The Power Of Community 社区的力量 & The Greening of Cuba
The Power Of Community:
Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens after they lost global support in the early 1990's.
It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period."
Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.
When trade relations with the socialist bloc collapsed in 1990, Cuba lost 80 percent of its pesticide and fertilizer imports and half its petroleum--the mainstays of its highly industrialized agriculture. Challenged with growing food for 11 million in the face of the continuing US embargo, Cuba embarked on the largest conversion to organic farming ever attempted.
Told in the voices of the women and men--the campesino, researchers, and organic gardeners--who are leading the organic agriculture movement, The Greening of Cuba reminds us that developed and developing nations alike can choose a healthier environment and still feed their people.
‘WHAT MATTERS?’ 的第一个节目请来了 Dr Lai Ah Eng 和 Mr Farid来为我们讲解在学校与现代社会里的种族歧视和刻板化 (stereotypes) 的情况以及所牵涉到的一些问题。Dr Lai 以非常简单而有效的方式来讲解在学校里的种族问题。原来不只是学生,连老师和校长也会歧视某些种族的人或是对某些种族的人存有刻板印象。一位学校的校长竟然以‘不够马来人’为由而不成立足球队,听了令人惊讶。一般人这么想也就算了,博学多闻的人也这么说,我不能接受。况且,身为管理学校的校长以种族肤色来做某些决定,可能会影响到学生,实在不能鼓励。Mr Farid和我们进行游戏,从中和大家一起分析,讨论和了解一些大家对某些族群拥有的刻板印象和它们的真实性或准确性。游戏让大家打起精神来,也让我们认识了一些不同族群或文化的朋友。
一个礼拜后,我们播映了电影‘To Kill a Mockingbird’。这部影片取自于 Harper Lee 所写的同名小说,讲述的是美国三十年代的一位白人律师辩护一个被指控强奸的黑人。小说广受好评和大众的喜爱,还赢得美国文学界的最高荣誉‘Putlizer Prize’。电影也拍的很好,赢得了几项美国奥斯卡电影大奖。
在演出的特刊里,写了这么一段话: 'As the project leader, how much you can do is really secondary. To get people to do things, to get people to do things on time and to get things done the way you need it to be done, THAT MATTERS!'
As Forum Theatre is 1 of the main basis of our works here in ARTivate, I would like to share with you more info about Theatre of the Oppressed, the umbrella in which Forum Theatre is under.
http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/
Quoting Boal from the site:
Theatre of the Oppressed was born in 1971, in Brazil, under the very young form of Newspaper Theatre , with the specific goal of dealing with local problems – soon, it was used all over the country. Forum Theatre came into being in Peru, in 1973, as part of a Literacy Program; we thought it would be good only for South America– now it is practiced in more than 70 countries. Growing up, TO developed Invisible Theatre in Argentina, as political activity, and Image Theatre to establish dialogue among Indigenous Nations and Spanish descendants, in Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico... Now these forms are being used in all kinds of dialogues.
In Europe, TO expanded and the Rainbow of Desire came into being – first to understand psychological problems, later even to create characters in any play. Back in Brazil, the Legislative Theatre was born to help the Desire of the population to become Law – which it did at last 13 times. Right now, the Subjunctive Theatre is coming slowly into being.
We discovered that all those forms, independently where they had been created, could be developed and used all around the world, because they are simply a Human Language.
TO was used by peasants and workers; later, by teachers and students; now, also by artists, social workers, psychotherapists, NGOs... At first, in small, almost clandestine places. Now in the streets, schools, churches, trade-unions, regular theatres, prisons...
Theatre of the Oppressed is the Game of Dialogue: we play and learn together. All kinds of Games must have Discipline - clear rules that we must follow. At the same time, Games have absolute need of creativity and Freedom. TO is the perfect synthesis between the antithetic Discipline and Freedom. Without Discipline, there is no Social Life; without Freedom, there is no Life.
The Discipline of our Game is our belief that we that we must re-establish the right of everyone to exist in dignity. We believe that all of us are more, and much better, than what we think we are. We believe in solidarity.
Our Freedom is to invent ways to help to humanize Humanity, freely invading all fields of human activities: social, pedagogical, political, artistic... Theatre is a Language and so it can be used to speak about all human concerns, not to be limited to theatre itself.
We believe in Peace, not in Passivity!
Above all, we believe that the Theatre of the Oppressed is of, about, by and for the Oppressed, as it is clear in our Declaration of Principles. If you agree with this, we certainly agree with you.
