When: Wednesday, October 14th, 11 am – 1 pm
Where: Konferenzraum blu:bloks (Lichtenberg)

Thinking Theatre for the Very Young Globally – Insights from India and other countries

with Ruchira Das (ThinkArts, India), Joshua Alabi (Kininso, Nigeria) and others

This event is hybrid and can also be attended digitally

At the start of the event, Ruchira Das, founder and director of ThinkArts - cooperation partner of FRATZ Festival in 2024 and 2026 - , will give an overview of the development of performing arts for the very young in India. ThinkArts is an arts organisation that creates, curates, and enables high-quality artistic projects and experiences for children and young audiences in various cities across India. FRATZ and ThinkArts already collaborated in 2024 on the FRATZ Research Labs and in creating a multilayered cooperation that included an invited guest production and devising different symposium events. This year's invited productions "Neer" and "Build" emerged from the labs of this cooperation. We want to use this opportunity to look at these and other international collaborations. How can they help local artistic communities expand their vocabulary (in both directions) while also connecting to local realities and childhood experiences? In an article Nishna Mehta is reflecting on the ThinkArts-FRATZ cooperation. It can be viewed and downloaded here.

We are also interested in how Theatre for the Very Young can contribute to children's cultural participation, empathy, and social connection – and how international collaborations can help involve children not just as audiences, but as active co-creators in artistic and, ultimately, democratic processes.

Joshua Alabi, Founder/CEO of Kininso Koncepts, and the company itself have collaborated with FRATZ across several editions and initiatives. This relationship began in 2017 with an invitation for the company to present a guest performance as part of a multi-city German tour, which unfortunately could not take place due to visa rejections for the company. In 2019, Joshua was invited to a FRATZ symposium, where he facilitated a conversation around Theatre Without Borders with FRATZ's international delegates. In 2020, he and Kininso Koncepts participated in a digital research lab exploring the intersection of gender and race, with the research focusing on the project Skin Tone. This research subsequently gave birth to three new pieces, one of which, Kolofu, was later invited to the FRATZ Festival in 2022.