, identity? lack of hope? Purpose? So inspired to create and digest culturally relevant art Many beautiful moments, very good characterisation, found narrative hard to follow at points. Wonderful, colourful, thought provoking, lovely!

ARTS-IN-ACTION WORDSMITHS PARTICIPATION

We wanted to explore how it doesn’t have to be your real flesh and blood carrying out your legacy - it could be a friend! We also wanted to show how diverse our country is - not only Africans doing African stuff. - Shevaugn, post show discussion

Festival Week

The cultures of Trinidad and Tobago was shared throughout the twinning process with CYAC and through their performances and presence during festival week. “We live with our folk - our folk is not kept in a box. It’s part of us, in-between our teeth. Real life is not this thing that happens, and folk - what you call folk, or I call spirituality, is everything that happens in this space. We walk with spirits, we walk with ancestors, we walk with these things.” - Camille, post show discussion

Kalinda, a form of stick fighting/dance that can be seen within carnival, was a technique previously shared with CYAC and their twinned school, which informed CYAC’S CTW2012 preview night performance. Also seen within Wordsmiths own performance, this was then shared and developed in festival week workshops led by the company directors Camille and Marvin.

ARTS-IN-ACTION WORDSMITHS PARTICIPATION

Whilst they were the smallest company participating, their energy and culture was shared effectively before festival week even began:

CYAC

Boundless

•

• • •

•

• • • • •

Perseverance, genuine love and respect for each company member Rhythm. Carnival. Respect for heritage and community. Learnt a new character - making/developing exercise in 1st workshop Learnt a good range of songs Passion and rhythm About carnival and Jab Jab Learnt about interesting and vibrant culture and carnival Inspirational and a great group to work with

•

Wordsmiths accents sick, have so much energy, enthusiasm, passion To appreciate every moment The beauty and power of words Wordsmiths have such an infectious energy. I need to go to Trinidad!

Yard •

Culture

Wordsmiths involvement in CTW2012 was very much a two way exchange, sharing Trinidadian culture and carnival with the participants, in return experiencing the UK culture. With Danielle having been accepted to East 15 acting school in London, a school offering industry ready theatre training and certification, starting September 2012, she made a network of connections to support her on this journey. Wordsmiths are performing 50/25 again with proceeds going to Danielle to support her in her postgraduate studies. For other members, the experience saw them leave their small island for the first time to fly to a slighter bigger island with a host of different accents. The sharing and celebration of diverse cultures with the context of similar human experiences saw two very different twin performances showcased and appreciated by the audience.

ALUMNI COMPANY: FIRST WAVE I REALLY, REALLY THOUGHT THE MATINEES WERE BRILLIANT, AND BRINGING PREVIOUS ALUMNI BACK AGAIN - SHOWED THE STRENGTH AND UNITY OF THE FAMILY AND SHOWCASE WHAT THEY’VE BEEN DOING SINCE THE LAST FESTIVALS - ADDED A BIGGER IMPACT AND LEGACY TO THE FESTIVAL – ADAM, (AM) EVALUATION MEETING

Danez – I think it matches up because I like the conflict, I'm not opposed to it. I actually welcome it and I HOPE that art creates conflict.. To make a piece with the intention of having everyone agree with it is a little problematic. So I've got responses that I like – in that I feel appreciated and loved, and also comments that challenge me, and also I like hearing that people have been challenged. The fact that you CAN disagree with something is very powerful.

To open the festival proceedings alumni company First Wave were invited back to participate in the opening days of the festival. First Wave participated in the last CTW in 2010, a collective of spoken word poets, MCs, dancers, singers and actors attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison; they performed their new work ‘Shock’ on opening night. The show felt like a really honest and open discussion, really inspiring stuff. Made me want to live up to the standard they set. Was a very emotionally filled performance and very inspiring. It was amazing. Inspired to work harder. It was so exciting and made me want to perform. I felt their culture. I felt like I knew them from as what they write was them I felt proud to be mixed race.

Festival week provides companies with an opportunity to intensely experience, dissect, explore, learn and breathe theatre 24/7. Entering into a dialogue and critical review is something new and intimidating to some participating companies. Being able to experience this first in a safe way by reviewing an alumni company’s work first provides a level of understanding in preparation for their own post show discussions. The exploration of identity and cultural heritage within First Wave’s show offered a challenging discussion point in which to explore the intent behind creating the performance.

Inspired. I am in awe of anyone who can express themselves in such a creative and beautiful manner which is exactly what First Wave do. Although I could not relate to the topics of some of their pieces, this passion, talent and clarity of their emotions and feelings made it universal and easy to be part of.

At the core of it I believe we stop creating art when the art stops representing the artist. I believe that if you start to create art for somebody else then where is you? Why should you do it? Why don’t you have that person do it? If your voice is not there, then what is it?- Chris, First Wave Interview

- Post show discussion comments Having an Alumni company performing set the standard for the week and enabled the participating companies to get used to the formula for post show activities; whilst actively engaged in discussions and critiques about another company’s work.

From the alumni company to a host of matinee performances this enabled companies to experience a diverse range of performance and theatre; widening their frames of reference, understanding and inspiration points that they may not normally have access to. This year the programme include international poetry, a dance showcase with experimental performances and live art, as well as black comedy.

FIRST WAVE COMPANY LEARNING In a short space of time First Wave integrated themselves within the companies, sparking spontaneous drumming, beat boxing and rapping sessions over lunch. Bringing an extra cultural dynamic and exchange to the festival offered additional learning and knowledge for the participants.

Wordsmiths

CYAC

Yard

Boundless

Work together with each one’s strengths

Commanding your audience’s attention American slang and real hip-hop Learnt USA slang

Accents

Learnt how to beat box and construct raps or …bars - see learning Beat box/rhythms, there good experience, work ethic was good to watch and take into consideration for our own company Learnt about schooling system and frats and sororities So cool and talented, learnt to beat box I learnt about different states and their ethics and taught me new slangs

FIRST WAVE LEGACY RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendations

Alumni should be recommending more companies and trying to reach more and inspire new companies to apply – Adam, Evaluation meeting Maintaining relationships and networks with alumni companies is imperative for developing the network. Building and profiling these relationships through digital activity on a dedicated CTW platform would ensure longevity of the programme between festival years and track the legacy and reach of the programme. I have an idea, that’s a little bit different. Being an alumni company it’s been very interesting and I SO would’ve loved to have been involved in the Ning process and all that sort of stuff but I think as an interesting idea for next year, it would be cool to have maybe three alumni from different companies to come over from international companies. There’s a facilitator and Contact mentors, but these could walk around and help guide the process and help facilitate things. I’m talking about YOUNG people though to be alongside the adult mentors - like somebody from Yard and somebody from Wordsmiths - people who had been a part of the twinning process, as that’s really important to have somebody who’s been through the same experiences as you.. - Danez, First Wave Interview The impact First Wave had on the companies and the festival at the start of the week is reflective of an important role that alumni companies could take in future years. The intense and unique nature of this festival can only be understood by peers who have previously participated, the reassurance, sharing of knowledge and experience throughout and post festival is an invaluable resource to active participating companies.

Legacy

Chris – The Ning process is REALLY important to the experience and none of these guys have had that experience.. and that’s REALLY important. Perhaps the next time the alumni could be included in the email sharing, and the Ning, so they can see what the other companies are doing at least, so you’re not meeting for the first time during festival week. That’s the brilliance of Contact – you could have been having conversations with somebody for 6 or 7 months and then it’s like meeting an old friend when you finally meet… and for us this time, that wasn’t there, it was like meeting for the first time.

With a rolling company roster, only 2 members of First Wave in attendance at this year’s festival had participated previously. The desire by the newer members to engage fully in the CTW experience was apparent.

Yes, definitely! I’m all about it – this is a beautiful place, and beautiful people and a beautiful team.. y’all doing amazing things here! - Marvin, First Wave interview in response to participating in future CTW Having made a strong bond with their twin in 2008, First Wave continue to collaborate and seek opportunities with new companies. First wave are currently exploring a collaboration with Wordsmiths as a result of meeting at CTW2012. Collaborations between First Wave are still happening with the Swedish guys and I’m sure something is going to happen with Boundless and Crown Troupe - Adam, Evaluation meeting

Future CTWs should involve all Companies – including alumni – in any online activity. Whilst alumni will not be expected to actively participate in online activity and dialogue, they should be invited to engage in the dialogue if they choose. This will enable companies to generate greater social capital prior to Festival Week as well as support the promotion of festival activities in advance of the companies visit.

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE What did audience members experience during each of these new collaborative theatre pieces?

observations

We wanted to find out something beyond ‘it was good’, and looks at the depth of each performance on more diverse scales than ‘did you enjoy yourself?’ - particularly given the subject matter of some of the performances were about topics that are challenging or provocative. Referencing ‘Capturing the Audience Experience’, we selected specific questions which would offer insight into the experience of audience members across a range of themes and enabled audiences to record an impulsive reaction on a scale of responses to assess the following: • • •

•

Engagement and concentration – the higher the level on the scale reflects a greater sense of happiness and fulfilment Learning and challenge – the higher the level on the scale the more mentally active and open to new experiences Energy and tension – the higher on the level on the scale the greater the emotional and physiological response to and engagement with the work Shared experience and atmosphere – the higher on the level on the scale reflects the collective belonging amongst the audience’s shared experience Personal resonance and emotional connection – the higher on the level on the scale reflects the levels of empathy towards characters and the ability to understand and know oneself better.

Purchasing a ticket to a theatre performance implies an active decision to engage with a performance and therefore also anticipates an enjoyable experience. For this reason we wanted to connect the artistic motivations of the companies with the non-cultural impacts art can achieve, in line with the aims of the festival. “The capacity of theatre to deliver meaning, entertainment and a shared experience gives it the potential to deliver a deeper impact on society that goes far beyond the economic or the instrumental.”: Centre for Wellbeing, NEF Capturing the Audience Experience: a handbook for the theatre, pg 4 We wanted to capture a reflection of the audience’s experience that could be directly relevant to the artistic ambition and motivations of the companies, especially when taking into consideration that nearly half of the audience members each night were participating companies.

On average 46% of the audience consisted of participating festival companies and volunteers, with their experience, understanding and knowledge of theatre and their peer companies expanding as the week progressed. This broadening of knowledge and perception could attribute to the differences in extreme responses as the week’s performances continued.

We were unable to determine at the time of recording what percentage of respondents were general public and not festival participants, however on average 43.6% of audience members participated in dot voting.

We trialled this evaluation methodology for the alumni performance, First Wave. The extreme levels of engagement and response in this trial can be seen as a reflection upon their development as creative professionals since their company participation in CTW in 2010. Repeating this evaluation activity for participating companies that may return as alumni in the future would provide an interesting comparison in their evolution as performers and the impact of their work against their artistic intention.

Crown Troupe received similar spikes in opinion. As outlined in the Companies: Crown Troupe section we are unable to truly determine how much this had to do with the artistic quality of their performance / film, and how much this was influenced by the emotional response to their absence.

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

This scale invited audience members to reflect on the learning and challenges offered by each performance.

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE

80 60

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Moradokmai

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

60 60

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Yard

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Crown Troupe Boundless

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

Moradokmai

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

CYAC

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

20 60

Moradokmai

50 40 30

500

Crown Troupe

40 comfort zone

CYAC

Wordsmiths

6010

Yard

Boundless

A: I was mostly in my

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Yard

Crown Troupe

CYAC

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

20 Moradokmai

Moradokmai

Yard

Boundless

10 0

E: I felt challenged and provoked

Moradokmai First Wave & PP

30 20

First Wave & PP

Wordsmiths

Moradokmai First Wave & PP

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

10 A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

Moradokmai

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

Yard

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

Moradokmai

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

Yard

Crown Troupe

30 20

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Moradokmai

First Wave & PP

E: I felt challenged and provoked

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Yard

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

Moradokmai First Wave & PP

Yard

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

Moradokmai First Wave & PP

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

E: I felt challenged and provoked

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Crown Troupe

CYAC

First Wave & PP

Yard

Boundless

Yard

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

Moradokmai

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

50 40

Moradokmai

CYAC

40 comfort zone

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

E: I felt challenged and provoked

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

A: There wasn't much sense of atmosphere

Moradokmai

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Crown Troupe

Boundless

CYAC

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP Yard

E: I felt challenged and provoked

CYAC

Moradokmai

Crown Troupe

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

Crown Troupe

Boundless

Yard

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

Yard

Wordsmiths Moradokmai First Wave & PP

500

Crown Troupe

30 20

A: I was mostly in my

Boundless

6010

Yard

Crown Troupe

30 20 60

Yard

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

Wordsmiths

First Wave & PP

Yard

First Wave & PP

A: I was mostly in my comfort zone

E: I felt challenged and provoked

E: I noticed a real buzz in the audience

This scale invited audience members to reflect on the shared experience and atmosphere offered by each performance.

