News from the Network - 5 April 2007

CONTENTS

Feature Article

1.Creativity and Restorative Justice

Events and Training

2. Ice and Fire - Asylum Monologues (across the UK, to June 2007)
3. Oval House Arts in Education - Living Here (London, 23 April – 19 May 2007)
4. Action Space Mobile – Workshop programme (UK, May – July 2007)
5. Photovoice to exhibit at Photo London ( London, 31 May – 3 June 2007 )
6. Exiled Writers Ink – forthcoming events (London, May – July 2007)

Publications and Resources

7. Act, Learn and Teach: Theatre, HIV and AIDS Toolkit for Youth in Africa
8. Ensemble Creative Training and Development – new website
9. 'The Cultures and Globalization Series', Volume 1 - 'Conflicts and Tensions'
10. Restorative Justice - How it Works
11. Voices from the Magdalena: Communication for Peace

Projects and Other News

12. Story Workshop Targets Youth With A New Program, Timasukirane
13. Grassroots Zimbabwe theatre company
14. Ice and Fire’s first play for young people – Separated
15. Health Images - Liberia workshop 2007

Feature Article

1. Creativity and Restorative Justice

Marian Liebmann*

Restorative justice focuses on putting right the harm done to victims of crime rather than punishing the offender. It can involve meetings between victims and offenders, sometimes leading to practical ways of making amends. It is a creative process because everyone's ideas can be taken into account, and it focuses on the future rather than the past – although questions about what has happened may need to be answered first.

There can be links with the arts too. In Leicestershire, mediation workers help offenders become more aware of the impact of their crime by asking them to draw pictures of their victim before and after the offence – and they begin to realize what the victim has been through. In Oxfordshire, an artist is employed by the Youth Offending Team to help young people make gifts for their victims using art – one young man who burgled a house had noticed flowers in the garden, so painted a picture of flowers for his victim. Another one made a mosaic for a community centre he had damaged – there was something particularly relevant about breaking up tiles and then putting them together to make something beautiful.

Exhibitions of photographs, videos, music and drama can also be used to achieve closure after large-scale traumatic human rights violations. A group of displaced women in Peru made an appliqué wall-hanging to express their feelings to the Peru Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

* Marian Liebmann has worked in education, art therapy, victim support and probation, and for eight years worked for Mediation UK as director and project adviser. She currently divides her time between freelance restorative justice and mediation training, art therapy and writing. Marian's book Restorative Justice: How it works is published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers at the end of April 2007 (see below for more details).

Events and Training

2. Ice and Fire - Asylum Monologues

(Across the UK, to June 2007)

Asylum Monologues is an account of the UK’s asylum system, told first hand by the people who have experienced it. With personal testimony at its core combined with public opinion, political statements and statistical fact, this production will disseminate what it really means to be displaced in the UK.

This project is a collaboration between iceandfire and Actors For Refugees, a new network which aims to use the collective might of UK performers to influence community attitudes toward refugees and asylum seekers and to encourage a humanitarian response to their situation, using Asylum Monologues as their main advocacy tool.

Actors for Refugees does not charge for the perfromance. Unless otherwise stated, performances of Asylum Monologues are free and no bookings are required.

Performances April – June 2007
April 22 - in collaboration with Centre of Cultures, as part of European day of Dialogue. Tricycle theatre, Kilburn, London.
April 25 - Bradford in collaboration with Student Action for Refugees.
May 17 - Cambridge, Emmanuel United Reformed Church, 19:00
May 24 - Shrewsbury
June 21 - 10 different UK cities. Venues to be confirmed.

For more information or if you would like Asylum Monologues to come to you, please contact Christine Bacon, Coordinator of Actors for Refugees.
actors_for_refugees@yahoo.co.uk
http://www.iceandfire.co.uk/actorsforrefugees/

3. Oval House Arts in Education presents Living Here

(Oval House Café Gallery, London, 23 April – 19 May 2007)

A Creative Exploration of London Life. As part of the Living Here Project, young people from Charles Edward Brooke School have transformed their perceptions of London life into fascinating pieces of visual art. Having recently arrived in the UK from destinations such as Afghanistan, Iran, Ghana, Congo, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Cote D'lvoire and China, these young people are offering an insightful expression of their experiences in the city through this vibrant exhibition.

