THE PROJECT
La Langue des Oiseaux MALTE tends to favor processes that promote communication and exchange dynamics, facilitating relationships and generally contributing to a positive perception of the encounter between different cultures.
The MALTE company is pleased to present the new European project of which it is the leader within a partnership composed of five organizations active in the cultural and creative sector: the NGO Linguapax of Barcelona (Spain), the Association Sens-Interdits of Lyon (France), The Boat People Projekt of Göttingen (Germany) and the Association Djarama of Ndayane (Senegal). The three European theatrical organizations (MALTE, the political theater collective Boat People Project and the Association Sens-Interdits, owner of the homonymous Festival, now in its eleventh edition) share a long research experience in the field of social theater with particular attention to migration issues and their protagonists. Linguapax is a non-governmental organization based in Barcelona and represented in thirty-one countries, dedicated to the preservation of world linguistic diversity, which it has addressed with academic, literary and political approaches and which it now seeks to promote through artistic means. Djarama is a cultural center whose mission is to spread different theatrical forms in the territory, from storytelling to puppetry, with a strong educational vocation. Its task is to ensure an African perspective on the European project.
PARTNERSHIP
La Langue Des Oiseaux promotes creative workshops and productions as well as academic investigation within a cross-sector framework, thanks to the collaboration of cultural and artistic institutions in five countries: Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Senegal
OBJECTIVES
The project’s aims are: fostering the artistic discourse on European identity in a post-colonial perspective, promoting the EU’s broad linguistic diversity and intercultural awareness; strengthening through the live arts the social inclusion of and soft skills available to immigrants and refugees, manifesting their value as artistic, creative and co-operative community members
With the team of partners whose cultural and artistic organisations are based in France, Germany, Italy, Senegal and Spain, the project La langue des Oiseaux has the opportunity to gain insights from creative work with people from migratory background. In all the countries involved, migration and flight have led to major social changes, especially since 2015. The partner countries have had similar, but in part also different experiences with integration. For geographical reasons, many thousands of migrants, especially from Africa, land in Italy. Many of them try to reach France from there, and Germany is also a place of longing. Most refugees arrive in Germany via the Balkan route, coming from Syria, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. From Germany, some also continue on to France. Spain has always been the destination of refugees from South America. Many people come from Senegal hoping for a better life in Europe, but many of them also return – like Patricia Gomis, who created the amazing Association Djarama, in Ndayan, Senegal, to build, through education and culture, a youth conscious of its values and respectful of the environment
ACTIVITIES
Project activities include transnational project meetings, teaching and learning activities, multiplier events and local workshops. Mobility activities will take place in the partner countries, seeking to extend to local communities
Art education will be the key to empowerment in this project. It will not be about ‘l’art pour l’art’, but about an understanding of art that has a political impact. Art lessons can become lessons about society. The creative activities of the project will not only teach values and norms of society, but also enable other perspectives and views on these very values
Transnational project meetings
LTTA
Multiplier events
Local workshops
RESULTS
The creation of seven results ensures the consolidation of the project and the development of tools for its dissemination. The ‘seven tools box’ to overcome social and cultural barriers will be presented to possible cultural and educational stakeholders as well as to the public
La Langue des Oiseaux is a project that aspires to plant a seed for it to blossom in the future. In particular, every Result has been thought with two functional directives in mind: dissemination and replication. The Original Play and the Manual will offer theoretical and practical standpoints for teachers, scholars and practitioners, thus enhancing the replicating potential of the project. As for dissemination, the Audio Resources, the Podcasts and the Film will employ audio-visual mediums to reach a wider audience in a digital age, while the Policy Recommendation and the Scientific Study will aim at spreading the project’s outcomes in specialised academic and socio-political fields
TEAM
Our working group was created according to a principle of valuing differences and specificities, thus including a variety of professionals from culture and the humanities
ARTISTS AND TRAINERS
La Langue des Oiseaux brings together artists from the performing, visual and verbal arts. The artists themselves have experience in the field of training and are responsible for the practical and theoretical applications of the project, and are also active as trainers
RESEARCHERS
Consistent with a cross-sectoral idea of culture, the project involves experts from the humanities, so as to develop an observatory that can both verify the progress of the work and foresee future developments
TRAINEES
Trainees are an integral part of the project, aimed at developing creative skills and a possible career in the arts and culture sector. Among them, a very important role will be played by the Ambassadors, representatives of the local workshops
OTHER COLLABORATORS
The project staff includes cultural workers, journalists, communication experts, technicians, cultural mediators, translators, graphic designers, photographers and video operators
