FELLOWS

Thalia Ditsa

2018/19 Athens

Thalia, from Crete, has lived in Athens since 2001. She holds a degree in Physics (University of Crete), an MA in Choreography (with distinction, Dartington College, UK) and an MSc in Sociology (University of Athens). As well as her studies (and ice cream!), she is also passionate about using art to empower and connect people. For 15+ years she has worked as a movement instructor, choreographer, creative dance artist and facilitator, contributing to diverse projects (e.g: participatory art, inclusive dance, educational art for excluded youngsters, ecology).

Combining her artistic practice with her studies, she’s worked on a major project with the University of Athens promoting democratic values in Greek public schools and training teachers to use performance practices and create educational materials (https://www.demopaideia.gr/). She also uses opportunities like START to improve her project management skills and implement new, impactful, sociocultural action. Convinced of the power of art and culture, Thalia’s vision is to bring together local partners, artists and educators in a common purpose: sharing their knowledge, skills and expertise with people of various ethno-sociocultural backgrounds (locals, refugees and migrants) to break-down exclusion, discrimination and negative stereotypes and promote positive interaction, mutual acknowledgement, appreciation and coexistence.

Project Title

ISTOS network - art, culture, education for positive social impact

Combination of artistic, educational and cultural projects to create positive cultural impact.

The project aims to build a network-hub for artists, educators,social scientists who want to share creative
ideas and methodologies for a positive social impact. To take art methodologies into social matters. The first project of this network will be a creative art lab for refugees, general interested population and educators. In this lab we will use art for inclusion and community building. It will focus on theater, performance and story telling methodologies. Through this lab we hope to research personal histories and evolve some kind of artistic outcome to later share with different audiences-including school students. This research will focus on identity as part of history and will hopefully empower the participants in connecting through their personal histories and learning about each-others histories and cultures in an experiential manner.

Parallel to that we would like to organize and support a lab for educators working in Greek public schools to support them and educate them in using art as a tool for inclusion and implement-share democratic methodologies in their practice. This action will start with an open call for educators who want to get involved in this project. It will then include some training sessions (workshops in art and in art as educational and inclusive tool), a creative lab (where they can use artistic tools to create) and organizing and supporting for meetings between them to exchange experiences-ideas and support on their educational practices.

Our target groups are refugees (we have also thought about a theater lab for refugee children and local children), local people involved in the refugee support network in eraklion city (educators,etc), general population who wants to get active in this direction, educators in Greek schools.

Host Institution

Tanz- und Theaterwerkstatt

Tanz- und Theaterwerkstatt e.V. is an education institution and production venue. Culture for all, participation, the promotion of independence and creativity are the goals of this non-profit association. In doing so, the promotion of dialogue between people of different social and ethnic origins, cultural diversity and the support of individual and social participation are all important.