The To Be Consortium consists of four partners from four different nation states across Europe. Each organisation approached the topic of the project according to their experiences and understanding, fashioned from years of method guided practice as well as the particular needs of the teachers and their students in their relative countries. However, a guiding structure was implemented which ensured a commonality of form in the project.
Big Brum Theatre in Education Company
Big Brum Theatre in Education Company is a highly regarded arts education charity with a unique way of working that is recognised nationally and internationally. Our charitable aims since 1982 are to advance the education of children and young people using theatre and drama. We do this by touring Theatre in Education (TiE) programmes (new plays written especially for young audiences and interwoven with affective participatory learning activities) and through community projects, prioritising schools and community settings in areas of high socio-economic deprivation and low arts engagement. We work with up to 70 schools each year, with our University partners and internationally. We specialise in working with the most disadvantaged young people, especially in pupil referral units and with learners with disabilities. For many young people Big Brum is their first experience of professional theatre/drama, and we aim to ignite an early passion for the creativity and culture, promoting creative and critical thinking, and inspiring young people towards their creative potential.
This project builds on our work with teachers and young people and takes it further, especially in terms of teacher confidences, competencies and capabilities and considering specific impacts on our TIE practice on the well-being and resilience of young people with behavioural issues. The To Be project also complements ongoing work on network and partnership building with schools and practitioners, including through the Drama Masters in Teaching and Learning hub that Big Brum co-manages with Birmingham City University, working with academics and Teachers of Drama.
Lužánky Leisure Time Activity Centre
Right in the centre of the city of Brno lies Lužánky Park with the Lužánky Leisure Time Activity Centre in its heart. Since 1949 employees of Lužánky have provided space for personal development, leisure and relaxation for children, youngsters, and adults, served their educational needs and helped them develop all sorts of interests. The free-time centre has grown to encompass a number of other sites scattered around the city of Brno. They are all linked together by a sense of belonging to the long tradition of their parent facility, carrying out the mission by offering diverse activities. Theatre played by children and youth was part of our activities from the very beginning. Since the eighties Drama in Education programmes for school classes and training for teachers based on this long lasting practice have been offered, too. The core of the team working on the To Be project was connected to the Studio of Drama Education Labyrint – Lužánky's facility working closely with universities as well as other members of Czech Drama Centre's Association.
The To Be project was a great opportunity for us to strengthen the cooperation with the primary school teachers. We offered them tailor-made training and evaluated the Drama in Education programmes for their classes together. Most importantly we learnt more about the impact of drama-based approach in the educational process. Working together with partners from abroad allowed us to gain new perspectives while exploring the well-being in the schools together and relating our daily practice to the common structure and frame of reference.
Nyitott Kör
Nyitott Kör or ‘Open Circle’ in English, is a small, independent Theatre in Education Association based in Budapest. Our main activities are interactive theatre performances for students, and training events for adults. We always design the type of interaction very carefully, aiming that it becomes a real chance for participants to learn about themselves. By involving experts of the topic of the play we make sure to map the exploration territory as much as possible. In addition to our core activities, we research, experiment and collaborate with partners throughout Europe and beyond, always with an interdisciplinary approach.
In the recent past we have been offering packages of programmes to schools, aiming to reach and involve in learning – through emotional involvement and Drama – as many students per institution as possible, but we could never try such a structured and strategic way of encounters with schools as in the To Be project. We have carried out an Impact Assessment Research focusing on the prevention of bullying through Drama in 2017-18, but we then did not have the competence to explore teachers’ learning and embed this in the process of events. The realization of the importance of the teachers’ engagement in our work is a recent discovery, and it was highlighted for us in several different projects recently. The partnership was a big support to find possible ways toward this aim. We needed to adapt to the Covid-19 times jointly and individually too, so the challenge of collaboration was greater than provisioned.
