The most inspiring and successful community arts projects are deeply rooted in local communities and are therefore not so easy to find within a large and diverse international arts field. Furthermore, community arts is a context-bound practice and must therefore be understood from within this same local context where such organisations are based.
From the need to better understand the different contexts this work is taking place in and to support and connect to our partners in different parts of the world, we started developing ICAF Hubs. ICAF Hubs are our satellite organisations, our eyes and ears and critical friends. Each Hub is an independent manifestation of ICAF, outside of Rotterdam.
Our very first ICAF Hub has been developed in Singapore, established in partnership with Drama Box in 2020. Drama Box is a socially-engaged theatre company known for creating works that inspire dialogue, reflection and change. By shining a spotlight on marginalised narratives and making space for the communal contemplation of complex issues, they seek to tell stories that provoke a deeper understanding of Singapore’s culture, history and identity.
As part of our ongoing ICAF Hub partnership, in the run-up to ICAF 2023, Drama Box have been facilitating a series of online conversations that seek to explore, and give depth and nuance to the community arts field in the context of South Asia. The series of organised panels, discussions and presentations ran from January 2023, monthly, and included presentations from organisations across Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and Australia. They covered topics from ecology along the Mekong River, to inclusivity in relation to performers with differing abilities in Singapore, to navigating political climates across South Asia.
During the festival, Drama Box will wrap-up this series by facilitating the conversation “Crisis & Challenges: a dialogue with TO practitioners from 3 Asian cities (Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand)”. The practice of TO (Theatre of the Oppressed) had been blossoming in Asia, with practitioners forming informal networks of exchanges and support. This panel seeks to strengthen & bring together practitioners from Singapore, Taiwan & Thailand in sharing how the practice of TO is applied within their cities’ socio-economic political contexts. In their conversation, they hope to unpack the challenges they face in trying to create TO & Forum Theatre performances with their direct communities. The conversation will be moderated by Han Xuemei (Singapore) with guest panel speakers Kok Heng Leun (Singapore), Lai Shuya (Taiwan) and Sonny Chatwiriyacha (Thailand).
The practice of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) has been blossoming in Asia, with practitioners forming informal networks of exchange and support. This panel seeks to bring together practitioners from Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand to share how the practice of TO is applied within their cities’ socio-economic political contexts and to unpack the challenges they face in trying to create TO and Forum Theatre performances with their direct communities.