First wave & PP

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe 30 Boundless 20

CYAC

Wordsmiths

0 A: My concentration was wandering

E: I was completely absorbed by what was happening

This scale invited audience members to reflect on the engagement and concentration levels they experienced during each performance

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE

Moradokmai

Yard

Crown Troupe 30 Boundless 20

CYAC

Wordsmiths

0 A: It didn't really get me going

E: I was enthralled by the sights and sounds of the performance

This scale invited audience members to reflect on the energy and tension created by each performance

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE

Moradokmai Yard

Crown Troupe 30 Boundless 20

CYAC Wordsmiths

0 A: There wasn't really much that touched me

E: I found aspects of the performance very moving

This scale invited audience members to reflect on the personal resonance and emotional connection inspired by each performance.

VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers managing and delivering volunteer programmes. Whilst the existing application forms may put potential volunteers off, clearly an application or registration form is necessary when taking on volunteers.

Volunteers have always played a key role in the smooth running of CTW, and despite the reduction in companies, volunteers were still a valued cog in the CTW2012 machine. To capture the experience of the volunteers, without increasing the workload of an already intense week, we distributed small zines to each volunteer as described in the Festival Week Evaluation Processes section. We gave out 20 zines, and received only 5 back. Reasons for this undoubtedly include: • • • •

“For Health and Safety and insurance purposes, all volunteers should provide emergency contact information should there be any problems, and with an application form the information will be easily accessible in an emergency.”2

Volunteers starting on different days – not having the zines explained to them Volunteers finishing on different days – not handing them back in before leaving Volunteers not understanding the reasons behind reflective practice – Frilly not meeting volunteers in advance of festival week Volunteer coordinator not having enough time with volunteers before festival week began to fully explore roles and responsibilities – never mind adding another layer of responsibility of keeping a reflective zine, regardless of how simple a format it was.

In recommendations, we will suggest ways of mitigating any drop in volunteers whilst still having an application process in place.

Roles This is the first year Contact has opened up volunteering to include specific roles alongside general volunteering roles. 1. Technical Volunteers were taken on in the technical team to assist in all backstage roles with support from the Contact team. Whilst this meant there were a few minor glitches in some of the performances, it was felt that this volunteer role was beneficial to both Contact and to the volunteers and would be something to include in future festivals.

We gathered further volunteer feedback through a SurveyMonkey, but again, out of 19 possible responses, we only received 7. We knew that once the event was over it would be more difficult to gather people’s reflections, hence we wanted to get their thoughts in an ongoing fashion throughout the week. The feedback we received has still been useful in reflecting on CTW from the volunteer perspective, and we have outlined these reflections and recommendations below.

Why did you get involved in CTW2012? Please give as many reasons as you can! Wanted to get more experience over the summer and because of study leave I could do the dates. Wanted to get involved in a Manchester based theatre. Wanted to use experience to have a better chance at getting a part time job.

Recruitment This year saw a change in recruitment processes for volunteers. Previously, volunteers had been recruited through open days for interested people to turn up and find out more about how to get involved. This year, volunteer recruitment was brought in line with Contact’s other recruitment policies, and a more formal application process was developed including an application form. It was felt by staff that this negatively impacted the number of volunteers involved in the festival:

Did CTW2012 meet your expectations? It exceeded my expectations - Friendliest place I’ve ever worked at!

Would you want to be involved in future Contacting the Worlds?

“We had a lot of informal emails and phone calls from people interested in volunteering, but these expressions of interest never translated into applications.”1

Definitely! - I had so much fun, please let me come back, pleeeeease!”

- Sheanna, Survey Monkey answers, September 2012

In reflecting on best practice when working with volunteers, we have referred to a toolkit created by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust who operate a number of highly successful and highly subscribed volunteer programmes, alongside delivering training to other creative professionals on 1 Taken from evaluation meeting minutes 6th August 2012

2 Taken from “Be a part of your history: A toolkit for developing a new volunteer initiative”, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust – can be downloaded from http:// worcestershiremdo.wordpress.com/resources/toolkit-for-developing-volunteerinitiatives/ - last accessed September 2012rces/toolkit-for-developing-volunteerinitiatives/ - accessed September 2012

VOLUNTEERS

2. Social Media Intern

4. General

With the increasing importance of social media as a tool to create dialogue around the work, and to share the work with the world, a Social Media Intern role was created for the first time.

The remainder of the volunteers were given no specific role. Most volunteers were keen to learn new skills, and were interested in a lot of what was happening at the festival. Without specified roles, the Volunteer Coordinator attempted to share the tasks between everyone. The tasks required of volunteers included:

The appointed intern was based in Swindon, so for some of the time during CTW he worked from home. With social media, that’s not hugely problematic – though afterwards staff reflected:

• • • • •

“It would have been good for their development to spend more time in Contact”3 Due to budgetary constraints, this was not possible – however it has been identified as something to consider in future CTWs.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Having a volunteer dedicated to promoting CTW through social media meant that the online presence felt stronger than in previous years. This may also be due to the explosion of a range of social media platforms and their availability, as discussed in more detail in the Digital section of this report. “Marcus did an incredible job in trying to keep everything alive on Twitter”4 The Social Media Intern was unable to stay for the full festival week due to other work commitments, and it is interesting to note that after his departure there were no more blog posts on the Ning, and only blog posts by the project manager on Contact’s main website. Whilst all other volunteers took on social media duties including tweeting, Instagramming, and uploading short videos for Crown Troupe – it would appear none of them were given instructions or authorisation to blog. In turn, this means that what began as a strong social media presence felt like it petered out before the week was even over. Volunteers continued tweeting, using Instagram to share snapshots of the festival, and uploading to YouTube, but there was no further context offered through blog posts which could have easily collated this content into one place.

Meet and greet / orientation with international companies Escorted companies between sessions Setup lunch and evening meals Served food Took photographs, made videos, edited and uploaded content Participated in workshops Assisted in workshops Supported evaluation tasks Post-show discussion support Assist in afternoon discussion Scrapbook for Crown Troupe Video diary for Crown Troupe Tshirt customisation Peer mentoring tasks Assisting festival documenter Collecting soundbytes pre-show Open mic & Mixed Movement coordination Merchandise & front of house tasks Assist VIP drinks Schools support Trips into Manchester

These tasks required a large amount of flexibility in how they were distributed, and a complex ever-changing rota to ensure all tasks were covered whilst keeping everyone happy. Staff and volunteers were not always sure about who was responsible for which tasks on which days - as an example there was confusion over who was responsible for washing up, with volunteers and the CTW Project Manager ending up doing this on the first day. “I don’t feel the communication throughout the volunteers worked. I feel there was miscommunication before the festival as to what their job roles would include”5

3. Administration Intern In support of the core festival team an administrative intern post was created to develop local skills. The value, learning, contribution and skills of this member of the team saw them successfully apply for a full time post at Contact. Their passion for CTW2012 resulted in a negotatied role to ensure they could still fully support and particpate as the administrative intern for the festival. Contact’s commitment to developing and supporting young people that engage with the venue can be seen in more detail in Progression Routes.

Whilst the list of tasks is lengthy, it seems some volunteers also felt at a loss from time to time, possibly as a result of the overly complicated timetabling: “Timetabling for volunteers sometimes unreliable. Had to look for ways to get involved.”6 Some tasks were perhaps too vague for more inexperienced volunteers who lacked the confidence to ask for more

3 Taken from evaluation meeting minutes 6th august 2012 4 Adam, Artist Mentor, evaluation meeting 6th August 2012

5 Member of Contact staff, SurveyMonkey, September 2012 6 Bruce, Volunteer, SurveyMonkey, September 2012

VOLUNTEERS

instruction, or lacked the confidence to work under their own initiative within a task. This was evident in some volunteers ‘supporting’ workshops, where they would sit at the side of the room checking their phones. Equally the Artist Mentor who has now been involved in three CTWs had expectations of the skills and confidence of the volunteers in supporting post-show discussion but felt:

Selected challenges faced by Volunteers in zines:

“In future volunteers should have some training with the artistic mentor/ facilitator to help them feel confident about leading discussions and getting involved in the creative workshops”7

Filling matinee - Day 3, Bruce

He reflected that in previous years, volunteers had been capable and confident in running post-show discussions themselves, but this year the task fell to other staff.

Uploading with dodgy internet - Day 5, Bruce

Hard to be brave and introduce yourself esp to people who already know each other already - Day 1, Lisa Presenting with the volunteers - Day 1, Ashley Bending my fingers back in Moradokmai workshop - Day 3, Lisa

Playing drums to improvised dance - not like the jam session I am used to, coordinating the school visits and workshops is hard - Day 5, Joe

Trips to MCR didn’t go to plan so I felt bad for volunteers that didn’t have much to do this morning - Day 6, Joe

Corby

Selected highlights identified by Volunteers in zines:

An addition to this year’s volunteers were a team of young people who came up from Corby where they were part of a team of Young Promoter’s working with The Core at Corby Cube. This group became involved through the relationship between Chris Sudworth, their Creative Director, and Contact. As well as sending a team of volunteers to work at CTW, The Core also managed to coordinate a number of the CTW companies touring to their venue whilst in the country.

Learning how enriching other people’s lives are - Day 2, Lisa Learning how simple actions can create powerful movement - Day 2, Ashley Morodokmai workshop - a chance to break down the language barrier - Day 2, Joe Speaking to Candice from T&T - her words were inspiring - Day 4, Lisa

“We’re part of the festival team. We’re having a really really good time, we’re doing so much! We’re part of workshops, assisting workshops, doing some catering, meeting all the different people, introducing people – it’s really really good!”8

Customising t-shirts - Day 6, Ashley The poetry that comes out of conversation - Day 7, Lisa

Selected challenges identified through SurveyMonkey:

Volunteers from Corby were treated exactly the same as the other volunteers, all taking on the same general volunteering role. In addition to the tasks listed above, some took on additional tasks relating to the touring element, including phone interviews with Corby press and tweeting a lot – also including their own hashtag #youngpromoters.

Ensuring the volunteers I was supervising were fulfilling their tasks and in the correct places at the correct time. – Megan Helping create and facilitate the post show discussions – Clare Working three jobs – Bruce Working out the layout of the building to show people, without knowing yourself. - Blane Keeping my mouth shut when egos clashed. - Alex

“There’s been post-show discussions after the shows. The issues that come up – this morning, people were speaking and discussing what happened last night. It’s not just sitting down and talking about what you feel – they’ve been doing creative ways, looking and trying different ways to discuss this. That’s going to happen in Corby as well with all three of the shows – Yard, Moradokmai and First Wave.”9

Selected highlights identified through SurveyMonkey: My highlight was the incorporation of technology to connect, both in the telepresence with Australia and with Crown Troupe. It was a shame that they were not able to join us but the advances in technology really helped us to experience them anyway. – Rebecca Watching the Crown Troupe of Africa video performance and everyone being emotionally overwhelmed by the performance. - Alex Watching the performances from Moradokmai and Contacts Young Actors Megan

7 Adam, Artist Mentor, evaluation meeting, 6th August 2012 8 Christina, volunteer, phone interview during festival week 9 Christina, volunteer, phone interview during festival week

VOLUNTEERS

Recommendations out through the creation of specific volunteer roles. Whilst volunteers may be keen to develop all manner of skills, it would be more useful to the festival team to have dedicated people undertaking specific tasks to ensure continuity and to help everybody know who is responsible for what. Volunteers would then have a framework to start with, and could choose to go above and beyond that if they wished. This would also provide the Volunteer Coordinator with an outline for each volunteer to reflect upon – to see how well they performed against a set of required tasks, and to look at further development opportunities for that person should they want to volunteer or be involved in the future.

1. Recruitment & registering expressions of interest Application forms cannot be allowed to put off potential volunteers, as they are a necessary element to any volunteer programme. Whilst forms can easily be distributed via post or email, they could also be filled out on an open day where roles and opportunities can be discussed with interested parties in a more informal relaxed setting and support offered in completing them to anyone who may need it. Such forms would not take long to complete, and by having potential volunteers visit Contact for an open day, they will already get a taste of the venue and staff they would be working with.