Augusto Boal, Rio de Janeiro 2004
Please visit the site to read up more about Forum Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed. http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/en/index.php?nodeID=3
finally learnt how to upload a song onto blogger! so tho What Matters has ended, here's the theme song.
Guo Quan, our ARTivator who's in-charge of Sponsorship, composed What Matters' Theme Song
Into Their World Song & Lyrics by Guo Quan
Sticks and stones may break our bones But words break our soul Loneliness is hard to bear Admist a crowd of men Why we hurt each other so? Are we that great? Maybe we all forgot How to love another man We're so different in many ways Yet the same blood flows within us Take a little time and sit with them
Go into their world, go into their world You will see, we're not so different after all We all cry, we all laugh, we all ('re the same) The colours of the rainbow The coat of many colours The flowers in the field They're beautiful We're beautiful if we stand together
这是昨晚在 Arts Central 看了一部非常好的纪录片。 也是 ARTivate 还是在 Youth Incubator 时代,我们一行人想在上映时去看的一部戏。 那时很遗憾的,没看成。
Born into Brothels, by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, is the winner of the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes.
For the first time in history, a solar-powered car is driving around the world without any carbon emissions. Swiss adventurer Louis Palmer is taking a small blue environmentally-friendly taxi around the world. The solar-electric two-seat taxi with attached trailer is an attempt to call attention to global warming while providing solutions for oil independency.
With a full component of batteries, the Solar Taxi has an autonomy of almost 200 miles. With additional energy from the solar cells on a sunny day, it can travel almost 260 miles. The vehicle has a top speed of 60 miles an hour and needs no gasoline at all.
By the time the Solar Taxi travels the Earth, it will have been to 40 different countries upon five continents, including the United States.
Read more about this project at http://www.solartaxi.com/mission/.
Recently, in the process of seeking inspiration for a script which I am working on, my mind constantly reflected on several issues and questions. I am curious about people's opinions, hence I leave a question on this blog entry:
Is society responsible for changing or "modernising" the human mindset? Or was the human mindset the deciding factor which drove us to change the society to one which suits our wants?
ARTivate - the youth wing of local theatre company Drama Box - is made up of a group of 12 passionate youths who aims to reach out to the community through the arts.
ARTivate was first established with the aim to provide a platform for youths who want to explore and gain all-rounded insight into theatre. Through a three-year program, ARTivate hopes to nurture a group of youths into cultured and socially aware theatre-practitioners in Singapore.
Using an O-A-O-R (Orientation-Artistic-Organization-Regeneration) model, these youths are trained not only artistically but also in organizational skills and production management. They will be exposed to different forms of theatre such as Forum Theatre and Newspaper Theatre. They will also be trained in other art forms such as music and multimedia.
Besides bringing awareness to the themes explored, ARTivators hopes to question, probe or even challenge minds. They want to engage audiences in discussion – to turn monologues into dialogues.
As 2012 will the last year of the pioneer batch of ARTivate youths, they will be putting up a piece of performance, Bus Stop, inspired by “Bus Stop” written by renowned playwright, Gao Xing Jian. This performance will be a collation of the trainings the youths had undergone for the past 3 years, as well as a critical perspective and evaluation of the script, in reference to the current society the youths are in.
许慧铃 Koh Hui Ling 艺术总监 Artistic Director
母性泛滥; 热爱人
着重于戏剧/剧场的应用与教学法
Overpowering maternal instincts
Loves Human(ity)
Aims at developing the use of applied drama / theatre
梁海彬 Neo Hai Bin
长着翅膀
在剧场里翱翔...
一个
鸟人。
The world's a stage...
I'm in the latecomer's queue.
I am currently an undergrad in NTU. My major is psychology and the most common question asked when I reveal that fact is whether I can read his/her mind. Honestly, I cannot lah. Currently, I am daydreaming about my future hoping to achieve 2 things i enjoy alot in life: Theatre and Psychology (:
Studying Accountancy in NTU and living a second life in theatre, where (fortunately) the former will end in 2012 May. Believes that there is a connection between numbers and the arts, or maybe, I am just living in denial all the time.
林慧萍 Lim Hwee Peng
法律系学生。
正在面临"刻年"危机。
志愿当长发公主。
Law student. Currently experiencing "quarter-life" crisis. Aspiring Rapunzel.
A post-graduate student from NTU Division of Chinese.
