PASMI was founded in 1994 in Santiago, Chile. The most public face of PASMI is community theatre, but the organisation brings together many professionals from diverse artistic disciplines and the social sciences. Pasmi is multicultural with members from Peru, Chile and Australia. In all areas of its work the company focuses on participating with and performing to people who live in the socio-economically marginalised sectors of society, both in Chile and in other countries, they advocate for equitable access and participation in the arts, as well as respect for human rights and cultural diversity.
Pasmi has created twenty productions to date, including works of contemporary and classical playwrights from diverse countries, theatrical adaptations and group-devised shows. Productions that have been toured to communities excluded from the “mainstream arts circuit”, including communities on the urban periphery and in rural areas, or within prisons and other institutions. These productions tackle current issues like the communication gap between generations, cultural diversity and difference, the dehumanization of the birth process, gender violence; human rights, etc. Pasmi has worked with many communities, including migrants, people with HIV-AIDS, people with terminal illness, differently-abled people, rural communities, and high-risk communities (drug trafficking, youth offenders). At the present time, we work with two very specific communities: male prisoners in two Santiago jails, and adolescents with severe mental health problems.
The key factor that defines our work with the community is continuity. To ensure this, the Pasmi methodology is based on group work, participation, interaction, collaboration, experiential learning, ethics and confrontational pedagogy. This approach is inspired by the principles of Constructivist Theory, which believes that knowledge is not discovered, but constructed.
Internationally Pasmi collaborates with Acteurs de l’Ombre, Liège (Belgium),Third Way Theatre, Melbourne (Australia), Contando Hormigas, Madrid (Spain), and LIPA, Liverpool (UK)
Because of the lack of training opportunities and recognition of community art in Chile, Pasmi is committed to the documentation and systematization of its practice. Pasmi seeks to achieve economic sustainability through varied strategies, including direct promotion of its productions, Chilean government funding, in-kind and financial donations, and financial support from foreign governments, international organisations and NGO´s.
Pasmi was founded by Ivan Ipparraguirre and Penny Glass.