Potential roles might include:

If an open day format is decided upon for future CTWs, it could easily act as a triple promotional tool:

- Workshop Support Volunteer, with responsibility for leading in post-show discussions, assisting workshop leaders with monitoring and evaluating sessions, having input into creative tasks within workshops - Front of House Volunteer, with responsibility for filling seats at show times, collecting voxpops after performances, manning any merchandise desks, fielding enquiries from visitors about showtimes or other details - Marketing volunteer, with responsibility for looking at ways of promoting performances further through their own networks of peers, having input into marketing approaches for specific projects

- September: Invite headteachers, heads of departments, colleges and young people to an event in October - October event: 1. CYAC perform a short 10 min show 2. CYAC deliver workshop(s) including a presentation on what CTW is 3. Live-streamed twinning announcement. This would offer schools, educational establishments and potential young people an insight and a taste of what they could sign up for – whether it’s signing up as a school for workshops during the festival, or signing up as individuals to be volunteers. This would also offer schools an insight into which they may be twinned with should they sign up.

3. Volunteer training “The small budget for the volunteer co-ordinator meant that Joe had to run training sessions immediately without having much time to get to grips with the building etc. He had no time prior to the initial training sessions to meet his volunteer team. He would have liked a few days in the office to have conversations with his volunteers to gain a sense of what their interests were before putting together a rota. More money should be built into the budget for this role in 2014.”1

This style of open day would be more in keeping with the style of CTW – with workshops and activities inspiring people to be a part of the work and feeling ownership from the beginning of the journey instead of being put off by one dry application form before even getting a taste of CTW and the wider work of Contact.

The Volunteer Coordinator needs to be familiar with the venue and staff before being able to confidently train volunteers in their roles. As the Coordinator had no lead-in time with his team, he had no real opportunity to discover interests and skills amongst the team members and as a consequence tasks and timetables were redistributed and rejigged, and all jobs were shared between all volunteers.

In addition, there should be multiple ways of people finding out about opportunities or simply registering their interest in being a part of Contact. Alongside advertising specific festival opportunities in arts publications, opportunities could be pushed through a range of volunteer networks as listed at the end of this section. A page on the Contact website should also exist as a simple signup form for anyone interested in volunteering at Contact. Some of the tasks during festival week could be rolled out across the year – particularly front of house tasks, marketing support, social media support and peer mentoring.

Whilst a more effective recruitment procedure for volunteers, and a set of specific volunteer roles would help in this – by having a few days with the group before festival week begins would further develop team dynamics and enable the Coordinator to feel more confident in distributing tasks, managing his team and supporting them in performing to the best of their ability during the project. Should volunteers

2. Roles Many of the challenges outlined above could easily be ironed

1 Taken from evaluation meeting minutes 6th August 2012

VOLUNTEERS

Useful Links

identify any specific training aspirations, the Coordinator should be supported by the Artist Mentor, Artist Facilitator and/or the evaluator – alongside specific teams within Contact eg. Technical Team, Marketing Team etc.

http://worcestershiremdo.wordpress.com/resources/ toolkit-for-developing-volunteer-initiatives/ - download of Ironbridge Volunteer Toolkit

4. A Contact Volunteer Policy & Programme

http://www.do-it.org.uk/ - a national volunteering hub

Everything mentioned in 1, 2 and 3 could be developed further into a volunteering policy for the whole of Contact. Instead of looking to recruit volunteers in a hurry on a project or programme basis, supporting volunteers throughout the year enables young people to be upskilled on a longer term basis increasing confidence in the young people and increasing cohesion between volunteers and staff. This would also enable the creation of a clearer progression path for young people looking to volunteer with Contact.

http://vinspired.com/ - a young-person specific national volunteering hub

Manchester-specific volunteering sites http://www.manchestercommunitycentral.org/volunteering http://www.mev.org.uk/home http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/students/employable/ volunteering/ http://www.volunteering-gm.org.uk/

To have such a policy would require Contact to invest in a permanent Volunteer Coordinator, as the range of roles would otherwise need volunteers to be managed by specific team members across Contact that would result in conflicting agendas and confusion by volunteers. A Coordinator role could also act as schools liaison for all other Contact programme work, as the volunteer programme could easily link in to work experience and apprenticeship courses and programmes. Through working with schools, the coordinator would develop long term relationships with schools and colleges, and schools and colleges would see the benefits of buying in to Contact as a partner. Having a Volunteer Programme could enable greater legacy of projects through an online presence that could be facilitated by volunteers on a rolling basis, encouraging Contact’s social media to be embraced by young people. 5. Anonymous staff recommendations taken from SurveyMonkey: “Volunteers having a prep from bar and front of house would have been better as felt they were distanced from bar staff and hosts, and difficult to steer in right direction. More communication from volunteer co-ordinator with teams.” “To have known which volunteers would be supporting me in advance of the day so that I could introduce myself and know I had staff on hand would be beneficial.”

SCHOOLS

2012 was the first time CTW opened up the creative exchange to include local schools. Wanting to ensure a wider connection with the festival across Manchester, they twinned each international company with a local school. This ambition was to be explored through a longer 10-day festival in order to ensure the connection with different cultures, creative ideas and diverse young people, would be more meaningful. Despite the impact funding restraints made to the programme, Contact remained committed to piloting schools involvement.

delivery and co-ordination, there was a fee for participating schools. This fee limited the number of potential schools able to fund the cost of participation and limited the number of school applicants. Whilst it was noted that funding and support should be considered for future years, the following observation was also made: ‘Having the least diverse schools meant they probably got more out of working with the different international companies’ – Suzie Henderson, Creative Producer, Evaluation Meeting

The schools programme of activity had two strands. 1. 2.

The following schools took up the opportunity and were twinned as follows:

A schools twinned with each of the international companies, and associated creative tasks to take part in A matinee and workshop offer for visiting schools during festival week.

• • •

Twinned Schools With the scaled down format of CTW, there were only three international companies involved so only three schools were selected to participate in the programme for 2012. In order for this strand of the programme to support the costs of

William Hulme Grammar School & A-I-A Wordsmiths St. Anne’s RC High School & Crown Troupe of Africa Blessed John Henry Newman RC College & Moradokmai Theatre Community

SCHOOLS EXPERIENCE Creative Tasks

The groups were encouraged to share the outputs and outcomes from their tasks with all of the companies on the Ning and to be active in the creative exchange. The opportunity to embrace Telepresence software was shared with the schools in order to engage with new technology as part of the exchange. The schools received support from Contact staff to engage with the digital exchange element of the programme.

Just as the participating companies received creative tasks and engaged in a dialogue on the Ning, so did the schools. ‘We get excited about the creative tasks and feel like we are ahead of ourselves. The kids have been practising their warm-up games for today and want to share them” - teacher, William Hulme Grammar School, March meet discussion

As a teacher I felt that working in collaboration with an international company gave me something to really focus on and felt that I wanted to deliver my absolute best for them and show them the worth of St Anne’s school and what we are about as well. Inputting a piece of dance enabled me to expand on my directorial tasks. It was great to be able to discuss and share facts about one another which had a real impact on the students and having a performance with dance enabled students to dance who would never have thought about doing that. They also thoroughly enjoyed the workshops and the opportunity to work with practitioners. – Karen Perrin, St. Anne’s RC, E-mail Feedback

The creative tasks were as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

‘Say hello’ introduction video, introducing all participating students, the school and information about where you are based. Twin research – finding out more about their twin and their country, presenting their findings to their peers and creating questions to ask their twin To coincide with meeting their twins; devise short performances based on interests, play favourite warm-up games and make new ones 11 weeks till show time: start planning performances, generating ideas and develop characters and situations Create a narrative for their performance, play with the narrative – insert flashbacks, perform it backwards etc. to hone the story

Favourite Task

Least Favourite Task

1 – 38% 2 – 25% 3 – 16% 4 – 16% all – 3%

1 – 21% 2 – 35% 3 – 7% 4 – 14% None - 21%

Comment by Tanachon Chandruang on April 29, 2012 at 10:50 ‘and I will answer the question as soon as possible , this is the summer time in Thailand and Moradokmai’s student they back home for month ... please waiting for a little time ’

Comment by IBRAHIM OLANIYI RASHEED on March 28, 2012 at 8:00 ‘nice one from you guys,really captivating and emotional, full of strong words. the sky is not limit but ur starting point.’ – Ning post from a member of Crown Troup in response to Newman’s task 3 video

Comment by Tanachon Chandruang on April 29, 2012 at 10:36 ‘WELL DONE !!!!!’ – Moradokmai Ning response to Newman’s Task 2 video

SCHOOLS MARCH MEET & WORKSHOP March Meet

workshop

The schools attended the March meeting at Contact. This included a presentation of all of the participating companies, a workshop with their twin representative, reflection activities and a Q&A with the companies.

The final engagement for the schools before festival week was through a workshop at their school with an artist to support them in the development of their performance. William Hulme and Newman’s College were both visited by the same creative practitioner, Kate Bradman, whilst Adam McGuigan, the festival’s AM, visited St. Anne’s.

Participating in this programme was both a challenge and an opportunity for Newman RC College. A school based over two sites, their March meet was the first opportunity for them to consider themselves as one school unit.

William Hulme Grammar School have clearly invested in the tasks they have been set and have taken time to learn about traditional stories and cultural differences from their twins in Trinidad and Tobago. The text and narrative was sorted so we worked specifically on their characters and some excellent physicality’s emerged alongside some interesting vocal qualities!! As for the piece, think; taking a journey, out of this world characters, mythical stories and vibrant music!!

“Today was the first opportunity for them to consider themselves as one school, it's given them a concrete way to understand creative community” – Jane and Emma, St. Anne’s, March meet discussion The company representatives from each twin delivered a workshop for the young people. This workshop was devised and rehearsed with facilitation support from Montse, AF. Moradokmai shared the Samurai warm-up game and traditional Thai dancing. This included the 8 actions to create a story, and then support for the young people from Newman College to make a performance to share with the St. Anne’s students working with Crown Troupe. In turn St. Anne’s were shown storytelling techniques used by Crown Troupe for them to make their own narrative and performance to share.

Newmans College I arrived in the drama studio to an array of musical instrument being lovingly played! The group had lots of performance material developed in small groups and were looking to develop something all together. This is where the collaboration comes in!!! I asked the group what they had learnt about their twins from Thailand and together we used these ideas to create a collaborative movement score showing the differences and similarities between the two cultures. The group truly collaborated by discussing idea, teaching each other their scores and working as a tight group to develop a technically difficult piece of movement. As for the piece, think; multi disciplinary, far away places and imagination!!

“I’m going to take that Samurai game back with me to use post an assessment in school”- Karen Perrin, St. Anne’s teacher, March meet discussion Working in a separate space to the other two schools, William Hulme students were shown a range of warm-up games using song and traditional Trinidad and Tobago rhymes. From this they were then taught Calinda, the use of stick fighting as a dance that is performed during carnival.CTW’s engagement with schools enabled students to understand the wider context of the festival, the companies participating and learn new skills and activities.

– both quotes from Kate Bradman, creative practitioner, former CTW08 participant, Ning Blog post

SCHOOLS FESTIVAL WEEK

participating schools During Festival Week each of the participating schools were invited to support and see their Twinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance - however as an evening event, only William Hulme Grammer School bought students along to attend the A-I-A Wordsmiths performance. The schools performances were scheduled as a feature of festival week with a showcase for all 3 schools on the Friday evening. Schools attended the afternoon of that day for tech and dress rehearsal on the Contact stage, a workshop with their twin company, and a reflection workshop with Frilly. The Q&A part of the afternoon saw them interrogate the companies over the different artistic skills of their company members, the reasons why the companies formed and how they make theatre.

Matinee and Workshop Offer To maximise the presence of international companies and widen the reach of the festival, a matinee and workshop package was offered to other local schools. MCA took the opportunity for students to benefit from workshops with Crown Troupe and Moradokmai. As a pilot offer this was well organised and scheduled with teachers feeling the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs were met. However teachers also felt that objectives and learning outcomes were different to what they expected and lacked connection to the curriculum. Students enjoyed the workshops and shows but overall there was a greater desire for more dance to be featured within the workshops.

SCHOOLS FESTIVAL WEEK PERFORMANCES

William Hulme

St. Anne’s

Blessed John Henry Newman RC College

SCHOOLS CHALLENGES

Organisation

Creative Tasks

The schools needs a lot more infrastructure – I became an artist facilitator and I loved doing it but if it had been a different administrator it wouldn’t have happened – Shaunagh

As with the companies, the schools also struggled to stay on top of creative tasks. This was due to timing, organisational, and logistical issues. She’s been away on jury duty and then it’s Easter we’ve not done task 2, never mind 3 but we will be doing a focused after school club on a Tuesday to work on CTW - Jane and Emma, teachers at Newman College, March meet discussion

With key Contact staff changes and absences during the programme, the driving force of the schools strand was co-ordinated and developed by the temporary project coordinator for the festival. As the schools strand hadn’t been built into the AF’s role responsibility for development was handed over to Shaunaugh Keys, festival co-ordinator (FC). Shaunaugh’s studies, qualifications and experience enabled her to extend the reach of her role to successfully deliver the first pilot of CTW Schools.