韩雪梅 Han Xuemei
热爱的东西太多,拥有的时间有限。
记性日渐退化,一年比一年老。
Carries an overwhelming amount of passion for an overwhelming number of things, coping with the limited amount of time.
Struggling against a degenerating capacity to remember, and aging year by year.
Like anybody else.
王放 Kate
在国大读书.
写这个东西简直比写任何论文还难!
An undergrad at NUS.
Coming out with this line is harder than any paper I've ever written.
谢秀彬 Entia Seah Siew Ping
南大中文系毕业。非常健忘,经常丢三落四。
热爱教育,喜欢和人接触。
Some people say that I look like an ah-lian when I’m quiet and sounds like an auntie when I speak.
I embrace all these comments and aspire to be an elegant ah-lian and intelligent auntie!
Graduated from “The Brainforest of Clementi” with an Honours degree in Life Sciences. As I am currently learning to write and direct plays properly, I do not have any work that is worthy of mention as yet.
I started doing Theatre thinking that I want to do Film.
Now I'm studying Film determined to do Theatre.
Funny yea?
2008年7月26日
The Power Of Community 社区的力量 & The Greening of Cuba
The Power Of Community:
Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens after they lost global support in the early 1990's.
It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period."
Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.
When trade relations with the socialist bloc collapsed in 1990, Cuba lost 80 percent of its pesticide and fertilizer imports and half its petroleum--the mainstays of its highly industrialized agriculture. Challenged with growing food for 11 million in the face of the continuing US embargo, Cuba embarked on the largest conversion to organic farming ever attempted.
Told in the voices of the women and men--the campesino, researchers, and organic gardeners--who are leading the organic agriculture movement, The Greening of Cuba reminds us that developed and developing nations alike can choose a healthier environment and still feed their people.
‘WHAT MATTERS?’ 的第一个节目请来了 Dr Lai Ah Eng 和 Mr Farid来为我们讲解在学校与现代社会里的种族歧视和刻板化 (stereotypes) 的情况以及所牵涉到的一些问题。Dr Lai 以非常简单而有效的方式来讲解在学校里的种族问题。原来不只是学生,连老师和校长也会歧视某些种族的人或是对某些种族的人存有刻板印象。一位学校的校长竟然以‘不够马来人’为由而不成立足球队,听了令人惊讶。一般人这么想也就算了,博学多闻的人也这么说,我不能接受。况且,身为管理学校的校长以种族肤色来做某些决定,可能会影响到学生,实在不能鼓励。Mr Farid和我们进行游戏,从中和大家一起分析,讨论和了解一些大家对某些族群拥有的刻板印象和它们的真实性或准确性。游戏让大家打起精神来,也让我们认识了一些不同族群或文化的朋友。
一个礼拜后,我们播映了电影‘To Kill a Mockingbird’。这部影片取自于 Harper Lee 所写的同名小说,讲述的是美国三十年代的一位白人律师辩护一个被指控强奸的黑人。小说广受好评和大众的喜爱,还赢得美国文学界的最高荣誉‘Putlizer Prize’。电影也拍的很好,赢得了几项美国奥斯卡电影大奖。
在演出的特刊里,写了这么一段话: 'As the project leader, how much you can do is really secondary. To get people to do things, to get people to do things on time and to get things done the way you need it to be done, THAT MATTERS!'
As Forum Theatre is 1 of the main basis of our works here in ARTivate, I would like to share with you more info about Theatre of the Oppressed, the umbrella in which Forum Theatre is under.
http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/
Quoting Boal from the site:
Theatre of the Oppressed was born in 1971, in Brazil, under the very young form of Newspaper Theatre , with the specific goal of dealing with local problems – soon, it was used all over the country. Forum Theatre came into being in Peru, in 1973, as part of a Literacy Program; we thought it would be good only for South America– now it is practiced in more than 70 countries. Growing up, TO developed Invisible Theatre in Argentina, as political activity, and Image Theatre to establish dialogue among Indigenous Nations and Spanish descendants, in Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico... Now these forms are being used in all kinds of dialogues.
In Europe, TO expanded and the Rainbow of Desire came into being – first to understand psychological problems, later even to create characters in any play. Back in Brazil, the Legislative Theatre was born to help the Desire of the population to become Law – which it did at last 13 times. Right now, the Subjunctive Theatre is coming slowly into being.
We discovered that all those forms, independently where they had been created, could be developed and used all around the world, because they are simply a Human Language.
TO was used by peasants and workers; later, by teachers and students; now, also by artists, social workers, psychotherapists, NGOs... At first, in small, almost clandestine places. Now in the streets, schools, churches, trade-unions, regular theatres, prisons...
