{"id":5061,"date":"2022-03-15T13:48:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T13:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/?p=5061"},"modified":"2022-03-15T13:48:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T13:48:40","slug":"kent-hosts-cross-channel-arts-project-on-the-human-response-to-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/2022\/03\/15\/kent-hosts-cross-channel-arts-project-on-the-human-response-to-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent hosts cross-Channel arts project on the human response to climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0School of Arts<\/a>\u00a0recently hosted 12 young people\u00a0from the\u00a0Lille-based\u00a0L\u2019Onde Th\u00e9\u00e2trale<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a company and publishing house run by R\u00e9mi Laverseyn \u2013\u00a0for a unique cross-Channel dance-theatre project\u00a0supported by Kent\u2019s partnership with the University of Lille<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Funded by the Straits Committee Small Project Initiative<\/a>, a voluntary partnership between Kent County Council (KCC) <\/a>and neighbouring local authorities in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, the project also involves students from the University\u2019s\u00a0MA Theatre-Making<\/a> and MA Physical Acting<\/a> programmes, and London-based writer\/director Arne Pohlmeier and movement director Yukiko Masui.<\/p>\n

For the project, titled Can We Change?, L\u2019Onde Th\u00e9\u00e2trale challenged the young participants, students and workshop facilitators to create a 40 minute piece of theatre in a week, then film, transcribe and publish it as a book for others to pick up and recreate. The project\u2019s brief was to\u00a0create a performance together, and the students decided to address\u00a0climate change and the human response to it.<\/p>\n

Kent\u2019s project lead, Dr Margherita Laera<\/a>, Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre<\/a> in the School of Arts, said: \u2018We are delighted to have been awarded funding by Kent County Council\u2019s Straits Committee Small Projects Initiative for this wonderful intercultural and multilingual Drama workshop. Collaborative theatre-making can have a huge impact on young people\u2019s perceptions and mental wellbeing. Together, the students are exploring their feelings of loss, anxiety and hope around climate change, and are making what we hope will be long-lasting connections. Our 14 student performers from Kent and Lille speak nine different mother tongues and each is represented in the final performance. Today, more than ever, we believe in cross-cultural collaboration, empathy and understanding.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kent County Council Cabinet Member for Economic Development Derek Murphy<\/a>\u00a0said: \u2018We are very\u00a0proud to support this first Straits Committee project and I congratulate the students from the universities of Kent and Lille for their inspiring example of cross-Channel cooperation.\u00a0We hope to see many more projects come forward, bringing neighbours from across the Straits\u00a0together to improve lives, create opportunities and build friendships.\u2019<\/p>\n

Jayne Thompson<\/a>, Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre and Head of the School of Arts, added:\u00a0\u2018This is a wonderful learning opportunity for our students and we were pleased to offer on-campus rehearsal facilities for this fantastic international collaboration.\u00a0We are grateful to all the funders for providing such generous support to enable our MA Theatre-Making and Physical Acting students to collaborate with\u00a0French students and professionals on this piece about climate change. We were also delighted to host Arne Pohlmeier and Yukiko Masui with us here in Canterbury.\u00a0Making theatre together, across all borders and divides, in the most professional and socially engaged way, is what Drama at Kent is all about.\u2019<\/p>\n

The project funding stems from two Straits Committee authorities: KCC to the University of Kent; and the D\u00e9partement du Nord<\/a> to La Compaignie 8, the Universit\u00e9 de Lille\u2019s student arts association.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Group shot of Kent-based and Lille-based students<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
Kent MA Theatre-Making students Laura Davidson, Laura Nickson and Harry Negus-Ross in a scene from \u2018Can We Change?\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0School of Arts\u00a0recently hosted 12 young people\u00a0from the\u00a0Lille-based\u00a0L\u2019Onde Th\u00e9\u00e2trale\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a company and publishing house run by R\u00e9mi Laverseyn \u2013\u00a0for a unique cross-Channel dance-theatre project\u00a0supported by Kent\u2019s … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77087,"featured_media":5064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77087"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5065,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5061\/revisions\/5065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}