The exhibition is open Tues - Sat 3-10 p.m.

Oval House Theatre, 52-54 Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SW
Tel: 020 7582 0080; Fax: 020 7820 0990
info@ovalhouse.com
www.ovalhouse.com

4. Action Space Mobile – Workshop programme

(South Yorkshire, UK, May – July 2007)

Action space Mobile are running a creative workshop programme at their fully accessible studio workshop in Barnsley. Workshops include filmmaking, movement, felt making and songwriting. The Workshops are designed for arts workers, teachers, therapists, artists and others who use music, voice, film, movement or visual arts in their work and/or pleasure and want to deepen their skills.

The one day workshops cost £50 per person.
For further information:
Tel:01226 391112
Email: contact@actionspacemobile.org

5. Photovoice to exhibit at Photo London

(Old Billingsgate, London, 31 May – 3 June)

The fourth photo-london, London's international contemporary photography fair, will host some 60 exhibitors - international galleries and publishers. It will focus exclusively on contemporary photography since 1970 and aims to show the diversity of subjects, concepts, styles and techniques explored by artists working with photography, from documentary work to conceptual art photography, as well as multi-media incorporating audio, video and installation. photo-london will provide a unique platform to highlight the latest international trends occuring in the medium of photography. PhotoVoice is delighted to have been invited to exhibit this year.

Venue: Old Billingsgate, 1 Old Billingsgate Walk, 16 Lower Thames Street EC3R 6DX
Opening Hours: from Thursday 31 May to Saturday 2 June from 11am to 8pm; on Sunday 3 June from 11am to 7pm
General Admission: £15
Catalogue: £20
Information: www.photo-london.com
http://www.photovoice.org/

6. Exiled Writers Ink – forthcoming events

Exiled Lit Cafe at the Poetry Café

(22 Betterton Street, London WC2, May – July 2007)

14 May at 7.30 pm
In the Footsteps of the Word Gatherer
On a rare visit from France and performing in English and French:
Yvan Tetelbom: the Jewish performance poet born in Algeria and exiled in France with Polish roots. Accompanied by Cristiane Bonnay: classical accordionist, born in Dakar, Senegal.

4 June at 7.30 pm
African Women Writing Across a Continent
An evening of African poetry and prose with Shireen Pandit - prize winning South African short story writer and novelist, Soad El-Rgaig - Libyan writer, Chinwe Azubuike - Nigerian poet and activist, Roda Mire -Somali writer. Chaired by Nathalie Teitler

2 July at 7.30 pm
Nazand Begikhani, Kurdish poet, whose collection was recently published by Ambit
Richard McKane, published poet and translator of Turkish and Russian
Moniza Alvi, established published poet with Pakistani roots
plus Kurdish musician (tba).
Chaired by Fatieh Saudi

For further information contact Exiled Writers Ink
Email: jennifer@exiledwriters.fsnet.co.uk

Exiled writers and literature Conference and Workshops with special evening event jointly with Amnesty International

(Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, London, Thursday 21st June 2007)

Advanced Notice: For more information contact Jennifer Langer
Email: jennifer@exiledwriters.fsnet.co.uk

Publications

7. Act, Learn and Teach: Theatre, HIV and AIDS Toolkit for Youth in Africa

This toolkit and CD-ROM (written by Creative Exchange partner, Laura Myers and published by CCIVS / UNESCO) introduces the reader to Forum Theatre as a tool for HIV and AIDS education. The toolkit is aimed at youth groups and amateur theatre groups in English-speaking Africa who wish to address HIV and AIDS-related issues in ways that are creative and engaging.
For a summary and link to a .pdf of the manual, go to: http://www.comminit.com/healthecomm/planning.php?showdetails=514

