First ever "Comics & Theatre" Workshop May 2008

Idea Behind the Workshop

Pravah Jaipur Initiative has been in the process of building its presence in Jaipur. Our past experiences reflected that the work that we are doing, is not so common in Jaipur Accessing young people thus becomes difficult unless done through institutions. At the same time, Institutions may have their own limitations in terms of space, time and what should be the end product. In order to jumpstart the initiative it was also necessary to use the summer breaks of the various institutions.


Added to this we felt that many young people in the state are passionate about creative arts like theatre and drawing but have not been able to access them. These art forms and creative interactive methodologies like those of theatre and Comics play a huge role in helping young people to unleash their creativity, discover new engaging tools of communication and through that process get to know themselves better, gain confidence and acquire and enhance the ability to communicate their feelings, thoughts and passions clearly. Experiences such as Capacity building workshops on Theatre and Comics, would enable them to build their understanding of working together and of social issues. The skill of communication that they would learn would also help them inspire others to join and then stay engaged as they together strive for social justice.

With this context in mind, Pravah Jaipur Initiative along with Jan Kala Sahitya Manch Sanstha World Comics India, Muskaan and Jawahar Kala Kendra organised the Capacity building through Theatre and Comics Workshop in May provide young people with a space to discover the magic within and to the skills to share it.


Vision & Objective of the Workshop

• It was for young people to gain confidence and develop new skills through creative arts to engage with social issues
• By the end of the workshop the participants would demonstrate the learnt skills of comics and theatre and an increased level of confidence through the presentation of their creations
• By the end of the workshop a core group of at least 5 young people will emerge, who will volunteer to associate with the Pravah Jaipur Initiative
• As an outcome of the workshop at least one strategy around how the career orientation of young people and active citizenship agenda of Pravah can be brought together in a win- win way

About our partners for this workshop 


World Comics India (WCI) is collective of cartoonists, media persons and grassroots activists. WCI promotes comics as a communication tool and as mode of self-expression in remote and difficult areas South Asia and other countries.


Please visit  www.worlcomicsindia.com for more information.


Jan Kala Sahitya Manch Sanstha 'JKSMS is a non-Governmental and non-profit making social organization working for the Social development - rehabilitation - protection and empowerment of women, children and deprived class of society.The organization organization founded in the year 1983 by social activists who were devoted and committed to promoting change in society and social Justice.


Please visit www.jksms.org for more information.

Jawahar Kala Kendra JKK is an arts and culture centre in Jaipur. Known for its beautiful architecture and support that it gives to artists both established and emerging, it is one of the most popular venues for workshops and performances.

Muskaan is an organisation which works on road safety in Jaipur. Muskaan collaborates with schools, colleges and the traffic police to increase awareness and therefore improve road safety in the city. 

Please visit www.muskaanonroad.org for more information

Highlights from First Workshop from 5-8 May 2008

32 participants came for the 4 day Capacity Building through Theatre and Comics workshop from 5^th to 8^th May 2008.  Coming from all across Rajasthan and with an age range of 14 to 28 years the group was very diverse, also in terms of gender, rural- urban, strata and levels of confidence. Though officially slated to be between 10- and 5 pm, the workshop for the most part started by 9:30am and ended close to 7 pm, due to the enthusiasm of the participants.

The energy of the participants, the facilitators, and whoever else decided to drop by really carried the entire workshop through. For the first three days the participants got to know each other and learn the skills of Theatre of the Oppressed and Grassroot Comics. The last day was the field check day, when all the participants took their plays and comics to the Jawahar Nagar Kachhi Basti (Tila no. 5).

 

The plays were on Gender discrimination and Domestic Violence and the Comics on issues like caste discrimination, Road safety, Corporal punishment in Education eve teasing, exploitation of farmers, and inspiring young people to speak up in the panchayats or anywhere else for their rights. All of these were very well received by the people. Little children and elderly women all took on the role of the Oppressed women in the plays to show how the situation could be improved. For most of the people this was the first time that they had ever visited a basti, and was a huge and sudden reality check.

 

All the participants were very inspired and felt that they had seen a huge increase in their confidence level and realized that they were connected with social issues and needed to understand them better and work on them. They all wanted to form a youth group. The Jaipur based participants would be the more active core group for this youth group

The group was officially launched in the evening during a formal event organized and compared by the volunteers themselves. The function attended by at least 80 people received very good feedback, and was a great space for many a skeptical parent to see what their children were involved in.