Internally getting the groups together across two sites is a bit of a pain - Jane and Emma, teachers at Newman College, March meet discussion

Digital The hopes for digital engagement between the schools and their twins were ambitious. School firewalls notoriously restrict any social networking and video sites, making active engagement via pupils and staff on school equipment difficult. This saw Contact staff spending additional time and support in assisting staff in uploading content to share with the twins, and sadly limited the amount of activity by the school participants on the Ning. I feel our experience of CTW was hindered by the fact that I was unable to upload videos and work we did and therefore didn’t feel like we connected with Crown Troupe. The biggest challenge for me and the students was the time and motivation of the group and the ICT issues here. I would take part again but only with the assurance of good ICT and support and time availability – Karen Perrin, St. Anne’s RC, E-mail Feedback The digital exchange element with schools was further hampered due to the challenges faced by Moradokmai and Crown Troupe in accessing the internet in general.

SCHOOLS FEEDBACK CONTACT STAFF

With this being the first year of schools participation in a Contact programme we felt it was important to gauge how the Contact team felt the schools strand of activity integrated into the programme.

75% of contact staff felt the schools programme widened the reach of Contact

I was really really interested to see how it would work out and I was scared that it might dilute the artistic integrity and less professional and I was completely wrong - it was one of the most moving parts of the festival. Seeing how these young people were so inspired and how dynamic they were in the approach in creating their performances - it bought such a beautiful, innocent experience to the festival. It was such a special night; Segun had such an uplifting experience with those young people. It should definitely be continued. I felt a real connection with the school, just doing that one workshop. The schools brought the festival together. - Adam, Artistic Mentor, evaluation meeting

Feedback from the schools doing workshops has been good and gives us a formula for doing other things as well. - Abbey, workshop co-ordinator and school contact

75% of contact staff completing a staff survey on CTW2012 thought the schools performances fitted perfectly into the festival programme

62.5% of contact staff felt that the schools involvement enriched the programme

SCHOOLS FEEDBACK WILLIAM HULME

trinidadian dream

feedback

William Hulme’s performance, ‘Trinidadian Dream’, followed the story of Lucy who, in her dreams, experiences Trinidad and Tobago culture through the realisation of 3 folk tales; La Diablesse, Papa Boise and Gang Gang Sara.

I felt extremely proud of William Hulme. To see them focused was great. Knowing some of them personally, seeing how shy some of them are in lessons, I was overwhelmed to see them on a theatre stage performing to so many people confidently.

This experience changes her negative perceptions of different cultures into a positive outlook to face an adventure to Trinidad and Tobago. Sharing their research about Trinidad and Tobago and their learning from Wordsmiths, their connection to their twin and their culture was reflected in the performance.

– Boundless Body Map

intent When the students of William Hulme’s were asked what their piece was about they said:

reluctance, dreams, folklore, change, adventure With the intent behind this narrative being for audiences to feel:

sleepy, informed, awe, anticipating, realisation

SCHOOLS FEEDBACK ST. ANNE’S

the struggle

feedback Unbelievable similarities in CT and B and Segun’s school’s performance. - Boundless body map

St. Anne’s performance, ‘The Struggle’ , was inspired by a poem by Segun Adefila of crown Troupe that was posted on the Ning. Engaged in the connection and discussions between their twin and Boundless, St. Anne’s explored the challenges of friendship in hard econmic times.

I feel our biggest achievement was on performance night and the standard of our performance - Karen Perrin, St Anne’s - email feedback

The narrative follows a married couple whose farm isn’t yielding enough to feed their family and seek help from friends. The piece ends with a celebration of street dancing to the sound of Nigerian Azonto music.

It was touching to see St. Anne’s engage didactic lores, which are currently endangered in Nigeria – Crown Troupe Body Map

During the final celebration Segun joined the students on stage to perform alongside them and support the young people in the successful sharing of a traditional Nigerian parable.

The second piece was the best out of the three - post show feedback on St. Anne’s

intent When the students of St. Anne’s were asked what their piece was about they said:

I liked the themes of the second one - post show feedback on St. Anne’s

struggling, helping people, inspiration, making right choices, helpless, morale

Crown Troupe bond with their school very inspired, taught them a lot, powerful

The intent behind the narrative was to make audiences feel:

I liked how all actors stayed on stage during Nigeria’s schools performance, reminded me of ours.

sad, happy, guilty, inspired

Enjoyed the influence of Nigerian cultures and acting techniques. After seeing the school which had influences from Nigeria, I felt that their focus and confidence shined. All of their voices were clear also. - Quotes from Yard Body Map

SCHOOLS FEEDBACK BLESSED JOHN HENRY NEWMAN RC COLLEGE

when two worlds collide

feedback

Blessed John Henry Newman’s RC College performed, ‘When Two Worlds Collide’ - a celebration and showcase of their learning and experiences of CTW2012, highlighting the differences and commonalities between British and Thai cultures.

Liked the musical instruments in the Moradokmai school. – Yard Body Map

A series of small episodes showcasing poetry, music, and dance reflected the diversity of the skills learned and knowledge shared through their experience. Newman’s peer learning in school through the creative tasks saw the students present Moradokmai with a cheque for funds raised from selling cakes by non-participating students, who were affected by the plight of Moradokmai’s experience from the floods.

Happy that they researched and showed interest in Thai culture - Moradokmai Body Map Their performances touched me and will touch forever Moradokmai Body Map

Providing an unexpected and touching end to the school’s performances, the level of generosity and understanding that rippled from one group of students reflects the power of CTW as a process, and the value in the school’s inclusion this year.

intent When the students of Newman’s were asked what their piece was about they said:

culture, diversity, dance, colliding, differences, contrast, Thailand, CTW, movement, joy, relaxation, opposites coming together, different countries coming together as one The intent behind their narrative was to make audiences feel:

happy, surprised, proud, joyful, fascinated, knowledge, smile, super, revitalised, interested

SCHOOLS FEEDBACK POST-SHOW

general

Boundless

• • •

I think opportunities for theatre are rare, especially good theatre for young people – therefore the school's performance was not only a beautiful involvement but also a fantastic chance for the kids and way of keeping theatre alive and thriving.

• • • • •

Very inspiring Love to see the schools connect with the companies To say it’s the first time that CTW has worked with schools, they pulled it off pretty well I was really proud of my children Great performances by all the schools Overall a fun evening Great to see the children so engaged It was good to see the schools using different styles of theatre in their pieces that they might not normally use

Schools should be given these opportunities more often The schools performances were really straightforward The schools were amazing

With all of the companies present at Festival Week in attendance for the school’s performance night they provided an atmosphere of great love and support for the students to perform to. As part of a twin sharing they were able to reflect upon their own experiences within the context of the learning and sharing the students were showcasing in their performances. Below are the comments captured from each of the companies in response to the schools performances.

Love performance: amazing, keep up the work as now you'll see influence from different cultures and nations

Crown Troupe Glad at the attempt by the kids to imbibe and creatively engage their companies

CYAC

The enthusiasm of the kids is admirable

School performance – funny and enjoyable. I really liked them and was shocked at how much they had learnt and remembered.

Yard Well done to the three schools, good shows between the mixture of dance, music, theatre and international exchange carry on with a lot of energy!

The school performances were amazing, they made me feel so happy, they should definitely let schools be involved in the next festival. Amazing to see the next generation of performers.

Amazing, focussed performers Young but great performers, lovely to inspire them to do art in the future.

The understanding, knowledge and sensitivity towards new countries and cultures learnt by the schools was touching. The kids from the school did us proud! Really showed me great promise for future performers.

Loved their energy, focus and having fun on stage. You're never too young to start acting and they all did an amazing job.

It was really clear that the schools learned a lot from their twins because it showed in each of their performances.

Interesting to see the interpretation of their own twinnings!

I loved the fact that these kids completely embraced the cultures and their twin companies countries. Watching the shows I got the thought that if all children got such an experience there would be more cultural understanding and less xenophobia and tension.

Moradokmai Impress

The schools rocked the boat. They seemed to have got the most from their twins than the professional companies.

Heartfelt Like Good

SCHOOLS RECOMMENDATIONS

Organisation

Where schools deliver CTW activity as an after school session they could be supported to deliver Arts Award as an extra curriculum opportunity for students. Arts Award could be developed as an additional offer from the wider Contact programme that could also be rolled out through volunteer activity, CYAC etc. for young people to gain extra qualifications that has the potential to count towards University UCAS points.

The team were in agreement that the schools strand was a success and something that should continue. However, this strand needs more infrastructure to support it - most importantly it needs a budget for an assigned AF to run that element of the project. If Contact wish to develop links with schools further, to establish long-term connections and relationships, this may even require the support of an allocated member of staff to work on linking into Manchester educational establishments longer term. The biggest benefit to connecting with schools in a deep and collaborative way is the ability to promote Contact to each new generation of young people who will become future audiences for the venue.

Opportunities should be built in during allocated workshop time with twins for them to present their learning back and share activities and skills for them to take back with them post festival week. This year, workshops with international companies and matinee packages were sold to local schools. The feedback from these schools was that their pupils didn’t really learn any new skills. In future, before selling workshops, more thought needs to go into learning outcomes and objectives that can be shared to schools in advance. Selling workshops/ matinees to schools is a good way of generating income but to build long-standing relationships with schools Contact need to ensure these workshops are of a high enough quality to be sold before starting the advertising process – with clearly defined outcomes that teachers understand.

With the busy schedule of festival week it was recommended by the project team that the schools would be best suited to tech and dress before festival week.

Would be a nice breather and get the kids to do it with zero stress – Adam, AM, evaluation meeting This would enable more time for artists to support teachers and students in the staging of their performances and for the students to feel confident and comfortable on the venue stage.

Digital The infrastructure for schools to engage with the digital aspect of the programme needs to be considered further. This may include monthly visits to Contact with masterclass sessions with team staff regarding marketing of their show, workshops or observations with CYAC, followed by Ning and blog activity regarding their process so far. Alternatively, investment in a tech box of suitable kit for digital engagement could be included, with a laptop with telepresence and editing software, a dongle for unrestricted Internet access that is monitored and managed by school staff and flip video recorders or other multimedia devices – eg. iPod Touch could provide still image, video recording, internet access, blogging software, audio recording in one handheld device.

During scheduled workshop activity with schools, a set of roles and responsibilities should be provided for teachers and support staff to understand the role of the workshop facilitator and a code of behaviour should be outlined to all teachers and students at the start of workshop activity. With greater planning of objectives and outcomes for workshops, this would enable a process for teachers to observe how successfully these targets were achieved.

Finance It’s worth noting that the initial call for schools to be involved was unsuccessful as the fee was too high, this was lowered but issues of VAT claiming were raised. In future the schools need a contract at the beginning of the project, which outlines a payment schedule of instalments, this wasn’t done until late on in the process.

Before twinning international companies with schools, considerations need to be made in the company selection process regarding their internet capabilities and commitment to engaging with a schools strand. This twinning should also extend to the UK companies or European companies involved. This would ensure that the schools could still experience an exchange of dialogue from a theatre company who could share information on their twin. They could act as a sounding board for their ideas and processes, as well as act as a comparison between the two companies for the schools to explore the differences in theatre styles.

All of the schools involved were Catholic or Grammar Schools, which traditionally have more surplus funds. In future, funding pots should be identified to subsidise wider schools’ involvement in the project, particularly when greater numbers of international companies are involved.

Skills and Learning Supporting schools to incorporate and deliver this programme with their students would enable more consistent engagement. Session plans for activity to achieve the creative tasks whilst developing their performance and contributing to online platforms would take an extra burden off teaching staff. Mapping activity against national curriculum targets for different key stages would enable teachers to see how participation could fall within scheduled drama classes if shared in advance of the CTW school year.

DIGITAL PLATFORMS & SOCIAL MEDIA Digital History 'We will use new technology in all of our art and communication, ensuring that anything we produce has local, national and international reach the moment it is created.” - Contact, 2012 CTW2008 first saw the use of Facebook for exchanging “mini-videos” CTW2010 developed this further through the creation of a Ning site to act as “a dedicated resource and network for young international theatre makers” . This coincided with the implementation of a social media strategy which incorporated the Ning alongside Twitter, Flickr and Youtube usage. CTW2012 continued the use of Ning as Contact’s platform of choice for developing collaborations between twinned companies, as well as the main vehicle of communication between artist facilitators and project participants. A volunteer Social Media Intern was recruited to support the social media strategy for CTW. Contact invested in additional technology to further develop digital platforms for CTW2012 through installing and trialling Telepresence: “Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance of being present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location.”

