Wales based Community Arts Organization, Cynefin, will welcome artists and cultural youth workers from 15 different countries to Llandudno in March, where it will host a seminar on Applied Participative Arts.
Cultural youth workers, artists and young people from Iceland, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, France, Portugal, Austria, Hungary and Wales will come together for the inaugural meeting of a European Network of called ‘The Republic of the Imagination.’ The seminar will explore and discuss a variety of methods of working with young people at risk of social exclusion through the arts and in particular the applied methodology developed by Cynefin, called Sensory Labyrinth Theatre.
This method of creating site specific labyrinth instillations in natural and built environments has been pioneered over the last nine years by Cynefin with projects throughout Europe. These labyrinths are co-created with communities and can be permanent, like Caerdroia in the Gwydyr Forest near Llanrwst, North Wales - the largest Labyrinth in the world, built by Cynefin in 2005; or can last only as long as is needed to stage unique performances. Audiences to these performances travel alone through the labyrinth in the dark and encounter a kind of theatre that engages all the senses and leads people to report –
“One lives and thinks differently after walking through the labyrinth.”
“I feel I am complete in some way”
“One always waits for such an experience. Rarely do you realize you are waiting and even more rarely does that waiting give fruit. I am happy that such a rare happening has happened to me.”
The Republic of the Imagination will be a new network that supports the use of Sensory Labyrinth Theatre and other participative arts methodologies, raising the profile of these innovative techniques that help us celebrate the joy of being creative together. It will do this by providing a basis for co-operation between organizations working with young people is some of the most difficult circumstances and disseminating through the media the argument for greater investment in this work and in particular this work as a basis for inter-cultural dialogue.
Artistic Director of Cynefin, Iwan Brioc says “This will be a very important meeting for the future of this quite specialized field and I’m very glad to be hosting it here in Llandudno. Wales hits above its weight in Europe in terms of its influence on applied participative arts.”
There will be a networking event at 2:30pm on Friday the 20th March at Llandudno Town Hall and a launch of the network.
Addendum:
and the objects of the network are –
… to carry on activities which benefit the international community and in particular (without limitation) young people who are disadvantaged, to develop and apply training, research, projects and performances in participative arts and in particular Sensory Labyrinth Theatre to help revitalize communities, stimulate awareness and unfold capacity.
Relevant websites –
www.cynefin.org.uk
www.republicoftheimagination.com
http://republicoftheimagination.blogspot.com/
Contact Details:
Iwan Brioc, Artistic Director
07766 168973
iwan@cynefin.org.uk
