The idea of “meeting” is at the core of all the work we do as community artists. Here at the festival, we are meeting with one another in every sense of the word. Over the course of the past few days, some of us have been meeting others for very first time, and also meeting…
The work of community artists is inherently diverse and in a perpetual state of change. We continue to explore, refine, and reinvent this calling that draws us all together across our differences and geographies. Our theme this year at ICAF is The Sound of Change. Even within the simplicity of these words, there room for…
ICAF Blog 3, Thursday 31 March, 2023 The stories we tell In one of the afternoon workshop sessions, Catherine Koekoek of Rotterdam Wijktheater read aloud a short passage from Adriana Cavarero’s book, Relating Narratives: Storytelling and Selfhood. Caverero is writing about what she considers to be one of the most beautiful scenes in The Odyssey.…
Blog 2 Opening evening March 29, 2023 If you have ever played a part in creating a theatre production, you will know that it’s always a challenge to work out just how your show should start. In those opening moments, what can the performers do that will artfully draw a multitude of individual spectators into…
[Will’s Blog 1. March 29] And so it begins—The International Community Arts Festival 2023! In March of 2020, a certain uncertainty that was unfolding around the planet meant that Edition 8 of the festival could not be the traditional full-on gathering of artists coming to Rotterdam. Nevertheless, our intrepid crew of producers managed, as we…
The runup to ICAF 2023 kicks off with Drama Box’s online programme series Join us online via Drama Box’s Facebook Page or Youtube Channel this Friday, 13 January at 10am CET / 5pm GMT+8 to hear more from Mekong Cultural Hub. The runup to ICAF 2023 officially begins this Friday, 13 January, with the first…
A LECTURE AND WORKSHOP ABOUT CARE AND CONNECTION While we were applauding nurses and healthcare professionals during the first peak of the corona virus and realised more than ever how important healthcare professionals are, we also appreciated under how much pressure our healthcare system is. Due to a lack of financial resources and therefore time,…
EMOTIVE DANCE PERFORMANCE “ONYESHA THAMANI” Nantea Dance Company will bring to the ICAF stage their performance of ONYESHA THAMANI, translated as SHOWING VALUE. A beautifully affective dance performance about gender equality that promotes the idea of men and women living together as equals. Through its choreography ONYESHA THAMANI uses dance as a voice and as…
DEEP DIVE INTO THE POLITICS OF PARTICIPATION WITH dr. SRUTI BALA What are the pitfalls of participation? And what role do community arts makers take (consciously or unconsciously) when they make participatory art that is part of a not-so-social, neoliberal political policy? For ICAF 2023, dr. Sruti Bala (University of Amsterdam) will build upon these arguments,…
Five women from Johannesburg storm onto the field, ready for a decisive hockey match. Today they can become champions. Yet haunted by memories of sexual assault and harassment, it soon becomes apparent that there is more at stake than a title. Gradually, the line between the competition and social reality disappears and the women find…