Successes

challenges

•

Live streaming shows enabled friends and families of international companies to watch their performances live

•

Quality of video footage captured varied. The live stream footage worked every night, but the documentary film makers struggled, despite familiarity with venue

•

Archiving the live stream enabled companies to watch their own performances afterwards

•

Social Media Intern established strong social media presence throughout festival week

Choosing Ning as a platform brought challenges to participants – it was an unfamiliar format, elements were unclear in their intent, and it did not match the quality of branding of Contact’s work

•

Telepresence linking to NYC and Australia

•

Some companies struggled to access the Ning at all, and used Twitter and BBM to communicate more frequently

•

Keeping Crown Troupe involved, despite their absence through technology

•

Ning and most social media – and the resulting barriers with schools engagement.

•

Individuals – including volunteers - blogged about their experiences elsewhere, forgetting to include, duplicate, or even signpost to this on the Ning or the CTW site Once the SMI left at the end of festival week, the social media activity dropped off dramatically – and limited ‘rounding up’ of the programme online

•

100

•

Telepresence was not suitable for involved companies due to technology challenges

•

Wifi challenges – stretched to capacity by high volume usage across the week, and was wiped out when Telepresence was used

•

Effective links / cross-pollination of content across all social media channels used – eg. multiple video presences Youtube + Vimeo + Ustream, and no links from main site

•

Discovery of individual blogs discussing CTW experiences publicly, but not linking back or being shared across CTW platforms – lack of consistency of approach

SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER STATISTICS from April 25, 2012 - July 15, 2012

@contacttheworld Contacting The World

997 total followers 178 connections made in this time period

New Followers

222

16%

You Followed

531

-100%

@ Mentions

344

442%

Messages Sent

309

197%

Messages Received

348

449%

Clicks

114

Retweets

133

461%

Measure how you're conversing with your audience MY SOCIAL SCORES

INFLUENCE 74

ENGAGEMENT 42

70 60 50

TWEETING BEHAVIOR

Conversation 42%

Updates 58%

New Contacts 41%

Existing 59%

40 May 7

May 21

Jun 4

Jun 18

Jul 2

Learn more about your audience to shape your messaging & campaigns BY AGE RANGE

BY GENDER

18-20

44%

21-24

MALE FOLLOWERS

25-34 35-44

56%

45-54

FEMALE FOLLOWERS

55-64 65+

Measure performance on your outbound tweets RETWEETS

TOTAL RETWEETS 133

OUTBOUND TWEET CONTENT

274

0 May 7

May 21

Jun 4

Jun 18

Plain Text

Links to Pages

Photo Links

Jul 2 Report generated by SMI Marcus Lilley, 2012

101

DIGITAL PLATFORMS & SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESSES

“To utilize social media tools effectively and properly, you must absolutely generate spontaneous communications in direct response to what others are saying or to what is happening in that moment. Be yourself. Be conversational. Be engaged.” – Aliza Sherman, co-owner of social marketing firm Conversify

Post-festival activity Shortly after Festival Week ended, one participant from Yard created a closed Facebook group and systematically invited everyone she could find on Facebook – including all participants, staff, group leaders and volunteers – 81 people in total. This enabled participants, staff and volunteers to share news and events after the festival had finished, and conversation is still trickling through.

The use of social media is integral to the whole CTW experience. From being used as a tool in the early stages to connect participant groups, through to it’s use during Festival Week to connect with new audiences and with friends and family who are unable to attend the performances in person.

“Social networks aren’t about Web sites. They’re about experiences.” – Mike DiLorenzo, NHL social media marketing director

Contact has embraced the development of digital tools and social media throughout their history, and this shows in the level of social media activity actively encouraged throughout CTW2012, and is further demonstrated in the online statistics gathered across the duration of the programme. Live streaming each of the performances every evening was a two-pronged succes: it allowed international friends and family (and also UK friends and family who were unable to be present) to watch each show live, and secondly as each of the streams were archived it also enabled each of the companies to watch their own performances afterwards. Members of CYAC remarked that they had never seen any of their performances before, and were both curious and nervous about watching themselves on screen. Such archival material allows performers to reflect upon their own work, and their place within the production encouraging further development in their own practice. The addition of the Social Media Intern role was a great success as he proactively established a strong social media presence throughout festival week, and worked closely with key members of the Contact team throughout the year to develop appropriate and effective social media channels. Telepresence was effectively used on a number of occasions during CTW2012 - most notably linking to NYC during the March Meet, and Australia during Festival Week. Due to technology challenges, the other participating companies who were able to access Telepresence could only do so using a pared down version of the technology - though all companies were fascinated by the inclusion of this relatively unfamiliar intervention. Despite Crown Troupe’s absence from Festival Week, participants, volunteers and staff went out of their way to create digital content to keep the company involved in the week. Video diaries and short interviews were sent over and Crown Troupe were particularly vocal on Twitter during Festival Week, sharing their appreciation of this extra effort.

102

SOCIAL MEDIA PARTICIPANT USAGE use all the time - 46%

often use - 20%

How much do you use Social Media?

sometimes use - 7%

occasionally use - 20%

rarely use - 7%

never use - 0%

as much as possible! read, posted, read some more - 24%

How much do you use the CTW Ning?

regularly - 26% only looked at it, never posted anything - 43% never seen it before - 7%

amazing! i loved finding out about everybody! - 5% very useful - 12%

How useful did you find the CTW Ning?

useful - 27%

slightly useful - 24%

not useful - 22% not applicable. didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use it at all, so donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know - 10%

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DIGITAL PLATFORMS & SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGES

1a. Relevance of platforms used - ning

companies. Crown Troupe & Wordsmiths were able to participate during the March meet, albeit through a scaled down version of the technology. During this week, a very successful link with NY was made, however this was not a participating company but instead another company who happened to have the technology. Australia was successfully linked with via Telepresence, and during festival week the companies were offered the opportunity to engage with them using the technology – but as they were not one of the participating companies it was a shiny extra rather than a core part of the programme.

As a platform, Ning is designed to provide a standalone social network for members to connect with one another and share thoughts and ideas. This works very successfully for some companies, but given the demographic of CTW participants as well as other wider barriers to engagement (cultural, language etc.) this meant that Ning also provided unique challenges to participants, such as a lack of familiarity with the user interface, a lack of clarity over purpose and expectations of users, and a lack of interest in visiting and engaging with the platform. As a result updates on the Ning were not always forthcoming and when we prompted participants to talk about their use of the Ning, we received mixed feedback.

1c. Relevance of platforms used - wider social media The wealth of social media platforms freely available to use is far greater now than ever, and just in the years that CTW has been running, this has been evident in the shift to using Facebook as more than just a way to talk to real life friends, but also as a platform to house groups of individuals, events, photo albums and more.

Participants found the Ning confusing. They were unclear on the differences between groups that were set up only in March, the general conversation stream, the blog section within the Ning, and generally how to best use and access the content.

More than just Facebook however - people are utilising social media for their own use and finding out which platforms suit them and their lifestyle. A photographer may use Instagram every day, whereas a writer may prefer to blog their thoughts on a Blogspot or Wordpress site. International participants who struggled accessing Ning found themselves communicating through Blackberry Messenger, as it was the most cost effective instantaneous option available to them.

“useful to see/chat with other companies, but not very fun”

“it was useful to see what was going on, but not useful for connecting with our group” “I didn’t really understand how to use it”

A challenge for CTW2012 was keeping on top of a growing range of media, and collating data in an ad hoc manner. In a festival rooted in process and reflective practice, support needs to be given to involving all outlets chosen by participants, with regular encouragement to share any relevant online activity they’re involved in, through hashtags or signposting.

“I prefer Twitter and had forgotten about the Ning!”

“could have been simpler to navigate and post things”

This caused some potential confusion - a CTW Vimeo account, Youtube account, Ustream account, Flickr account, Ning, as well as a section on Contact’s site devoted to CTW all amounted to a wide range of content being pushed to a range of platforms, but no central point, and no guidelines as to which content should exist where. Hashtags were used on Twitter and Instagram, although only Twitter was monitored.

“found it quite confusing – a facebook might be better?” Maria’s creation of a Facebook group could be seen as an unnecessary duplication of the Ning and the service it provided, as well as deviating attention and content away from it, however after festival week there was no new activity on Ning, but a wealth of posts and content shared across Facebook and other social media platforms.

“The question tends to be ‘this thing exists, what can we do with it?’, rather than ‘we need to do X, what’s the best way of achieving that goal?’.” - Chris Unitt, head of social media, Made Media1 By refining and defining the most relevant and effective outlets for content, this clarity will make tagging and sharing easier for both participants and staff involved in the project, resulting in richer content in those places specified.

1b. Relevance of platforms used - telepresence Whilst this technology offers opportunities to further develop international collaborative approaches, it is limited by the number of companies who have invested in it and who have a fast enough internet connection. In a project where participants are struggling to access the internet at all, Telepresence could be seen as a frivolous addition which offering little relevance to many of the participating

1 Guardian panel last accessed August 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/cultureprofessionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/feb/22/beyond-twitterarts-social-media

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2. Monitoring, collating & measuring impact – who, when, why?

- however without further support from permanent team members, the social media presence of CTW2012 tailed off midway through Festival Week after the SMI had to leave to continue work on another project. There was no further activity on the Ning and no blog posts on the CTW page on Contact’s site aside from one final post summing things up. During the March meet, participating companies had been encouraged to write blog posts for their page on Contact’s site - however aside from CYAC, no other companies created any new content for the site beyond March. That’s not to say that they created no content at all - but again, the question must be asked as to how we harness content that IS being created and use it to populate the festival site,

CTW is not just festival week - for participants, it begins even before company selection has taken place. Developing an ongoing hashtag to identify the festival at the very beginning during the planning phase would enable potential participants to tweet, Instagram, and link their ongoing social media content to the programme, further promoting the opportunity and the festival itself throughout their networks. During CTW2012 the hashtag was decided upon late into the programme, and it was only announced during the launch day after a member of First Wave shouted out the question:

It could be seen as being Marketing’s job to ensure online content is kept up-to-date, and that a stream of new content is pushed online regularly - however many of the pages within Contact’s main site contained broken links, specifically regarding CTW2012, and so this should be Marketing’s first priority before addressing responsibilities for content itself.

‘ What’s the hashtag for this? ’ Having hashtags in place also requires the monitoring and collation of data. Fortunately there are a number of free or affordable services online which assist in this job - though due to Twitter’s API you can set a service up to monitor all future tweets, but you can only look at the previous 50 tweets from the point at which you set the archive up. We had wrongly assumed something similar would have been implemented by Marketing, and found out midway through Festival week that it was not as thorough an archive as it could have been - so many of our stats were gathered in the latter half. This provides a snapshot of part of the week, but comes nowhere near demonstrating the full impact of social media across the entire programme.

Equally, Marketing were responsible for preparing the documentary filmmakers before each set of performances. We enquired as to whether we could provide the filmmakers with a short set of questions to use when interviewing participants, but were told that the filmmakers role was solely as a marketing tool, and not to confuse matters with any evaluation questions. Consequently, the after-show interviews conducted by the filmmakers were short and limited in either soundbites for Marketing, or any added value towards reflecting on the performances.

Looking at social media data can give you far greater insight into the success and reach of a programme beyond simple visitor statistics - you can analyse what content creates a catalyst for further conversation, measure deeper interest and engagement levels, and use these findings to develop your programme further.

It is understandable that different teams have different priorities within a project, however in a festival which is so tight on time for everyone involved, any activity which can have a dual-function must be embraced and maximised.

The addition of the Social Media Intern provided excellent additional support - including extra monitoring put in place

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3a. Online Access - companies

Wordsmiths suffered a change in group members and a reduction in numbers midway through the programme, and this impacted on their engagement online, however after the March meet they began to communicate with CYAC in earnest.

Online technology provides an efficient and effective way to network people across the world. However, when choosing countries to participate in such a programme, and when collaboration and communication across the duration of the programme is so critical to its success, consideration should be given to the online infrastructures and cultural backdrop of each participating country. Nigeria’s internet infrastructure regularly stopped working, which led to Crown Troupe and Boundless using BBM as a far more reliable communication tool. Despite floods in Thailand, Moradokmai managed to continue accessing the Ning using iPads, however it was only ever group leaders who posted content and engaged in discussions - partially due to their cultural backgrounds, and partially due to confidence levels around conversing in an unknown language.

Yard weren’t active in group discussions online because of the delay in communications with Moradokmai, however they put a blog post up almost every week on the Ning, as well as blogging about their progress on their own site. Sometimes this would just be a link to ineresting content, other times it would be a full diary-style entry. Boundless never blogged, though had a number of members active in group discussions. In particular, Kenny made an effort to communicate in different ways using writing and drawings, and Toni was proactive in using the Ning to get to know her twin. Crown Troupe communicated on the Ning, though due to internet issues often reverted to using BBM to continue communication with their twin.

