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Rehearsal for Reality (R4R) was an all Wales project that trains people to work with their own community using a tool kit of techniques that Theatr Fforwm Cymru put together for the last ten years. The work was life changing, eye opening, lots of fun and possible for anyone and everyone to get involved with.
R4R was for people who were part of any kind of community, whether it was the estate or village they live in or a group of people they have something in common with. R4R was for people who would like to get really involved in a project and explore the idea of professional training. It was also for people who would just like to have a little fun and get to know their neighbours. And it was for people who want to change something in their community and their lives.
R4R was a project that wanted to help people take part in the decisions that are made on their behalf. So, apart from working with other members of your community, this might also mean working with people from Local Government or the Assembly and telling them how the decisions they make really affect people's lives.
These might be decisions about:
• Which projects get funding
• Where they build a road
• How health care decisions are made
Or they might be about:
• How to deal with bullying in the local playground
• How to improve the facilities in the local Community Centre
R4R was about giving people more tools to use to help decision makers and community members to talk with each other.
R4R was a training and practice program that starts with experiential learning for a group of people from either an area or with something in common.
When people have an understanding of the work they could decide what direction the group wanted to go in, who wanted to take a lead role with the group, what ways the group wanted to use the work etc.
Using the work was the practice part of the training and ThFfC helped with this so that the group only started to work independently when it felt ready.
Groups who 'signed up' to R4R became 'chapters' - affiliate groups of Theatr Fforwm Cymru. This enabled access to a network of those we have trained, for support.
The complete R4R package included: 3-Day basic training for up to 20 members of your community group. Self-selecting members of the group then go on to intensive six day residential facilitator training, helping develop skills which they can take back to their community and pass on in subsequent projects. There is a possibility of accreditation for this training. We then work with groups to help in following a suggested programme within their community or organisation, to utilise and further develop skills learned. Attendance at the Agora - R4R's annual conference which aimed to take legislative theatre pieces directly to decision makers, at the National Assembly for Wales. Ongoing advice, support and networking with other R4R participants. R4R training costed £3750.
Understandably, many community groups wished to try out the R4R methodology before committing to the 'full package'. We could therefore offer Taster Days in forum theatre techniques £500 + travel.
THE AGORA 2002:
The Aim of the Agora was to bring communities and decision makers together to investigate how law and policy is effecting them and, together, to create proposals for improvements to those laws and policies.
The name Agora derives from Ancient Greece, where the marketplace in front of the senate was an open space where senators and citizens met as equals to discuss the issues of the day.
In respect of R4R, the Agora was our showcase, our conference, and the opportunity for all our chapters and the communities in which they work to present their work to decision makers from across Wales.
Agora 2002
Agora 2002 was held in the Oval Basin, Cardiff Bay, on the very steps of the National Assembly for Wales. Over three days in June, fourteen community groups from all areas of Wales presented pieces of legislative theatre to an invited audience of decision makers.
The Agora was the first nationwide event of its kind to be held in modern times. The appendix to this letter gives more detail but, in brief, over the three days, approaching 500 people participated. We received substantial press and media coverage; were fully supported by the National Assembly; and facilitated powerful networking opportunities for those attending. However, our objective to create the momentum for legislative change was not achieved, and we have learnt painful lessons about how long such a process might take, and how difficult it is to 'tap into' the legislative process.
Each piece of theatre - and the subsequent participation from the audience, and structured discussions that followed - led to the development of a policy proposal calling for legislative/policy change on a specific issue affecting lives in Wales and beyond.
We gathered these proposals together in a document called The Agora Report which, with its accompanying DVD, was launched in the Assembly in early 2003. We called for Ams to 'champion' policy proposals. To date, no policy champions have come forward
The crucial thing about the Agora Report - and the Agora itself - is that it's not just a talking shop, or opportunity for participants to let off steam. In future Agorae, we need the funding and forward-planning to be able to drive through actual legislative changes. |
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