Similar toolkits are available in French, Spanish, and Arabic on: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12918&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

8. Ensemble Creative Training and Development – new website

Ensemble Creative Training and Development, a partnership which has evolved from the arts in culture in development work of the David Glass Ensemble, has launched a new website about its work.
http://web.mac.com/theensemble/iWeb/ectd/index.html

9. 'The Cultures and Globalization Series', Volume 1 - 'Conflicts and Tensions'

edited by Helmut K. Anheie and Yudhushthir Raj Isar (former Creative Exchange Trustee)
published by SAGE.
The world's cultures and their forms of creation, presentation, and preservation are deeply affected by globalization in ways that are inadequately documented and understood. The Cultures and Globalization Series is designed to fill this glaring gap in our knowledge, a gap that could ultimately become politically dangerous and economically damaging. Analyzing the relationship between globalization and cultures is the aim of the Series. In each volume, leading experts as well as young scholars will track cultural trends connected to globalization throughout the world, covering issues ranging from the role of cultural difference in politics and governance to the evolution of the cultural economy and the changing patterns of creativity and artistic expression. Each volume will also include an innovative presentation of newly developed 'indicator suites' on cultures and globalization that will be presented in a user-friendly form with a high graphics content to facilitate accessibility and understanding.

The inaugural theme in 2007 will be 'Conflicts and Tensions': the cultural dimensions of conflict and the conflictual dimensions of culture. Like so many phenomena linked to globalization, conflicts over and within the cultural realms crystallize great anxieties and illusions, through misplaced assumptions, inadequate concepts, unwarranted simplifications and instrumental readings. The aim here is to marshal evidence from different disciplines and perspectives about the culture, conflict and globalization relationships in conceptually sensitive ways. Thus, in a broad and genuine sense, the Cultures and Globalization Series means not only to promote better understanding of contemporary cultural change but also to serve the cause of peace and security through informed, open and diversified debate.
For further information: www.sagepub.com

10. Restorative Justice - How it Works

Marian Liebmann
April 2007 480 pp ISBN 978 1 84310 074 4 pb £28.00
Jessica Kingsley Publishers

This topical book provides an accessible introduction to the philosophy of restorative justice and its application in a wide range of settings, demonstrating how it can help to rehabilitate both victims and offenders when harm has been done. Drawing on many years’ experience of working in victim support, probation and mediation, Marian Liebmann uses pertinent case examples to illustrate how restorative justice can be used effectively,from confronting bullying in schools and tackling antisocial behaviour, to dealing with sexual and racial violence and community reconciliation after war. Whether in the context of families, schools, communities, criminal justice or prisons, the author argues that restorative justice is a ‘seamless philosophy’ which can be applied flexibly to meet diverse needs. Liebmann provides an international outlook, examining how restorative justice is administered around the world, including traditional Maori and Aboriginal approaches. How Restorative Justice Works will be a key read for magistrates, social workers, probation workers, police, teachers and health professionals. It is accessibly written and thus will also be of interest to the lay reader.
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 116 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9JB, Tel: +44(0)20 7833 2307 Fax: +44(0)20 7837 2917 www.jkp.com

11. Voices from the Magdalena: Communication for Peace

"Voices from the Magdalena. Communication for Peace" is a 35-minute video documentary on the community radio network in the Magdalena Media region of Colombia. The region is known because it is at the centre of confrontation between guerrilla and paramilitary forces. Decades of conflict have caused enormous economic, political and social damage to the people living in the region. However, people have organised to elevate their voices through community radio stations that promote peace and regional development through the strengthening of communication and cultural identity. A team of university scholars and communication activists from the network of stations (AREDMAG) recently conducted a research project that revealed how the stations contribute to peace and development and began evaluating participatory community media processes.

Directed by Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron and produced by Amparo Cadavid Bringe, this documentary describes the context in the region, the participatory processes promoted by community radio stations and the role of evaluation.
35 mins. Copyright © 2006, Communication for Social Change Consortium and Universidad Javeriana.

