TYPE OF WORK
Theatre, music, carnival, street processions, celebrations, site-specific performance, guided walks, installations, video, new media, books and kilns, created by artists within local communities.

TARGET GROUPS
B arts works with disadvantaged communities including the elderly, mentally ill, people with disabilities, homeless people, minority ethnic communities, asylum seekers, rural communities and young people at risk of social exclusion.

GEOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT
UK, central and Eastern Europe

COMPANY POLICY
B arts works creatively to promote social change and cultural democracy, offering a range of arts activities to sustain, develop and enrich individuals, groups and communities.

The company believes that process and product are equally important - the process is the foundation of a successful project, but the presentation of outcomes must convey participants' intentions and reinforce their confidence. This interaction between 'artists' and 'community' is at the heart of the company's work.

SCALE OF PROJECTS
Number of practitioners: 2-12
Participants: 6 - several hundred
Preparation: Varies
Contact time: 1 day - 3years

PERMANENT STAFF
Susan Clarke, Director (project development)
Gill Gill, Director (social inclusion)
Hilary Hughes, Director (international projects)
Aram Karem, Community Cohesion
Sarah Tatton, Admin Support

Constellation (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2001-ongoing)
Using the arts to promote community action and reconciliation
Training local fieldworkers in Mostar refugee camps to develop the use of the arts with young women and girls: including arts and skills workshops, project management and residences with UK artists.

Outcomes:

• A series of events and activities in Mostar, Karabeses refugee camp, Bijele Polje, Dreznica; work around environmental issues and local needs of isolated villages.
• Development of network of young women volunteers.
• UK placements for Young Women's Experiential Learning Network (YWELN) workers and volunteers.
• A training partnership with YWELN.

Crossing Frontiers
Cultural projects with asylum seekers and refugees. Using artistic and cultural activities to enable asylum-seekers and refugees to share experience, develop new skills, promote integration and settlement, and encourage debate around difficult and controversial issues.

Outcomes

• Two theatre productions.
• Increased contacts with host community through shared activities - playing in drumming band, performing in carnival etc.
• Informal support network.
• Opportunities for asylum seekers/refugees with arts skills and experience to develop their practice in the UK.
• Three former participants are now paid B arts workers.
  
  

Weave on
Using weaving and textile work to engage parents in community development initiatives (UK, to March 2004).

Faces of Kabul
Working with refugees to create photographic input to national exhibition (June -July 2003).

Blurton Carnival
Developing community capacity through carnival (to August 2003).

Hilary Hughes
B Arts
16 Barracks Square
Barracks Road
Newcastle ST5 1LG

T +44 (0)1782 717326
F +44 (0)1782 717190

E info@pandaemonium.biz
W www.pandaemonium.biz

"You are trying to do something that the West has forgotten that you could learn from us in the East"
Trainee workshop leader

"These games are not games, they are lessons for life"
Bosnian participant

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