Riot Art was born as a project, but it all seemed too exciting to leave it at that! This is why currently it is evolving as an idea for a future company which will develop many other projects. However, Riot Art was once a very precise project with a very clear objective: to get people inspired for educational change. At the time the student protests began in London in November 2010, I was safe and comfortably wrapped in Scottish education, with my reasonable tuition fees being paid by the wonderful Student Awards Agency of Scotland. In fact, it was such my level of comfort that I left weekly assignments for the last minute, for example, the journey from home to University on assignment day. And perhaps, had I not picked up a copy of the METRO that day, Riot Art would not be under construction, and I would possibly be doing things very differently today. However, I found myself reading about the changes that are soon to take place in the educational system I am a part of, and most importantly about the incredible injustice and discontent that students in England were (and are) undergoing. Eureka! There it was, the idea for my Community Theatre assessment! I had to create a workshop plan to develop in relation to a specific community and since I am a firm believer on basing your work on things you know, what better than education and in particular unhappy student life. As soon as I arrived to University I exposed the idea of Riot Art: Getting inspired for Educational Change and created the following brief:
Riot Art is a new inspirational project aiming to create original theatre pieces. These are motivated by the current atmosphere of change that the British Higher Education system is undergoing. Its objective is to unite the Educational community through the development and devising of one or more artistic “riots”. This will be performed in public venues across the country, from University campuses to local libraries and even the City’s streets. These Art Riots will enable participants to get their voices across in a pacific and creative manner, engaging with diverse public members through the aesthetics of theatre. This will allow them to exercise a new style of protest in the form of artistic communication.
The project develops workshops over a series of four weeks and allows any person that is connected to the University sector to be involved. These workshops will encourage an atmosphere of debate in which its participants will exercise their creativity collectively. This will be achieved through contrasting ideas and collaborating with peers. It will construct a new alternative to communication. Its only requisite is that members to be are open and willing to create.
The process will be divided in three separate stages:1) Through the first two weeks the participants will be arranged and assigned to different workshops. This will be depending on their background and their role in the educational system, i.e. Students, Union Members and Staff. The workshops will be designed according to the specific group taking part. 2) The second stage will consist on the exchange of products and the collaboration between the members of different groups, over the last two weeks. 3) Finally, the third stage will consist on the exhibition of the outcome as well as the completion of other forms of communication, such as videos and photographs to be displayed in social networks, i.e. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter...
Along with this I developed my beloved series of workshops, which I had the opportunity to put into practice with my fellow students. It was a success, and once one tastes success one wants a little bit more. Getting Inspired for Educational Change was the first step. Let's see what the staircase is like...