Price: 10 USD.
To order: http://www.communicationforsocialchange.org/publications-order.php

Projects and other news

12. Story Workshop Targets Youth With A New Program, Timasukirane

With support from the National Aids Commission of Malawi, Story Workshop has embarked on Timasukirane, ("Let's Talk Openly") a radio-based HIV/AIDS communications initiative. Timasukirane targets young people with two radio shows -- one soap series and a weekly talk show. Targeting young people aged 15-24 and anchored by former Power 101 DJ Edward Kankhomba -- known by his fans simply as Eduardo -- the initiative will include a radio talk show that involves young people speaking directly and frankly about HIV/AIDS-related issues.

The soap series is situated at a Malawian secondary boarding school and follows the ups and downs of its students, their families, its teachers and the surrounding villages.
With Timasikurane, Story Workshop aims to open up new roads in the HIV prevention area. Instead of sending messages to young people on what they should and should not do, the program will explore the barriers young people experience when trying to behave responsibly and safely.

For more information on the program, contact Programme Director Joke van Kampen
http://www.storyworkshop.org/special/nac.html

13. Grassroots Zimbabwe theatre company

Grassroots has been working towards the Sanganisai Children’s Festival (SCF) in March 2007. The festival is aimed at bringing four schools from the rural areas of Masvingo together, to share through performances, workshops and discussions. Every child from this school has either lost a parent or at most both parents from HIV/AIDS related illnesses. There is a lot of prejudice, stigmatisation, discrimination of not only HIV/AIDS orphans, but people living with HIV and AIDS in general. The festival addresses behaviour and attitude issues.
For further information about SCF, please contact:ephson@grassrootstheatre.com

Annual UK Tour
Grassroots has been involved in UK touring and exchange programmes since 1992.
To date, there is a strong partnership of community groups working to support Grassroots throughout the UK, which has led to an annual 3-4 month programme.
Grassroots will be touring the UK from the 31st July - 15th November 2007
For further information please contact: info@grassrootstheatre.com

www.grassrootstheatre.com

14. Ice and Fire’s first play for young people – Separated

Separated by Sara Masters, directed by Vicky Jones

Iceandfire’s first play for young people emerged from a series of drama workshops run with young refugees and unaccompanied minors.
Year 11. GCSEs. Then what? Daniel’s from London (but his dad’s from Ghana), Amanullah’s from Afghanistan (but he lives in London). They’re both 15 and that’s where the similarity ends. Or is it? Once they start putting things together they realise that just because they’re not the same doesn’t mean they’re different.
The play is suitable for students studying KS4. The aim of the project is to encourage participants to use their own emotions to empathise and understand the refugee experience and cope with their own forthcoming transitions. An Education Resource Pack accompanies the piece to support Citizenship teachers and enhance their Citizenship provision. This will shortly be available to download free from the iceandfire website.

For more information, contact Gabrielle Lobb
education@iceandfire.co.uk or telephone 07946 702141.

15. Health Images - Liberia workshop 2007

Health Images are planning a workshop with the Liberian Visual Arts Project (LIVAP). The 5-day workshop will run from April 23 - 27. They will be training schoolteachers from the LIVAP school in Paynesville, and other schools in Monrovia, how to make and use simple pictorial teaching aids for use in the classroom. “The education system, like most other things in Liberia, was more or less destroyed by years of war and there is currently an urgent need for all aspects of teacher-training. Resources are scarce or non-existent in Liberian schools so we are hoping to make a useful contribution by promoting the use of drawn and hand-painted teaching aids that are made by the teachers themselves.
There is great potential for these kinds of materials in all parts of the curriculum. If well used, they are stimulating and interactive and there is no reason why, in the future, schoolchildren should not be able to make their own teaching aids. Some of these materials can also form the basis of educational games in which learners take an active role in their own learning.”

For more information on the work of Health Images and on the use of graphics for participatory communication visit: www.healthimages.co.uk