A brief insight of the work during this transnational meeting

From October 10th to 13th, we met in Mantua, guests at the Home of Teatro Magro, for four days of exchange of practices to share innovative methodologies in working with migrant communities through theatre.

A total of 35 participants and theatre practitioners from all over Europe met at the international meeting to share activities and reflect together on seven keywords which will be the starting point for the construction of a protocol of excellence on theatre practices: Reporting, Dreams, Training and Education, Arts and construction of meaning, plurilingualism, limits and risks (power, mobility, citizenship) and feedback. Each topic will accompany us for two years, i.e. for the entire duration of the project, and poses questions of method and vision, which each partner has begun to answer. The meeting in Mantua was an opportunity to explore these topics in depth, sharing activities and experiments with participants from each reality.

Each partner chose one or two points to work on by proposing a theatre practice to be shared with the whole group. At the end of each practice, we carved out a time for restitution and feedback through different operational tools: seven posters, one for each point, on which it was possible to underline, doodle, draw and write freely; an audio recorder with which it was possible to leave a comment or sing a song, or write letters to each partner. At any time of the day and for all four days, it was possible to leave a trace, an observation of the activities carried out together. All these tools were made available in the Teatro Magro venue, the Home, which accommodated us most of the time.

Another important place in the city where we met was the Creative Lab, a venue for experiments in artistic and creative languages located on the outskirts of Mantua. The first day we met there, we started our activities and workshops inside and in the back garden.

Sharing practices, experiences and new approaches was enriching for each and every participant who accompanied us. Getting to know new perspectives, even in the differences in working methods, allowed us to strengthen an international network with the aim of deepening techniques and building an enlarged community, fostering intercultural dialogue.

The opportunities for discussion were not limited to the workshop sessions but also continued during informal occasions, coffee breaks, lunches and dinners, which allowed new encounters and new acquaintances also among the participants, exchanging languages and stories. Also very interesting was the evening dedicated to the viewing of the show ‘Évolué’ by Samuel Hili, at the Spazio Studio Sant’Orsola, a co-production with Teatro Magro, which, through the ERRANTI project, recounts his life experience as an artist and chemist who, having moved from the Ivory Coast to Mantua in 2008, decided to bring his new theatrical and professional skills back to Africa, creating a twinning between the two homelands. The show also collected donations that will go entirely to finance the construction of a well in his hometown.