The Association of Drama Practitioners STOP-KLATKA
The Association of Drama Practitioners STOP-KLATKA is an organization which has existed since 2002. Our main field of work is applied drama. We use drama in many areas such as education, prevention, rehabilitation, developing interpersonal, social and civic skills, preventing discrimination and exclusion as well as building ties within local communities. Important value for us is to always listen to the needs of the groups and try to answer to those needs by creating workshop scripts which fit to the needs. During the years since our organization exists, we worked with different groups with children, teenagers, adults and seniors and also teachers and educators. The members of STOP-KLATKA consist of experts who have different backgrounds: they graduated as psychologists, trainers, actors. However they all finished drama courses and other courses for facilitators and trainers, which help them to improve their skills. Currently in our organization we are seven trainers and one financial specialist. The To be project allowed us to focus deeply on the work with one partner school. We aim to give teachers inspiration on how they could increase their own and their classes' well-being. We would like to show how different drama techniques can help them in it. Concentrating on the teachers personal well-being is an important and a crucial question nowadays in Poland, where there is a lot of tension around the reputation of the profession of the teachers.
Authors and contributors of the publications
Well-being Curricula
ISBN 978-615-01-2516-9
The documents were designed by Dániel Danczi and edited by Kristóf Kantár.
The Well-being Curriculum 1. (UK) was created by Big Brum TIE, working with teachers and children at Benson Community Primary School, Birmingham. Big Brum TIE: Ben Ballin, Educationalist; Richard Holmes, Artistic Director; inputs from Matt Hinks, Education Partnerships Worker and Judy Woodford, Administration and Finance Manager. The digital film was edited by John Bradburn. The UK project used ‘Socially Distant’ by Chris Cooper as its central stimulus.
The Well-being Curriculum 2. (CZ) was developed by Eva Dittingerová, Tomáš Mohapl Doležal, Veronika Rodová, Katja Ropret Perne at Lužánky Leisure Time Activity Centre. The video materials were created by Tadeáš Plch. The proofreading was done by Dora Rodriguez. Special thanks to Jana Nováková Stará who shared with us her insights and passion for wellness.
The Well-being Curriculum 3. (HU) was developed by Gabriella Dóczi-Vámos, Zsófia Jozifek and Zoltán Meszlényi-Bodnár at Nyitott Kör Egyesület. The video materials were created by Márton Magócsi & Bianka Rostás.
The Well-being Curriculum 4. (PL) was developed by Nikolett Gábri, Kamilla Gryszel and Małgorzata Winiarek-Kołucka at the Association of Drama Practitioners STOP-KLATKA. The video materials were created by Nikolett Gábri & Csaba Szentgáli.
To Be – A Living Question: Guidebook for Drama & Education practitioners
ISBN 978-615-01-2517-6
The document was designed and edited by Dániel Danczi. Authors: Ben Ballin; Eva Dittingerová; Gabriella Dóczi-Vámos; Nikolett Gábri; Kamilla Gryszel; Matthew Hinks, Richard Holmes, Zsófia Jozifek; Zoltán Meszlényi-Bodnár; Tomáš Mohapl Doležal; Veronika Rodová; Katja Ropret Perne; Małgorzata Winiarek-Kołucka.
To Be – Researching connections between Drama, Well-being and Education
ISBN 978-615-01-2518-3
The document was designed by Alíz A. Molnár, visual identity created by Dániel Danczi.
Authors: Ben Ballin; Stacy Brown; Hana Cisovská; Gill Brigg; Gabriella Dóczi-Vámos; Matthew Hinks; Eva Janebová; Zsófia Jozifek; Lilla Lendvai; Lenka Polánková.
The To Be project site was developed and cared for by Márton Magócsi, designed by Dániel Danczi, with the technical support of Ildikó Hepp and Márk Juhász.
Project coordinator: Zsófia Jozifek, Nyitott Kör, contact@nyitottkor.hu
Disclaimer:
The project is co-funded by the Erasmus Plus programme of the European Commission of the European Union. Project number: 2019-1-HU01-KA201-06127. The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
License:
The legal code of "Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)" of Creative Commons applies to all the contents of this site. For details, please visit the respective site.
The project is co-funded by the Erasmus Plus programme of the European Commission of the European Union. Project number: 2019-1-HU01-KA201-06127.
We are happy to receive feedback, questions, opinions or appreciation, please fill out this form.
Join us in the To Be project facebook group.