The third PUSH Lab will be an 8-day residential lab focussing on the topic of Migration and hosted by our Irish partner The Ark, Ireland's only dedicated cultural centre for children, in Dublin. It will take place from 20 February - 1 March 2018.
14 participating artists have now been selected from Scotland, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark and Norway.
The Lab will be led by Veronica Coburn and will focus around themes of immigration, emigration and asylum and their impact on Ireland and our European neighbours and partners. The lab will seek to answer questions such as:
- How can we talk about migration and asylum with our audiences, including minority voices, in a sector that is not yet diverse and a context that is highly political?
- Over half of the worlds displaced people are children, what is the role of the artist in telling/representing their stories?
- What do children in Europe understand of the current Immigration crisis? How can we explore and interrogate this in an age-appropriate and artistically interesting way?
- Do children who have been displaced and live in Europe see themselves represented in culture?
- What are the risks in trying to explore such an emotive issue through theatre and dance for an audience of children?
- How do we actively make our sector more diverse and inclusive to encourage artists who are telling their own stories?
The Lab will connect the traditional Irish experience of emigration with this contemporary European project. It will allow the artists and European partners to explore how different countries and cultures address this communal issue through the lens of performance for children. We will also investigate how artists and cultural activities can offer Irish children opportunities to examine diverse communities, a sense of a children’s community of civic care and active citizenship.
If you would like to find out more about this Lab or the PUSH project you can email push@imaginate.org.uk or contact the PUSH partner in your country.