#arts3122

Less than a week until final projects are due.

WIth just over a week left until the final presentations are due for the Uni side of things, I'm working on the budget and a more detailed (but still general) lesson plan.

The budget is proving to be rather difficult because there are certain prices I can't find simply through research - such as the cost of an excursion to a local play in the USA or in Haiti. 

Yoga Ventures offers spiritual retreats and yoga trips that allow you to celebrate your wellbeing, experience global travel and be of service in the world.

This is an organisation that Lisa Rueff Schneider set up herself. This is an example of why she is such a valuable resource, connection and friend to have during the creation of 'More Than A Story.'

Lisa has been involved in philanthropic work both overseas and in her home in the USA. Not only has she been simply involved in the work, but she has also initiated and organised such work herself.

I feel that Yoga Ventures is to Lisa what 'More Than a Story' is to me: a fusion of a personal passion with a personal desire. For Lisa, that passion is yoga, whereas for me it is drama but both of us share that same passion to do something in/for the world outside of ourselves. This is why Lisa is such a large inspiration for myself and this project, because to a certain extent she has already done it in her own way.

The overview of who Lisa is found below is taken directly from her Yoga Ventures website, and I can only hope that such an introduction could one day be applicable to me and work that I have achieved.

CEO and Founder, Lisa Rueff, has been leading international trips for over 10 years. She has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for global causes, focusing on sustainable solutions to provide basic needs for women and children.  She is currently building a home and school for 100 earthquake-orphaned Haitian children in Jacmel, The Jacmel Children Center in Haiti as well as a free medical clinic, Angel Wings Clinic. She taught at Yoga Tree, Yoga Works, Red Dragon Yoga, Bay Club Yoga 02 Aspen.  Lisa has been featured and published in Yoga Journal, Yoga International, Origin Magazine, The Examiner, Marin Magazine, Ode and more. She has served as an Ambassador for Lululemon and A Circle of Grace Member at Zobha.

The ACFFC have redone their website and it looks great!

The new page is easier to navigate and more appealingly laid out in a much more eye catching form. The key points of the organisation jump out more than before which is great to see.

It's great to see that as an organisation, they are aware of the need to keep up with the technological age we are in (with no end in sight).

These are the first words said by Chimamanda Adichie in her TED talk that has been such a key influence in the formation of this project.

'More Than a Story' works to show students that they are story tellers too. But not just that they have the ability to tell their story, but that they have a story, and that their story is worth hearing. Their story is unique to them, and how else are we to work with one another if we do not know one another?

Week 1 The Challenge of Global Perspectives on Community Theatre in Malawi and Botswana, by David Kerr

Week 2 Performing Cross-Cultural Conversations: Creating New Kinships Through Community Theatre, by Eugene van Erven and Kate Gardner

Week 3 Theatre and Activism: The Agit Prop Theatre Way, by Swati Pal

Week 4 Change the World As We Know It: Peace, Youth and Performance, by Mary Anne Hunter

Week 5 The Applied Theatre Reader, by Tim Prentki and Sheila Preston

Week 1 The Challenge of Global Perspectives on Community Theatre in Malawi and Botswana, by David Kerr

Week 2 Performing Cross-Cultural Conversations: Creating New Kinships Through Community Theatre, by Eugene van Erven and Kate Gardner

Week 3 Theatre and Activism: The Agit Prop Theatre Way, by Swati Pal

Week 4 Change the World As We Know It: Peace, Youth and Performance, by Mary Anne Hunter

Week 5 The Applied Theatre Reader, by Tim Prentki and Sheila Preston

Fringe Theatre Adventures: KidsFringe Haiti Project

The Globe and Mail: Haitian students bring vibrant art, stories to Edmonton Fringe Festival

Edmonton Arts: Haitians bring magic to Edmonton's KidsFringe

Fringeopolis: KidsFringe Haiti Project

Edmonton Examiner: Haitian children get artwork in Fringe play

In my contacts with Judy Hoffman, she mentioned how the ACFFC have done previous theatre based work and there are plans soon to be implemented for a following project too. These works have been initiated by Patti McIntosh, who’s name Judy gave to me and who I have then done my own research on in order to better understand what experience the ACFFC have had and how that went.

One of the lines that stuck out the most to me was from the Fringeopolis discussion of the ACFFC, and a quote from Judy herself: “This type of collaboration is extremely important and meaningful for the ACFFC children, as their world is very small on the one hand (the farthest they have travelled is Port Au Prince) and yet global on a virtual basis, with their art work shown world wide” (p2). This is yet another aspect that ‘More Than a Story’ aims to address. The project is more than just adjusting the views of the comfortable Western-bubble students in America by introducing them to those who live less fortunately than them. If that were the case then the project would not need to be nearly as complex and detailed. But rather, it is a giving and taking project that holds up both groups of students as equally important and with equal amounts of lessons and experiences to share with one another. One school is not supposed to finish the project having got more out of it than the other, as both schools bring something to the table and also pick something else up at the same time. The ACFFC students have much to learn outside of their Haitian experiences too, and this sort of collaboration with people who live in those outside experiences can help provide some of that.

To see that the world of theatre is not a completely new concept to the ACFFC students is quite heartening. From these articles it seems as if there is already an understanding of theatre as a powerful medium for sharing and expressing. Which means ‘More Than a Story’ can hopefully engage with things on deeper and more complex levels if the basics are already evident.