Project type: Theatrical performance and cultural festivalLocation: Ankara, Turkey
Period: September – December 2007
Supervision/direction: Renske Hofman and Femke van Dijk
Partner organisation: TEGV
Financing: 50% NCDO, 50% collecting activities
Budget: €22,000
Theme: Bringing colour into the lives of children from underdeveloped neighbourhoods
Aim: Organising a theatre festival for children for the 15 poorest schools in Ankara and thereby bringing children in contact with theatre and other art forms.
Participants: 13 children as actors in a show with the theme ‘Your ideal dream city’
Number of performances and reach: 3 festival days with a total of 750 visitors, mostly children, their parents and teachers.
Renkli Çocuk FestivaliWith partner organisation TEGV, Ubuntu organised a ‘Colourful Children’s Festival’ in Ankara in October 2007. For this theatre/art festival the large museum of modern arts in the heart of the city was transformed into a kids’ paradise. Children from the 15 poorest schools in Ankara were invited to submerge themselves in colour, creativity and fun. First they got to see a performance with ‘Your ideal dream city’ as a theme. This show was created by Ubuntu with 13 kids from a suburb of Ankara in the months leading up to the festival. Then visitors could participate in workshops like theatre, break dance, juggling and body rhythm. Furthermore they could visit a photo/video exhibition created by the 13 participants of the theatre performance in co-operation with Dutch and Turkish artists. The theme of this exhibition was ‘Old and New’. The festival was a huge success and was visited by over 750 children. The various involved parties agreed to repeat this initiative on a yearly basis.
