Speaking with Teachers in Barcelona

A Report from a Meeting with Teachers

30 May 2019, 16.30–18:00 in Nau Ivanow – Performing Arts Apace.

1. Welcome and brief reminder of the previous session.
The general goal of the project is to generate good practices to encourage teenagers into the Theatre:

1- In the selection of the audience members:

Who chooses, why, how are they chosen, is it democratic?

2- When going to the Theatre and accompanying them. Find ways to implement this accompaniment. What is the best way to experience Theatre?

3- Develop different ways to evaluate and to review the play after watching it. The main objective of the TEEN Project is Co-Programming with Teenagers.

An example of this line of work could be the “Stalkers” project [device for young curators], a proposal of the SÂLMON Festival, the Sismògraf, FiraTàrrega and the TNT Festival with the collaboration of other festivals; it is a model for accompanying teenagers from 18 to 25 years of age so they can get to know in depth the practice of curatorship. Although the age group it is focused on is older than the one, we work with, it could be interesting to know the dynamics. https://salmon-dance.com/fitxa/stalkers-durant-tot-el-festival/

2. Return and summary of TEEN Kitchen Table Meetings

The latest session focused on the issue of choosing show.

The TEEN Kitchen Table Meeting used:

• 6-8 people were grouped around a table with tablecloths and food, evoking the familiarity of a kitchen table.
  • A topic and moderator were chosen.
  • Each person has 3 minutes maximum to make a speech; a small object is thrown to pass the floor.
  • Adults participate in a secondary role, as spectators, and can intervene by raising their hand.
  • It is a tool that facilitates good communication, listening and respect.

• Testing the dynamics with pupils is proposed: Jordi Pérez and Xesca Vela test and evaluate very positively. Videos of the sessions are uploaded to the shared drive.
• Some reflections after the sessions were:
  – The Teenagers feel they are protagonists, and they are grateful to have been given a voice.
  – Some of the issues chosen for debate are:
  What makes adolescents go (or not go) to the Theatre? How should Theatre programmes encourage teenagers to go on their own?
  – Some reflexctons arising from the talks;
  – Consumption of cinema requires less effort; perhaps we have to offer more tools, more training, to ask more questions.
  – The topic of the play also has much influence.
• And see actors/actresses they can feel they identify with.
• How could we make everything said in the TEEN Kitchen Table Meeting format stick? It is a dynamic that generates a lot of information, opinions, material and expression, and it is not easy to make it stick.
• Given that it is a simple and effective tool, it is useful for different subjects and projects.

It is proposed to continue applying these dynamics to all the centres with different groups of pupils and then share the results and comments with the whole group.

3. Other themes to develop:

• A relevant and decisive issue is the price of shows for teenagers. It is interesting to reserve a space for talking about it. For example, the Ateneu Theatre in Tàrrega offers highly discounted prices for teenagers (5€ for those under 18), and this helps to attract more spectators https://culturatarrega.cat/ca/pc/68-programacio-per-a-adults 
• Another important topic is communication. It is necessary to take into account how they communicate to access information. We have to take into account that the Theatre is not a part of the usual leisure world.
• The link between culture and education. In the same way as the cultural sector studies how to reach out to the educational world. The question is how to break school habits, how to reach out to the cultural world in another way.