ECHO project – Empathy through Storytelling
During the design phase of the project the central question was how to empower Cultures through Theatre, especially for young people who may feel disconnected from the society in which they reside and live.
We knew we wanted to use various theatrical tools and styles such as theatre of the oppressed to make what we termed a “Safe Space – Brave Space – Creative Space” for participants to explore sensitive topics around inclusion, its barriers, and their personal experiences.
We as theatre practitioners understood that regardless of what theatre tool or method we used we wanted storytelling to remain at the heart of the project and to use this as a tool to unite all the different strands of the project.
Why is Storytelling so Important?
‘Storytelling is a uniquely human act, aiming to create and share a social world. It occurs when a storyteller, a narrative and an audience come together in person, to re-tell and co-create a story’ . Storytelling is embedded in our culture and is a natural process that everyone does all the time.. We tell stories whenever we communicate with each other. People feel comfortable using storytelling to express their opinions and experiences. Stories are easier to remember than facts and figures and can be easily interpreted by the learner to in order to obtain information that is relevant to their personal experience and their needs .
As part of the GSA Grow from Seeds project we learnt that Margaret Steixner and Manuel Heidegger, intercultural education trainers, strongly advocated for the use of storytelling in intercultural practice. All cultures have a strong tradition of storytelling and the use of mythical stories were used to make people aware of hidden values and beliefs, and used to highlight the differences and similarities through discussion of values and value systems.
The ECHO project made sure that the design and reflection elements in the workshop will hear, witness and reflect the diverse national perspectives present, which will connect the voices of marginalised young migrants. This was a huge focus for our first series of workshops which were based on “Theatre for Inclusion”.
The process of combining storytelling and intercultural dialogue is considered advantageous as it benefits both the storyteller and the listener. The person who has the active role of telling their story experiences a sense of power because they can choose what they want to talk about and what they want to omit from the story.
To aid this empowerment of the participants we also designed a performance element with members of the local population. Performing arts is a platform whereby actors and the audience can be “indirect activists,” addressing their own individual and social issues, resolving them and thus contributing to the achievement of a better world. It can go beyond mere entertainment and social gatherings to communicate educational, social, political or religious messages as well.
What’s next for the project?
ECHO has used theatre as a tool to allow the sharing of stories in a non judgemental environment which was central to the empathy based approach of the project. Empathy is the ability to emotionally understand what other people feel, see things from their point of view, and imagine yourself in their place. It is the act of “stepping into someone else’s shoes” to share their emotional experience. This approach we will carry forward into the next step of our project, “Theatre for Active Citizenship”
