You Can (Youth Culture Arts Network) is a joint venture project formed in 1999 between Boomerang Theatre Co, Cork, and The Playhouse, Derry. It is a cross-border, cross-community network promoting partnerships between the arts and youth organisations.
Funded in part by the European Union under the Peace II programme and also financed by UK and Ireland governments, they focus on UK, Ireland and Europe exploring the effects of conflict and community polarisation.
Following the Good Friday Agreement, their work has made a vital contribution to the peace process. Their initiatives have helped to heal rifts, foster understanding and establish a sense of unity across borders in the fragile and battered community landscapes of north and south Ireland. Wisely, they concentrate their resources on the new generation; membership is open at all times to all arts organisations as long as they have a youth arts focus.
Their aims are achieved through the provision of accredited arts-based training to individuals across a variety of arts disciplines – Drama Performance, Visual Arts, Creative Writing, Movement & Dance, as well as training for project leaders and youth workers.
In addition, each year they host a networking conference for organisations working with young people using the arts. Last year’s 3-day event was entitled, ‘Producing Partnerships’, at which the hot-topics of evaluation and the sustainability of arts projects were discussed.
This year, the 3-day networking conference takes place at Cavan Crystal Hotel, Cavan between 2-4 November and is called ‘Arts in Contemporary Society’. The theme is, ‘Displaced’ and speakers have been invited from organisations with particular experience and success in work with the homeless, ex-prisoners and migrant groups.
Amongst the speakers will be Alana Brady of Glasgow’s well established and hugely respected, 7:84 Theatre Company. She will talk about 7:84’s Glasgow Homelessness Network (GHN). This is a project that began in 2004 and was further extended in the first half of 2005. It was an intensive 3-week programme of workshops with GHN Service User Involvement Team that culminated in ‘forum’ performances by homeless people in four Glasgow hostels and one public event.
7:84 has always been a great exponent of the interactive ‘forum theatre’ style pioneered by Brazilian Augusto Boal. They have used it successfully as a tool for social and political debate in Scotland, gaining the attention of parliament and effecting social and legislative changes. They have a vast history of experience in getting results and enabling the disenfranchised groups in the community to have their voices heard.
Also at the conference will be Mike Moloney and Marty Rowland of the Prison Arts Foundation. Founded in 1996, based in Belfast and unique to Northern Ireland, the Foundation encourages prisoners serving custodial sentences to become involved with arts and crafts. Currently around 20% of the prison population is involved; there is particular focus on young offenders and ex-young offenders. Writing and the visual arts have been the traditionally dominant areas of interest. The Foundation attributes much of its success to the use of artists in residence at the prisons.
One of the concerns voiced frequently about arts-in-the-community projects is that the integrity and quality of the art form itself is compromised for the sake of the social agenda. In the case of the Prison Arts Foundation, such fears about quality were silenced following the critical success of the 1998 and 1999 ‘Captivating’ exhibitions of work from within the Prisons at Enniskillen and Clotworthy House, Antrim and also Tallaght, Dublin.
This exposure to the arts certainly seems to be encouraging prison participants to see ‘the effects of conflict and community polarisation’ in new ways, which is one of You Can’s main aims. As one ex-prisoner from the notorious Maze prison noted, “Good art, for me, encourages people to look and think about life in different ways. I believe that art in its most effective form (I classify art as writing, film, theatre, music, painting, etc.) can help people to question themselves and perhaps to define a more positive solution.”
It is important with these initiatives that the benefits are not short-lived or ‘quota fillers’ and that any positive benefits are not lost once prisoners are back in normal society, the speakers will be discussing this process of ‘re-settlement’ at the conference.
One of the most challenging and unusual projects to be represented at the conference is Multi-Story. Iseult Timmermans, the project and photography coordinator will be speaking about the project. This was a multi-media art project created by asylum seekers from more than 15 countries living in North Glasgow, in conjunction with artists. Using a series of exhibitions, visitors saw photos, personal stories, songs, video and artwork, and combinations of these elements juxtaposed to give insights into the multi-cultural Glasgow community. The project still continues as a website.
This was a huge challenge. Not only are migrants and asylum seekers disenfranchised, they often lack a basic understanding of the language and culture into which they have been thrust. The task to build bridges and foster some basic human compassion between cultures (particularly compassion from the host community towards to migrants) seems almost insurmountable.
The Multi-Story project documented many testimonials from migrants and asylum seekers that are inspiring and thought provoking, this is just one of the unsettling quotes from their website, (uncredited):
“I come from Sudan, I came straight to Scotland about 1 year ago…It is difficult to make new friends, I have a few from my country but there are not many opportunities to meet Scottish people…I think in general asylum seekers are treated well, but locally not always so well. I don’t know why, maybe they don’t like us. I think they don’t know anything about us.”
Other overseas practitioners will be represented by the likes of Bradley McCallum, a New York based conceptual artist who will be discussing his controversial community performance/film installation project, ‘Endurance’. This features 26 of Seattle’s young homeless in an unsettling and challenging piece that questions vagrancy laws and highlights the culpability of the passers by.
Also attending will be Carl Cordonnier from France and Tony Fegan from London’s LIFT organisation.
For more information about attending the conference and a registration form please ring 00353 21 4316826 speak to Trish Edelstein, project co-ordinator and/or see the following websites for details on the conference speakers.
www.youcan.ie
www.prisonartsfoundation.com
www.784theatre.com
www.multi-story.org