3b. online access - schools When adding a schools programme into the mix, consideration needs to be given as to how they participate, and who participates. Many schools struggle accessing any kind of social media due to firewalls and zealous childprotection policies, and as yet there has not been a suitable alternative or adequate solution to this challenge. This led to the FC spending valuable time liaising with each of the schools to reach a solution to the problem.

Interestingly, First Wave - the visiting alumni - were extremely keen to find out more about the discussions that had been taking place online. They were already extremely knowledgeable about social media, using Twitter, blogs, Instagram and Facebook to communicate with others and to promote themselves and their work. Their request for future CTWs is for the chosen alumni to be invited to whatever online platform is chosen so that they can share previous experiences, help ease any teething issues for new participants, and most importantly get to know each other before they visit during Festival Week.

4. Company participation As discussed elsewhere in this report, the biggest challenge to any programme like CTW is the prolonged commitment and engagement levels by participants. As the central hub of the programme online, the Ning was ideally a place to share ideas, get to know one another, and complete tasks. Beyond this, companies were encouraged to blog about their experiences, and to share thoughts on the process throughout. Only CYAC blogged on Contact’s website after the inital push during March. They continued to be active online, sharing links, conversation, and tasks with their twin on the Ning.

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Points to consider How can we track and monitor communication happening on other platforms – eg BBM, facebook, twitter etc? – not that these need to be ‘spied’ on, but to get a better sense of how best to support the collaboration, and how to better reflect on the dialogue taking place. If people aren’t using the Ning, but ARE communicating elsewhere, how can we harness and collect those conversations?

If creating a standalone site and leaving the familiarity of Ning behind, Facebook could offer private group options which could be used for task sharing and networking. If a designated online network is still required separate from Facebook, platforms such as Wordpress offer plugins to create online boards for people to network and could be integrated into the new site.

If Telepresence is continued to be invested in as a part of CTW then future participating companies should also have their Telepresence ability assessed as part of the twinning process. This should not become a prerequisite for participation, but consideration should be given to the appropriateness of each company including whether they would be able to participate in this use of technology, and whether the continued use and development of Telepresence as part of CTW is appropriate.

As an attempt to resolve issues moving forward when working with digital content and schools, a simple solution could be through the creation of a participation toolkit containing equipment such as an iPad with a data tariff to enable full access outside of schools firewalls, as well as including apps such as iMovie to encourage and enable participation in creative tasks.

Including Alumni in the continuation of CTW would be a positive inclusion. It would offer a way for mentoring opportunities to occur, future collaborative opportunities to develop organically, and as a way of tracking and measuring longer term the impact of the festival on participants. Not all participants or companies may wish to be included, but proactive companies like First Wave are keen to be involved throughout the process - even if only as bystanders until their involvement in Festival Week. By inviting them into any online groups, they can offer advice and commentary on the processes undertaken by other companies, and develop bonds with participating companies prior to meeting in real life.

Does greater clarity need to be developed in Contact’s Social Media policy to enable a more coherent collection of content online with less overlap and more thorough signposting? If the policy is shared proactively with all staff, volunteers and participants, then the burden of driving content to designated sites is spread across a greater number of people. Tagging: who applies tags, how are they chosen, and is there an opportunity to build online audiences through more open tagging? An example would be tagging CTW2012 CYAC content with words such as ‘riots’ and ‘London riots’ so that anyone searching Flickr, Youtube, Vimeo or Instagram for these keywords would also stumble upon a positive outcome from what took place. Additionally, more thorough tagging – including ‘Trinidad’, ‘Tobago’, ‘collaboration’, ‘paint’, etc. may help to increase traffic and build upon the ambition of Contact being known around the world. For a festival so interested in harnessing digital technology, might there be value in having a screen in one of the public spaces in Contact with a livestream of tweets/content during Festival Week?

Recommendations 1.

Develop a simple yet solid digital strategy for all projects. This could consist of a simplified proforma outlining roles, responsibilities and hashtags etc. for each project. This information could then be included in all marketing, and any supporting documents sent to participating companies and schools.

Moving CTW forward - it would benefit from a standalone site. Not a Ning that participants struggle to engage with, not even a tumblr that simply aggregates content. For a festival of this calibre, a professionally designed site could easily be linked to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and other platforms aggregating relavant content from all of them, as well as publishing fresh content as part of the CTW programme. Such a site could eventually be used as a hub for a broader network of international youth performance professionals. A standalone site may also overcome some of the social media barriers faced by schools, depending on platform used.

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VENUE

Architects have long intuited that the places we inhabit can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviours. With explorations being made between the role of neuroscience and psychology within the consideration of designing buildings, the role of the venue in supporting the festival is something to highlight. As the venue hosting a weeks worth of debate, collaboration, creativity and dialogue it is worth noting the importance of Contact Theatre as the venue for the week and an important part of the festival.

Positive Space - Contact The experience of being at Contact has got a life of it’s own. Everything tends to assume a new meaning within the space in terms of forms and contents. For instance the word ‘Lift to all levels’ changes its garment in Contact (in my imagination) to mean any other thing. Contact mixes a blend of the emotional and the clinical to create an ambience of performance in most of the engagement within the space. All these tend to keep you awake in Contact. The effect is exhilirating. One thing for sure is- you don’t leave Contact the way you came in. It’s an amazing space of sharing. – Segun – Crowne Troupe, Contact MCR blog – March Meet http://contactmcr.com/blog/2012/mar/27/ contact-performance-drill/

Danielle: One thing that I’ve noticed so far is the use of space and how every inch of space is an opportunity to create art. There are murals, paintings, graffiti art on the walls and I absolutely love it! Gai: The Contact building always has light coming through. The contrast between the light coming through the windows and the shadows on the world makes for great art, it creates beautiful yellows and reds, which makes for great thinking. I’ve noticed and I like that every space is a place for play and the making of theatre. – Danielle - Wordsmiths, Gai - Moradokmai Contact MCR blog – March Meet - http://contactmcr.com/blog/2012/mar/27/ctw-march-meet/ The graffiti placed randomly throughout Contact ignites ideas that are amplified due to the brightness of the spaces in the building. Jerome - Boundless, Contact Blog

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CTW is amazing thing for me I have been looking for the place like here for long time, the space for art and performance for all people around the world And after I discovered the CTW building, something reminded me to rethink about the word of Buddha “unperfect is perfect, and the mission is under your feet “ I know I can find it here. Don’t eat too much. – Tan, Moradokmai Contact MCR blog – March Meet - http://contactmcr.com/blog/2012/mar/27/ hello-tan/

I really do feel like this space Contact was designed for artists to be artists and for artists to create and share art. Everybody who passes through tends to leave a little bit of themselves there, and you can feel that energy just walking through the building, walking on the stage – you can just tap into the energy. You feel it in every theatre, but in Contact you feel it through the entire building and thats just a wonderful feeling. Walking down these stairwells I got goose pimples because I remembered the poetry pieces that were done in the stairwell, and that energy – walking through – I was transported to two years ago in that moment.. and I was just in a stairwell! But the energy and the memory was just lingering. Its a powerful space. – Chris, First Wave Interview The space [Contact] automatically creates a sense of community and family just in how it’s designed.. having the café, and the different spaces on different floors helps bring everyone together in unison. It’s a really amazing space. There’s a beauty in being part of a small group because you’re still going for the long hard struggle to continue it and keep it going... because that fight is necessary! When Chris mentioned to us about that feeling of everybody leaving a little spirit behind… I never really understood it till yesterday, and I started trying to channel that, and I thought ‘wow’ People leave a part of themselves every day – everytime somebody performs in a space, they leave a piece of their soul there. And I thought about that, the totality of that. Even though the numbers aren’t there this time, the energy definitely still is. And we’re going to utilize that to take back into our space. – Johnny, First Wave Interview I really love this space......every single space. Even the bathroom is cool. I love how this building specifically has different spaces, different types of studios. I think it really caters to every type of artist. Some people prefer those closed spaces, some people prefer more open spaces, there’s everything. Also yes, it’s a smaller group, but the beauty of it is everyone here’s an artist which I’ve never been in a group with so many people who are ALL artists.......it’s crazy! – Taylor, First Wave Interview

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everyone’s rooms without having to go outside. There were common rooms where we could go and hang out and talk and play games, last time we would be up till 4 or 5 in the morning, just bonding with each other, and we would see each other at 9 in the morning again.... whereas this time everybody’s going to sleep at midnight because the way the facility is built doesn’t cater to that sense of community...... it’s really cut off. If we’d stayed somewhere like last time, I feel I would’ve known people so much more by now. – Dominique, First Wave Interview

Negative Space Contact

I’d made assumptions this time about workshops and workshop spaces – I thought Space 5 was another studio, and to learn it was just downstairs was a shock. Why would you think it was okay to have a workshop in such an open space when you’re dealing with such heavy subject matters in the work? We try to get the best out of individuals as artists and that just won’t happen in a space like that.. so Space 3 is a wonderful warm warm space in contrast. – Chris, First Wave Interview

Recommendations

Consideration needs to be made into the nature of activities to be delivered and the suitability of the delivery space allocated. Workshops with large groups in open foyers make the space seem inaccessible to other venue visitors and staff, whilst making focus on the tasks difficult to maintain.

With tight schedules and a limited number of spaces provision had been made for delivery of workshops to take place off site at the Academy later on in the week. However, signposting to the relevant space in this venue was often felt to be confusing and uncertain.

The extended activities of company participants at halls of residence should be taken into account when choosing halls. Participants should be encouraged to interact with other company members to continue the creative dialogue and collaboration in a safe space. This consideration enables company members to develop new opportunities and networks with each other and wider creative outputs and outcomes to emerge from the festival.

Halls

Whilst the halls of residence were perfectly adequate places to reside during festival week, as well as being easily commutable to the venue, some negatives were highlighted about the apartments. This time, the facilities we’re staying are structured in a way that they don’t really embrace community as much as the last ones did because the flats are all cut off from one another, whereas in the last facilities there were hallways where we could go past each and

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STAFF

who worked on ctw2012?

recommendations

CTW is a tale of two halves. First is the 9 month programme of twinning, collaboration, international exchanges and creative development. Second is festival week, with long hours and intense teamworking combined with emotional highs and lows.

1. Recruitment & timing Project team recruitment was staggered throughout the CTW timeline, meaning the entire team only met together for the first time during festival week itself.

Whilst the project is overseen by the Head of Creative Development within Contact, all of the coordination and logistics are managed by freelance staff who are brought in specifically for the project. Using freelance staff brings a wealth of benefits to the project, including contacts and networks which can be tapped into to support the effective promotion and delivery. Freelance roles included: • • • • • •

August 2011 - First stage company deadline September 2011 - AF deadline November 2011 - FC appointment December 2011 - PM appointment February 2012 - Interns & PE appointments May 2012 - Volunteers & VC deadlines By revising recruitment timings in the very early planning stages, we feel the following elements of CTW would benefit:

Project Manager (PM) Festival Coordinator (FC) Artist Facilitator (AF) Artist Mentor (AM) Volunteer Coordinator (VC) Project Evaluator (PE)

a) AF & PM recruitment before Company recruitment 2012 saw a decline in the number of companies applying to be a part of CTW. Whilst this was in part due to lost alumni data, it was not helped by the fact that none of the project team were in place. Appointing the AF and PM before recruiting companies would enable them to utilise their networks to promote the opportunity more widely, and to have an input into the selection process itself.

The team did an absolutely phenomenal job this year in achieving all the goals, absolutely amazing, it was the smoothest it's ever been this year.1

b) FC recruitment before Schools recruitment The development of relationships with schools is a timeconsuming process. The process might have been more effective and progressed more smoothly with the FC in place earlier to start those conversations at the beginning of the school year and to manage them as a consistant contact point throughout. It is a testament to the persistence of the FC and team that it even happened at all, and for future years the relationships with schools will need further nurturing, as detailed in the Schools section of the report.

The tenacity and dedication shown by the whole project team alongside supporting Contact staff is evident in the quality of experience outlined throughout this report. During festival week, project staff worked 19 hour days, grabbing the odd afternoon nap whenever possible (which, as it happened, was a rare occurrence) and at all other times brought with them a can-do attitude. This had pros and cons: on the plus side, the festival ran smoothly, but the downside of their determination to get things done saw the PM and FC taking on tasks such as washing up and re-editing Crown Troupe’s film performance. These tasks, whilst needing to be done, placed extra demands on two roles already stretched to capacity.

c) Reflection & evaluation CTW prides itself in being a process-driven project, with ample opportunity for reflection and documentation throughout. By involving the evaluators in the early planning stages, outputs and outcomes can be more efficiently plotted alongside project aims. Evaluators can also tailor proposed methodologies for capturing data to be embedded throughout the duration of the project, as detailed further in the Evaluation section of the report.

