Hi Dramatic Need Community!
For all our latest info and blog posts please visit our website https://www.dramaticneed.org /facebook page https://www.facebook.com/DramaticNeedCommunity/ and / instagram page https://www.instagram.com/dramaticneed/. We are looking forward to your visits!
Happy Monday, friends! We’re looking forward to spending the week with some wonderful young people. These are some of our Grade 9-11s working together on unpacking signs and signals, with @whatsjanetlindley @shabba_the_ghost and
@tatu963 .
#dramaticneed #createchange #creativechange #artseducation #visualliteracy (at Rammulotsi Manyanya Viljoenskroon)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtdI8JwgbVX/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=y5er5aqf35jm
Welcome to Dramatic Need’s new Grade 8 group in Rammulotsi! Many of these young people will be part of our creative community for the next five years and beyond! Let’s go! .
#artseducationmatters #CreateChange #DramaticNeed #NewFriends #NewFamily #NewYear #CreativeChange #rammulotsi (at Rammulotsi Manyanya Viljoenskroon)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BspfDBwgGKV/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ln1hu3kha7l6
Between 25 November (The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2018) and 10 December (Human Rights Day), the South African government (amongst others) marks 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. This campaign aims to raise awareness of the ubiquity of violence within households and intimate contexts, which in South Africa is primarily directed against children and against women, female-identifying and non-binary individuals. Dramatic Need works with many vulnerable adults and children using arts-based advocacy and community theatre to build awareness, self-confidence and help them to speak out against abuse and abusers. We also work with boys and young men to encourage them to better communicate and to express their anger and frustrations in a non-violent way. This form of psychosocial care is crucial if intimate partner violence is to be obliterated in future generations.
In support of all those who are vulnerable to domestic, intimate and carer-inflicted violence, we will be posting short videos of individuals from all walks of life, from all round the world, highlighting the appalling extent of this problem in South Africa . Please share these videos with people you love. It’s time for awareness and it’s time for change.
#16daysofactivism2018 #dramaticneed #creativechange #nomoreviolence #thisneedstochange
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dramaticneed
Thank you to @msrazzb 🧡
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrCuZZVg_I0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=5kyiin873tbn
June is always an important month for Dramatic Need as the country takes time to focus on its youth. Our wonderful Ambassador, Chi Mende, came out to spend a day with them and led them all through a thoughtful and fun filled time of love, learning and light! Each one of us came away feeling just that little bit more special and empowered, and with a beautiful little candle to remember the experience. It was very special to see how the young people responded to her care and positive energy, finding the courage to tell us all more about themselves and those dreams and hopes that they have. These young people of Rammulotsi/Viljoenskroon that attend Dramatic Need have aspirations of achieving so much in this life, and we are doing all that we can to help them realise those!
James McAvoy • Susan Sarandon • Andrew Garfield • Jason Alexander • Audra McDonald • Jessica Chastain • Trevor Noah • Anne Hathaway • Daveed Driggs • Sebastian Stan • Catherine Zeta-Jones • Sienna Miller • etc etc. One night only, and some really heavy but necessary subject matter. #thechildrensmonologues #dramaticneed (at Carnegie Hall)
“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.” - Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela International Day commemorates the lifetime of service Nelson Mandela gave to South Africa and the world. It was launched on his birthday, 18 July, in 2009 via a unanimous decision by the UN General Assembly.(1)
This year for 2017 the focus of the day was action against poverty - in our workshop sessions this week we explored the meaning of poverty, particularly within the community of Rammulotsi. Mandela spoke out against poverty in his speech in 2005 and yet 12 years on nearly ½ of the world’s population — more than 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day and more than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty — less than $1.25 a day. According to UNICEF 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty.(2) The problem is far from solved and will need creative solutions and cohesive action from world leaders in order to address it.
On Mandela Day itself we were delighted to be able to welcome facilitators from Ngizwe Youth Theatre from Johannesburg who came and volunteered their time through a drama workshop at our Rammulotsi Arts Centre exploring ideas of safe space, respect, imagination and creative thinking.
Through equipping the young people we work with with skills such as confidence building and self belief we are empowering them everyday to improve their lives and make meaningful changes within their community in the fight against poverty.
Huge thanks to Ngizwe Youth Theatre for volunteering their time.
(1)https://www.mandeladay.com/
(2)https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-global-poverty
Ode pays homage to the Piet Patsa Arts Center near Rammulotsi, South Africa, where I spent time teaching in the summer of 2013.