Theatre of the Oppressed is the Game of Dialogue: we play and learn together. All kinds of Games must have Discipline - clear rules that we must follow. At the same time, Games have absolute need of creativity and Freedom. TO is the perfect synthesis between the antithetic Discipline and Freedom. Without Discipline, there is no Social Life; without Freedom, there is no Life.
The Discipline of our Game is our belief that we that we must re-establish the right of everyone to exist in dignity. We believe that all of us are more, and much better, than what we think we are. We believe in solidarity.
Our Freedom is to invent ways to help to humanize Humanity, freely invading all fields of human activities: social, pedagogical, political, artistic... Theatre is a Language and so it can be used to speak about all human concerns, not to be limited to theatre itself.
We believe in Peace, not in Passivity!
Above all, we believe that the Theatre of the Oppressed is of, about, by and for the Oppressed, as it is clear in our Declaration of Principles. If you agree with this, we certainly agree with you.
Augusto Boal, Rio de Janeiro 2004
Please visit the site to read up more about Forum Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed. http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/en/index.php?nodeID=3
finally learnt how to upload a song onto blogger! so tho What Matters has ended, here's the theme song.
Guo Quan, our ARTivator who's in-charge of Sponsorship, composed What Matters' Theme Song
Into Their World Song & Lyrics by Guo Quan
Sticks and stones may break our bones But words break our soul Loneliness is hard to bear Admist a crowd of men Why we hurt each other so? Are we that great? Maybe we all forgot How to love another man We're so different in many ways Yet the same blood flows within us Take a little time and sit with them
Go into their world, go into their world You will see, we're not so different after all We all cry, we all laugh, we all ('re the same) The colours of the rainbow The coat of many colours The flowers in the field They're beautiful We're beautiful if we stand together
这是昨晚在 Arts Central 看了一部非常好的纪录片。 也是 ARTivate 还是在 Youth Incubator 时代,我们一行人想在上映时去看的一部戏。 那时很遗憾的,没看成。
Born into Brothels, by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, is the winner of the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes.
For the first time in history, a solar-powered car is driving around the world without any carbon emissions. Swiss adventurer Louis Palmer is taking a small blue environmentally-friendly taxi around the world. The solar-electric two-seat taxi with attached trailer is an attempt to call attention to global warming while providing solutions for oil independency.
With a full component of batteries, the Solar Taxi has an autonomy of almost 200 miles. With additional energy from the solar cells on a sunny day, it can travel almost 260 miles. The vehicle has a top speed of 60 miles an hour and needs no gasoline at all.
By the time the Solar Taxi travels the Earth, it will have been to 40 different countries upon five continents, including the United States.
Read more about this project at http://www.solartaxi.com/mission/.
Recently, in the process of seeking inspiration for a script which I am working on, my mind constantly reflected on several issues and questions. I am curious about people's opinions, hence I leave a question on this blog entry:
Is society responsible for changing or "modernising" the human mindset? Or was the human mindset the deciding factor which drove us to change the society to one which suits our wants?
The Green Man is part of Drama Box’s community project on Environment.
Conceptualized and organized by ARTivate, the event consists of:
- ARTivate’s thought-provoking plays on environmental conservation
- “The Flames” musical performance by girls from Andrew & Grace Home
- A mini bazaar that promotes environmental conservation
Selfish, written by Lam Dan Fong, reveals a story about the decision of a daughter -
to escape into a perfect new world or remain in the world of self destruction.
Plasti-City Kills the Cat written by Ho Kian Tong, explores the harm brought about by plastics to the environment.
What Matters? is a package of one forum theatre play and three fringe activities which explores the issue of race with the youths of today.
Through the series of fringe activities and the Forum Theatre play, ARTivate aims to probe further into the awareness of racial issues with the youths of today and understand the true meaning of harmony between races.
Forum Theatre Play
3 students of different races set up an Adventure Club in school. As they prepare to go on a new adventure to search for fugitive Mas Selamat in their club room, an accident happened in the school and conflicts arose within the group.
*The play is performed mainly in English with some Mandarin and Malay
Fringe #1: Race in School – Stereotypes and Others
The youths were asked to move, play, think and discover, thus finding the way of dealing with racial issues in real life.
Fringe #2: Movie screening – To Kill a Mocking bird
Based on the novel by Harper Lee, this award-winning classic film present racial issues vividly on screen.
There was a discussion session after the screening facilitated by Mr. Danny Yeo.
