International Theater Inclusive Festival "ART-Playback. Together"

From the 28th until the 30th of October 2016, the second international inclusive festival ”ART-Playback. Together” took place.

The organizers and inspirers of the festival, the Kiev Playback Theater "Reflection", supported by the regional office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, set themselves a task, just as difficult, as noble and ambitious: in the conditions of increased social tensions, continuous military threat, high levels of aggression, stress and impatience that erupted Ukrainian society in recent years, to promote a culture of dialogue, co-creation, participation, empathy, and acceptance of another through modern theatrical techniques.

The slogan "we are different, but together" became slogan and essence of the festival, because for three days its visitors and participants were representatives of various groups: people with special physical needs, LGBT community, IDPs from the East of Ukraine and Crimea, representatives of national minorities who came specifically to the festival from 16 Ukrainian cities, as well as actors and theatre coaches from Russia, Germany, Israel and Switzerland.

Throughout the festival, its participants learned to listen and pay attention to each other through various communication and gaming techniques. To work with them, participative theatre types were chosen - the play-back theatre, the forum theatre and the documentary theatre. All of those are excellent tools for realizing societies needs for dialogue and reconciliation.

Participants shared their personal stories and found that they could express themselves, see people different from them in a new light, reconsider issues of gender, social fears, opportunities for people with disabilities. Those who find it difficult to be visible in life turned out to express their voice, their creativity, when receiving the acceptance and support of others.

The regional office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation will continue its cooperation with the festival organizing committee in 2017. The next festival will include participants from a wider range of the Eastern Partnership countries and promises to become more saturated with new events.

Video and song of the festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdNulxP0ZM8