Karaoke Europe

The Karaoke Europe project uses the experiences of artists from four European countries which cooperate with various immigrant minorities and socially or culturally excluded communities. The project sees the relationship of the majority and these minorities from various points of view and brings the power of artistic imagination to the field where standard pragmatic methods stop working. The aim is to confront, compare and combine the experience of four theatre organizations: the Archa Theatre, Stanice Zilina from Slovakia, PanoDrama from Hungary and 5eKwartier from the Netherlands.

 “We and our partners believe that art and social issues are deeply connected," says Ondřej Hrab, the director of the Archa Theatre. "Theatre as well as artistic activities in general play a crucial role in opening communication between various communities providing a voice to those who would have no chance to express themselves.”

The paradox of Karaoke Europe is that it deals with the mobility of the immobile. The partners' activities are focused on the local situation and on the social groups that are fixed in one place. Karaoke Europe is not based on the mobility of the projects or the performances; rather, it is based on the mobility of the artists transferring their know-how and sharing their experiences and thus creating an added value within the everyday lives of those communities and specifically in creating bridges between them and the majority society. 

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF KARAOKE EUROPE

-    To share and develop the methodology and work processes
-    To promote and disseminate the methods of social specific theatre
-    To create a handbook of the methodologies and important questions and issues of social specific theatre
-    To open the discussion – by addressing topics of minorities, migrants, the attitudes and responsibility of the majority society, cohabitation of different cultures, intercultural dialogue, prevention of racism and xenophobia and the search for a new concept of coexistence of different cultures in Europe
-    To involve various neglected, marginalized and isolated communities into the creative process, giving them a voice and enabling communication with the majority society
 

OUTPUTS OF KARAOKE EUROPE

•    8 collaborative and methodological workshops in 4 countries
•    2 international symposiums (Budapest, Prague)
•    4 co-productions / creations
•    Website
•    Handbook – methodology resource
•    KARAOKE EUROPE Festival

	With the support of the CULTURE programme of the European Union. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.