Sharing by young actors of Class Enemy from Bosnia
Fringe #3: Survival Ethnic Conflicts in Bosnia – a Singapore Arts Festival programme
Sharing by young actors of Class Enemy from Bosnia on their personal experiences of the war-torn times and how they have learnt to cope with growing up in an environment filled with violence caused by racial and ethnic conflicts.
Speaker: Director Haris Pasovic and the cast of CLASS ENEMY (East West Theatre Company)
The Movie Screening is the second installment of Project Mending Sky: The Green Man, held in conjunction with Project Mending Sky: ME (补天计划之我).
Through movie screenings and post-movie discussion sessions ARTivate hopes to explore issues surrounding our Earth’s survival amidst the damages we are inflicting on her.
Documentary-Movie #1: Winged Migration
Teaching the audience how to make dustbins using flyers
Directed by Jacques Perrin, a noted actor and film producer in France, this Academy Award nominated movie records the flight of dozens of different birds from around the globe as they follow their navigational instincts and make the taxing journey to more temperate climates in the fall.
Documentary -Movie #2: The Greening of Cuba
Cuban farmers and scientists working to reinvent a sustainable agriculture based on ecological principles and local knowledge rather than imported agricultural inputs which remind us that developed and developing nations alike can choose a healthier environment and still feed their people.
The audience sharing
Documentary -Movie #3: The Power of Community
A follow-up to The Greening of Cuba 10 years later to see how the Cuban transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens.
Discussions facilitated by: Mr Danny Yeo and Mr Tay Lai Hock
*Language: English (with English subtitles)
Part of a double-bill during Singapore Drama Educators Association (SDEA) Celebrate Drama 2009
“CityS” is ARTivate’s first devised play. It is also ARTivate’s debut presentation following a year-round capacity-building process, during which the ARTivators underwent a series of training involving acting and playwrighting.
It is conceived and brought to satisfactory theatrical fruition by the collaboration of all ARTivators via a gradual process and accumulation of brainstorming and improvisation, under the guidance of devising facilitator Kok Heng Leun and director Koh Wan Ching.
“CityS” explores the concept of an inclusive city, in Singapore’s context, and in the context of our current highly integrated, globalised world.
In this play, stories from different aspects of a city are connected by a series of luggage sonatas which symbolizes a journey that questions the ideology constructed and perceived by majority of the society. Realities are confronted: autocracy, disharmony, discrimination, limitations, alienation, oppression and the likes. Does the decision of the majority always account for the minority? Will the elites ever consider the welfare of their downtown folks in this race to the top? Is that action you took out of free will or under the influence of others?
ARTivate hopes that audiences will reconsider the meaning of a truly inclusive city after watching the play and in turn, answer these questions for themselves.
Devised and performed by ARTivate Devising facilitated by Kok Heng Leun Directed by Koh Wan Ching
*Performed mainly in Mandarin. (English Surtitles provided)
This forum theatre performance is a wordless piece that comprises of 5 short pieces. Using a symbolic set design, and featuring live music accompaniment by ARCN TEMPL, this performance hope to transcend language and racial barriers, leading its viewers in discovering the power of censorship, with the aim of creating awareness in the communities about how censorship affects their daily lives.
However, just 3 weeks from our performance, MDA denied us of an outdoor performance license. The authorities gave an advisory for mature content due to the “sensitive nature” of the topics discussed, and claimed that we had to perform indoors in order to administer the advisory.
We stand by our position that the piece should be performed outdoors to reach as diverse a crowd as possible and believe that the issue of censorship should still be addressed. Therefore, we decided to withdraw the original piece from our programme, and replaced it with a new Forum Theatre performance, which discussed the problems of imposing silence and withholding information about important issues.
Devised and performed by ARTivate, this performance is the result of five months of training in Forum Theatre.
Comprising of five short pieces, imploring you to join us in discovering the power of censorship.
Directed by Kok Heng Leun, co-created with ARTivate Live music by ARCN TEMPL
Drama Box is Singapore's most prominent contemporary Mandarin theatre company. It is a professional non-profit company with charity status. Formed in 1990, it has since gained a respectable reputation for its acute sensitivity and perception in heightening social awareness and civic responsibility. Our productions remain fun and entertaining, yet thought-provoking and reflective.
Blanc Space
The Blanc Space was inaugurated in 2000 to provide a training platform for performers. In 2007, the company expanded Blanc Space to include programmes for budding directors and aspiring playwrights.