1 Adam McGuigan - Taken from Evaluation Meeting August 2012

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STAFF

d) Volunteers & Volunteer Coordinator Volunteers were responsible for a large percentage of the operations of festival week and were an asset to Contact, and to the festival itself. As detailed in the Volunteer section of the report, by appointing the VC earlier in the process he will be better equipped to support his team of volunteers, and by considering the development of a Volunteer Programme, this would increase confidence, skills and numbers of volunteers involved in CTW.

at the end of the festival. As contracts end shortly after the festival ends, it is imperative that there are processes in place and time allowed for this, so that in future years it is easy for each new team to take up where the previous team finished as well as ensuring any learning can be taken forward with each festival. With the installation of Views software, this should make the process of data management and archiving easier, though ample time for festival debriefing and data collation and input is still needed.

Timings meant some things weren't in place at the beginning but ideally having the dream team in place would be really great.2 2. Roles, responsibilities & capacity As mentioned earlier, the strength of the project team in working together and getting their hands dirty was also a challenge for them. Whilst the need to re-edit Crown Troupe’s film was an unforeseen circumstance, was the PM the appropriate person in Contact to undertake this time consuming task? If a similar situation occurred in future years, and the PM does not have video editing skills, what would happen? What challenges did you face during CTW2012? - Some personnel / communication issues to resolve between CTW staff and Contact staff, particularly around setting up of Foyer areas. Some differences of opinion between teams regarding responsibilities.3 Were you clear who your lead contact was (from the CTW team) for different aspects of project delivery? “Yes - All roles were very clear on the nights, however I was unsure of the difference between Jude and Shaunagh’s roles.”4 Whilst unforseen circumstances inevitably occur, through defining the roles of volunteers more specifically, and by having a contingency in place to be covered by general volunteers, this would support the PM and FC in focusing their time on tasks specific to their role, reducing confusion around chain-of-command amongst other Contact staff. 3. Handover procedures One challenge of having a festival run by a freelance team is ensuring the effective handover of data and information 2 Adam McGuigan - Taken from Evaluation Meeting August 2012 3 Contact staff, Taken from Survey Monkey, September 2012 4 Contact staff, Taken from Survey Monkey, September 2012

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ARTIST FACILITATOR & ARTIST MENTOR

Who was the Artist Facilitator in ctw2012?

What did the Artist Facilitator role entail?

“We are looking for a dynamic individual who can stimulate creativity, have openness to a wide range of theatrical styles and act as catalyst for this process of international exchange between young theatre makers.” - Excerpt taken from CTW2012 Artist Facilitator Brief

• • • • •

Montse ñ Ning profile - About Me Currently the lovely Contact theatre has trusted me with being the CTW2012 Artist Facilitator, which is a great responsibility full of challenges ahead. I canít wait to embark on this journey with all the new companies that will be joining.1

• • • • •

Each previous CTW has employed 2 Artist Facilitators to mentor the companies and the collaborative process. These AFs are in turn supported by the previous CTW’s AFs who return in the role of Artist Mentor, using their experience to nurture and guide the new AFs through the challenges of the programme.

Visits to each company Blog posts about these visits Setting of monthly creative tasks Facilitation and support of the creative dialogue and exchanges between each twin Guidance and advice on the development and staging of each performance Planning the group meet activities at the host venue – March Meet Supporting Tech and Dress, and the performance of each company in festival week Pre-performance introductions Festival week icebreaker activities Festival week collaborative performance facilitation

What did the Artist Mentor role entail? • • • • •

The sounding board of having two AFs creates an additional collaboration as part of the festival and encourages a strong presence from the AFs throughout festival week. Having the support of someone who has been through it all before offers a fountain of experience to tap into throughout this unique process. This year, with reduced company numbers, there was only one appointed AF and therefore a greater need placed on the relationship between the AF and the AM.

Support and advice to the artist facilitator Advice to companies Festival week workshop icebreaker activities Post show discussion host Festival week collaborative performance facilitation

Creative Tasks Big collaboration in all the productions, big hats off to Montse - Adam, Artist Mentor, Evaluation meeting

“It was a challenge and Montse did an incredible job at being alone in the artistic process - it was good we knew each other to a certain extent- a huge credit to the artistic team.“ - Adam, Artist Mentor, Evaluation meeting

The creative tasks provided a framework for the companies to share their interests, processes and instigate a creative dialogue with each other. The first task is always a ‘Who am I? Box’: a physical exchange between the companies including interests, objects and cultural reference points. A stalwart task of CTW, it continues to offer a practical foundation for companies to feel a connection with their twin and influence scenes and dialogue that appear in final performances. Even in a staple task as this one, the AF has room for influence and guidance, with Montse suggesting ‘the senses’ as a reference point for items in the box.

The success of the programme lies within the strength of the relationships between the festival managers and the artistic team. This was most apparent during festival week, despite challenges to the collaborations and companies involvement: the role of AF focused on supporting companies to deliver their shows, and the AM delivered and supported post show sessions.

1 http://contactingtheworld.ning.com/profile/MontseGili - last accessed September 2012

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With a different task each month, activities ranged from rituals, sharing of processes, active Ning nudges to engage in dialogue, reflections and revisits of activities, creative send and responses - through to hot topics and shared themes. On top of each task Montse would tailor extra activities based on twins interactions.

ARTIST FACILITATOR & ARTIST MENTOR

Tasks 1. 2. 3. 4.

6. 7.

It was difficult for the AF to support the exchange without visible interaction, and it was equally difficult for the evaluators to observe the success of the engagement. For a greater assessment of the Ning please refer to individual company sections, and the digital section of this report.

Nov – ‘Who am I box?’ Dec – Ritual for opening the box and freeing the contents using senses Jan – Sharing the creative process of how work is made and engage in devising theatre principles discussion on the Ning Feb – Explore themes, make a news report of a current interest story, share and make a creative response to your twin’s report, collaborate on how to present your twin at the March meet and represent your company March – Reflect and revisit the process so far and generate questions and points of discussion for your twin representative at the march meet that you still seek answers for April - Establish a shared character, place and subject matter and decide on a shared element in both performances. May - Sharing a piece of your performance with your twin

Having one focused digital platform did allow for sharing of ideas, inspirations and experiences. Whilst Montse supported and encouraged the dialogue that was happening on the Ning, Adam (AM) took the opportunity to share his experiences with the companies to offer hope in times of adversity. “The most incredible theatrical experience is within your reach. You have applied, been selected, completed the tasks, now how to get there? OK we have 67 days, 09 hours, 16 minutes and 27 seconds to get make this happen! Lets get started.

Favourite tasks

3% 7%

My name is Adam McGuigan. I am the Artist Mentor for CTW 2012 and was an Artist Facilitator in 2010. In 2008 I was part of Barefeet Theatre Zambia who travelled to the festival having fundraised for most of our own travel. I can only speak from within my experience, which was being part of 15 Zambian artists who participated in Contacting The World 2007/08. Our journey to reach the magic number was challenging and some of the ideas will not work in your own situations, but hopefully something (anything) can be useful and may just help to get ALL your team to the Creative explosion that is CTW!

Sharing content

27%

23%

Sharing processes Freeing box Sending Box

Boring anecdote No 1: Our circumstances were extremely grim. Not only did we have to find money for our flights but (as many of us were former street children), we had to battle to get recognised by the system in Zambia, getting registered, then applying for passports before we would even be considered for British Visas. I was personally told by the British Embassy that we would never get visas for 15 ‘street kids’ to come to the UK, but we did. And for 2012 you will also!” 2 – Adam, Ning blog post

Audition Task

NING Activity Setting tasks to generate Ning discussions was something Montse included in every monthly mission, and within dialogue to group members to corral the rest of their company to engage in the exchange.

The Ning platform was embraced by the wider festival team to share ideas and tips to the companies as well as comment on their activity to date. Publishing a range of supporting experiences enriched the digital platform, making it a great tool in supporting the companies and AF in providing prompts for them to discuss online, and also in real life.

With challenges faced by companies in accessing social media and using a range of platforms to enhance their exchange, it was difficult for the AF to observe and guide the collaborations. Montse always reminded companies to share and update her via a host of communication methods. ìIt would be great to hear from you, via email or Ning, to know if you received the mission, if you understand it, if you have tackled it, how it went... and also if you havenít tackled it, why not, was it difficult, was it productive... etc. This is also a learning journey for me as an artist.î - ñ Excerpt from Montseís e-mail to companies with April mission

2 http://contactingtheworld.ning.com/profiles/blogs/show-me-the-money-getting-yourself-to-ctw-2012 - last accessed September 2012

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ARTIST FACILITATOR & ARTIST MENTOR

Artist Facilitator Company Visits

ìI hope my visit inspired some of the Yard members to think outside the box and to take this challenge one step further. Go forth and make some theatre!î2 - Montse, Contact blog post on Yard visit

Please, please, please, email me with questions, doubts, complaints, rants, advances, discoveries or anything I can help with or simply to keep me in the loop on how you think your collaboration or your development as individuals and as a company is going. This is the only way I can know for sure how to help. - Excerpt from Montse’s e-mail to companies with April mission

Whilst Montse shared some of her visit experiences in blog posts, not all companies accessed that information when busy with their own tasks, and face-to-face meeting with Montse helped illuminate the programme further.

With so many different communication methods making it harder for observational support in those last few weeks building up to festival week, it was through the exchange visits made by the AF and the March meet that enabled the confidence and understanding for tailored support. Company-wide tasks were often tweaked, adapted and developed to reflect the exchanges to date and the circumstances of the companies - which can only ever be fully appreciated after face-to-face interactions.

ìMontse was able to shed light on the ways that other companies are approaching the creative challenges and to tell us about them first hand. With tales of Moradokmai rising at 5.30am for their morning ritual and Crown Troupe rehearsing BEFORE going off to school and work, the discussion was fascinating, humbling and inspiring .Montse taught us lots of new games and exercises (including one that has been taught to all of the companies during their visits, ready for a mass version during festival week in July!), worked on our focus as a company and encouraged us to start thinking about what our show might look like, what its themes might be and about its style.î3 Excerpt from CYAC blog post on Montseís visit.

It was lovely to see how well you gelled with Danielle and Danielle with CYAC, and it was lovely to see how inspired everyone was. So now, the exchange visits have been done but the exchange must continue and I am very proud of how you have been communicating via NING. But now it’s time to take the Ning chatter into the rehearsal room and turn it into a creative force! - Excerpt from Montse’s e-mail to CYAC and Wordsmiths with April mission

Sharing experiences first hand was invaluable to participants in learning more about the other participating companies, and reflecting upon their own company dynamics and ways of working. Montse continued to do this up until the end of festival week. “Everybody has egos, and every group is special, and it’s about finding out HOW do we deal with it”– - Montse, comment from Boundless post show discussion

The opportunity to put physical faces to names, and offer confidence-boosting compliments, helped to move the collaborations forward. Jerome was absolutely fantastic during the meeting and his energy was contagious, I am sure he’s passed onto all the Boundless a lot of information and cool ideas from that March meet. - Excerpt from Montse’s e-mail to CT and Boundless with April mission The outsider perspective on a company’s process, skills and dynamics enables the opportunity for new ways of working to be explored and fresh ideas injected. The expertise of Montse to enable that to happen in a positive way is crucial in the role of Artist Facilitator. “Experimenting is the best way when creating and Monste’s exercises did help with the creative flow that happened on Wednesday”1 – Kyle, Yard blog post on Montse visit 1 http://yardyouth.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/ctw12_montse/ - last accessed September 2012

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2 http://contactmcr.com/blog/2012/mar/4/montse-visits-yard-theatre-Nottingham/ - last accessed September 2012 3 http://contactmcr.com/blog/2012/mar/22/cyac-week-5-6/ - last accessed September 2012

ARTIST FACILITATOR & ARTIST MENTOR

Engagement with groups in festival week

One difference I liked – the whole mosquito/donkey thing – that forced more collaboration and interaction across groups. I like seeing people be forced to have to get out of their comfort zone and get out of their companies right away – and having the idea that ‘this is your family’ was a really nice touch. – Danez, First Wave interview

First two days Day one is about meeting each other, playing games with each other, getting to know each other - montse, af Festival week begins with a registration and getting to know you day. With only company representatives having previously met their twins, and with digital dialogue the first day allows for settling in and icebreakers.

