ICAF NWE MKRS is back…but with a twist
ICAF NWE MKRS, our annual festival which connects, inspires, celebrates and gives stage to young community arts talent from the Netherlands will once again be taking place. Yet, this year, with a slight twist. At ICAF, we consider community arts to be an art discipline on its own. Within this discipline ‘the artist’ has a very different role than in other art disciplines, like for example theatre or dance, but also the role and definition of ‘community’ and of ‘art’ need to be reconsidered. Therefore, we have decided to make some changes to the NWE MKRS format, adding some new, and very important layers to the programme.
NWE MKRS PART 1
In order to understand community arts as its own art discipline, we have decided to add new layers to the NWE MKRS program. We have divided the NWE MKRS festival into two parts. The first part takes place annually at the beginning of an academic year (autumn) and the second part at the end of an academic year (spring).
In the lead up to the NWE MKRS part 1 ICAF will be going on tour to art schools across the Netherlands to provide students a with an introduction to community arts. We’ll be talking about the role of the artist, the definition of ‘community’, and new understandings of ‘art’. We will bring in inspiring national and international community arts examples whilst zooming into the potentials and the pitfalls of this work.
Sign up for the CLOSING EVENT on 31st of October
The tour will culminate in an NWE MKRS PART 1 closing event on October 31, 2023. This event is specifically targeted at Dutch community arts makers and will be partly in Dutch. The evening will start with a keynote talk from Theron Schmidt about community arts processes and the facilitation of a democratic space. After the talk we will enjoy the performance “Usually I’m on Top”, directed by the young community theatre maker and our former ‘new maker’, Sanne Arbouw.
To sign up for the closing event, click here.