The first two days of the festival allowed the companies to spend time with their twins and the wider group in shared creative sessions. The opportunity to reflect on the bonds that had been established throughout the 9-month exchange was intense.

Just trying to wrap my head around it all - Charlie CYAC

This morning was tough, 3 hours, no break, as they went up and down the stairs. - Montse, AF

Everyone is a bit nervous and not really looking each other in the eye at the moment but we”ll all settle in to it – Johnny Boundless

It’s only day 2, fair play to you! Thanks a mil ion for keeping your energy up, you’ve done 5 workshops today and it’s full on for you guys! - Adam, AM

It’s a bit overwhelming with all the accents and trying not to be so amazed as there would be a long pause before I answered anyone - Candice, Wordsmiths

Day 3 onwards

Setting the tone for the week saw Montse and Adam lead a series of warm-up games and mix the groups up to work collaboratively throughout the week to create a new short performance with their new group consisting of members from all the companies, and named after animals: mosquitos, donkeys, penguins and sheep

After these first two days, activity was split between companies delivering their own workshops to the other participating companies, and tech and dress rehearsals for that night’s performance. This structure saw Montse heavily support the companies performing each evening, in their technical set-ups, last minute tweaks, and moral support.

Whenever I've spoken to anyone involved previously they always note on the companies being reduced of course smaller numbers means you get to know each other better - with 6 companies, one thing I'll never forget is the energy in that first workshop. It stayed and it was there throughout the whole of the festival. It's a real credit to everyone involved! - Adam, Artist Mentor, Evaluation meeting

This was vital for companies not used to performing in such spaces, or without any experienced directorial company members. With only one AF, this saw Adam lead the post show discussions and daily discussions with support from volunteers and the evaluation team.

With alumni company First Wave present for the first few days of the festival, their observations on this first day reflect on the success of the artistic team in facilitating company wide sessions.

The warm ups and games at the start were really useful to help get everyone to know each other quickly – with art.. everyone needs that connection. – John Vietnam - First Wave interview 117

ARTIST FACILITATOR & ARTIST MENTOR

Shows “I know that I always say it, but I will repeat the mantra again... The whole process is to facilitate the creation of a new performance which could NOT have been created without the exchange with your twin. And the missions are here to help you in that process.” – Creative Task Missions

Montse set the context for the twins performances every evening, even wearing traditional costume from her travels. This is a facilitator tradition that extends the essence of the cultural learning, offering insight to the audience from the outset.

With this aim in mind the twinning was an element companies were keen to unpick in the post show discussions.

There's so many different ways of doing theatre. Please be aware that there is no right or wrong, or more easy or more difficult. There's many different ways and you can only do the way that you can do to the knowledge that you have at this time or moment. So knowing that they did their best to understand the collaboration, and in different ways. If the audience doesn't get that, that's not it. Your impulse to do any creation shouldn't be 'I want to show this to an audience' it should be 'This is my impulse, and I want to show the result'. - Montse, comment from Moradokmai/Yard post show discussion

There has been questioning this week about the clear links to the twin. The relationship doesn't have to be obvious and spelled out though - it can be as subtle as you want. Because it's only about the Ning posts! All the missions (that you never did!) don't matter - these are just impulses. It doesn't mean you have to have a scene which exactly represents Moradokmai, or Yard, or whatever. It translates in many different ways because every different individual interprets things in a different way, therefore every group interprets things in a different way. If you dig hard you find those connections and what the inspiration is. Also how we get this connection and inspiration in different way. Using personal stories to empower young people or to teach theatre - is it better, is it not? This is a very clear example. We in the UK tend to work with young people using personal writing or personal stories - well here's an example of like, I want to teach a group of young people a particular lesson or a particular story. What story is out there ALREADY that is going to apply to this person? It's a different way, but it's the same message. That doesn't mean it's not performed true. More food for thought. - Montse, comment from Moradokmai/Yard post show discussion

Post-show discussions The post-show discussions enabled companies to question their peers about their performance, the twinning and offer any other critique. Contact staff, volunteers and the festival team also engaged in discussions, with a desire to share knowledge and experience and to continue to push the companies to grow. This is touching upon styles rather than THINGs – I didn’t mind the different actors playing different characters.. though I agree it should have been cleaner or neater – not just a handbag. It’s great you have all this talent – you have singers and dancers and producers and they all have to try to do something, but my question is: why didn’t you try to push yourselves a little bit more? Instead of trying to get actors to sing, or dancers to act.. because what we see with Crown Troupe is that they ALL act and they ALL sing – I think you went for the ‘let’s ALL act’ rather than ‘let’s all mix our skills’ - Montse, comment from Boundless post show discussion

I totally agree with Montse. These conversations we have in the bar or the café or wherever afterwards are what makes Contacting the World really special and you”ve given us so much food for thought in your collaborations and on behalf of the festival team thank you both! – Adam.. comment from Moradokmai/Yard post show discussion

The uniqueness of this collaborative approach to theatre making made it difficult for the concept to be understood, and required Montse to regularly reiterate the aim of the new pieces of work.

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Final Thoughts

Recommendations

With 6 unique performances brought to the stage at Contact, Montse’s role as AF was complete. Montse supported, cajoled and guided the companies with regular gusto. As each year’s companies are unique, so each year of CTW will bring new learning to be implemented. The majority of recommendations from this year’s CTW are based around planning earlier to enable a stronger structure to support and identify issues as early as possible and throughout the process.

Timescales of the project should be planned with all relevant Contact teams, AF and Evaluator, so that necessary milestones and reflection points can be built into the AF’s creative task planning. E.g marketing material requirements and names of performances, exchange visits timetabled earlier enough in the collaboration. “MARKETING: I know, I know... too early, etc, etc.... But marketing needs a TITLE for your show before 20th April, and photos, and a blurb! Otherwise you might end up with some silly title chosen by the marketing guys that has nothing to do with you or your show. And we don’t want that to happen, do we? Do you have all the information you need regarding what you have to send? Just in case I am attaching here a reminder of what James is asking for the brochure.” –Excerpt from Montse’s e-mail to companies with April mission

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Within the initial timescales shared with companies should be included the availability of the Artist Facilitator and evaluators for visits to be scheduled as soon as possible to avoid issues around companies committing to dates.

The AF should be recruited before company selection, alongside the evaluators to ensure planning and processes can be owned and embedded from the beginning of the programme.

FINANCE Recommendations

CTW2012 delivered a reduced festival this year with 54% of their original target budget. With half the number of companies than previous years, the additional elements of visiting matinees and delivery of a schools programme were still time intensive strands to co-ordinate and manage.

The additional funding avenues sourced by the festival team could have generated more income had they been initiated earlier in the process. It was recommended in the evaluation meeting that this happened up to a year in advance through a dedicated fundraising role.

The budget needs to have a built in contingency of a least 10% as standard good practice for programme budgets.

Previous festival budgets should be used as a reference for each festival year’s financial planning plus the price of inflation between festivals. This will help to ensure all festival actual costs are considered in advance.

Include a management fee percentage onto recharged costs to participating companies for organising and providing accommodation and food. A 12.5% administration fee of the amount to be invoiced is considered an acceptable amount.

The additional work and support required of the festival manager and co-ordinator in the run up to festival week requires the budget to cover these posts full time for the month preceding it.

Additional budget should be built in for extra Volunteer co-ordinator days alongside hospitality and catering for volunteers to have orientation and training days in advance of festival week.

Successes The level of work on top of the external costs involved in the realisation of a schools programme far outweighed the 3% of income this strand generated. However the benefits of the schools participation were felt not only by the schools but across the reach of Contact as a venue and by all of the participating companies. Any new initiative requires additional start up capital - both in terms of finances and time – initially, but the model that has now been created for schools engagement can be applied across other areas of Contact’s programming. The festival team were proactive in maximising funding sources with donation points at the March meet preview generating a nominal amount. When all monies count, this effort goes to highlight the current climate faced by arts organisations and should be continued. Donations and sponsorship from local businesses saw the catering for the week cost only 15% of the original projection for the project. Developing such relationships longer term could be maximised across Contact’s wider programming. CTW2012 saw Contact’s first ventures into crowd funding activity. The learning and research into the different available sites in which to initiate a crowd funded activity has already seen Contact utilise this platform again as part of their Queer Contact festival. This avenue of funding contributed 2.5% of the total income. Participating companies also used such techniques to generate funding - from bag packing in supermarkets, to their own crowd funding activity.

Economic impact Toolkit Using the Economic Impact Toolkit (as outlined in Baselines to Movement section) we have calculated the Economic Activity of the project – this refers to the overall amount of money that was spent due to the project, including money spent by participants and participating companies. The economic impact refers to new money that has been injected into the local economy that would not otherwise have been spent without this project.

Key Learning Whilst a further 2.5% of project costs were recouped from participating companies, this figure is a direct cost only and doesn’t include the administration and management fee for organising all accommodation and food needs.

The total economic activity for the project was £119,933.49 The total economic impact of the project was £63,355.42 spent within the Manchester area

With fundraising challenges for the participating companies, Contact subsidised these costs. This has been a documented occurrence from previous festival years and needs to be a considered cost within a built in contingency. Also additional costs had been omitted from the original budget including accommodation.

The social return from CTW2012 on the residents of Manchester has been calculated into a monetary value using an SROI technique. From the research and observations made as part of our evaluation, evidence suggests that CTW2012 has generated £75,732.09 of social return. Social return = £533.32 per participant, based upon improved self-confidence, physical fitness and opinion of the local area. Some assumptions around participant expenditure were made based on conversations and observations. A more accurate figure could be tracked in future years through sensitive questions to participants or Company leaders.

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Evaluation Recommendations

CTW as a festival continues to reflect and learn, as does any evaluation process. From our experience as evaluators for the festival there are key areas where the evaluation of can be further embedded in the process of the programme as well as be analysed to a greater degree. 1.

Evaluators are recruited prior to the company application process. Baseline questions to support reflective work by evaluators to be included within the application.

Evaluators work with project team to establish key specific questions for evidencing, proving and improving

Evaluators work with programme team to determine roles and responsibilities for different data collection and dates

Evaluators work with Artist Facilitator at milestone planning meeting to embed evaluation questions within creative tasks and establish suitable reflection process on their experience from the beginning

Marketing (with support from Social Media Intern if relevant) responsible for establishing effective social media monitoring and archiving for festival tags â&#x20AC;&#x201C; prior to call out for applications

Establishing monitoring system to record and track how applicants found out about CTW â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to build effective promotion and dissemination of future opportunities

Exchange visit company representatives are given a task pack for their exchanges to ensure the experience is effectively documented and shared with their company and wider CTW network

Company blogs and other social media updates rotated amongst company members to ensure a contribution and voice from different members throughout the duration of the programme

Festival Week evaluation activity to begin from registration â&#x20AC;&#x201C; low-level indirect engagement as part of signing in

10. Evaluators to run a training session with volunteers to upskill them as documenters and observers for the week, as well as to ensure their experiences are captured effectively 11. Reflection points to be set up for performing companies backstage as an open space to share and reflect

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CREDITS

Evaluation report

Volunteers

Written and designed by Kirsty Hillyer & Adrienne Frances (Frilly)

Bruce, Blane, Michelle, Sheanna, Alex, Christina, Clare, Megan, Rebecca, Ashley, Monica, Anna, Leon, James, Victoria, Claire, Lisa

Photography

Companies

Photographs by: Kirsty Hillyer & Adrienne Frances (Frilly), Joel Chester Fildes, Catkins & Safety Pins, Michelle Ferguson, and other images tagged with #ctw2012 taken by participants using Twitter and Instagram

A-I-A Wordsmiths CYAC Yard Youth Theatre Moradokmai Theatre Community Boundless Productions Crown Troupe of Africa First Wave Hip Hop Theater Ensemble Idiotsinsync 20 Stories High Clumsy Me Southbank Centre’s “Poetry Parnassus”

Audio transcriptions

Recordings by Kirsty Hillyer & Adrienne Frances (Frilly) Transcriptions by Adrienne Frances (Frilly)

Artist Mentor

Adam McGuigan (Barefeet Theatre Company)

Schools

William Hulme Grammar School St Anne’s RC High School Blessed John Henry Newman RC College Manchester Communications Academy

Artist Facilitator Montse Gili

Project Manager

... and a Huge thanks to all of the contact team!

Jude Jagger

Festival Coordinator Shaunágh Keys

Volunteer Coordinator Joe Webster

Social Media Intern Marcus Lilley

Administrative Intern Inés Soria-Donlan

event funders

Telepresence Technician

The Zochonis Charitable Trust

Jason Crouch

Creative Projects Officer Abbie Willcox

event supporters

evaluators

Creative Producer Suzie Henderson

we are

Chief Executive Baba Israel

Barbakan Delicatessen

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