Prevention of Violence among Youth
THE HISTORY OF THE PROJECT:
The project “STRONG WITHOUT VIOLENCE” (in Czech „SILNÍ BEZ NÁSILÍ“) is focused on prevention of violence among youth. The project has begun in Germany. Thanks to the European Commission this project has spread into other European countries. The project “STRONG WITHOUT VIOLENCE” proceeded between 2007 and 2009 in its “classical” version at schools in Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Rumania and Poland. Two-year pilot project was financed by Daphne (EC program) and was very successful in every participating country. In that time period the project reached more than 5000 youths, in addition to 400 teachers, getting them involved in preparation, instruction, and organization, before ad during project weeks – both on stage and behind the scenes. The author of the project is a teacher Mathias Kaps from German NGO called STARKMACHER (www.starkmacher.eu), who started to collaborate with the international performing arts group GEN ROSSO (18 members from 9 nations: Brazil, Argentina, Kenya, Tanzania, Poland, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Philippines). GEN ROSSO realizes a lot of projects all over the world (concerts, festivals, musical performances, collaboration with other professional artists, schools, prisons, etc - www.genrosso.com). GEN ROSSO has offered their musical STREETLIGHT for the project “STRONG WITHOUT VIOLENCE”.
THE MAIN IDEA OF THE PROJECT:
The project “STRONG WITHOUT VIOLENCE” is a violence-prevention project for children, youths and young adults. It is carried out in schools and, on a pilot basis, in correctional facilities as well. The main idea of the project is to strengthen the children’s self-confidence by the help of the experience technics, test situations, music and dance. The heart of the project is the joint performance of a musical, entitled “Streetlight”, with international bend Gen Rosso. This production tells the true story of Charles Moats, a young African-American living in a Chicago ghetto in the late 1960’s who finds himself caught between enemy lines in a gang war, and who pays for his decision to renounce violence with his life. With its clear message, the musical is an ideal vehicle for reaching young people at an emotional level with the aid of music, movement and creative workshop activities, and to impart a sustained, heightened awareness for the topic of “everyday violence” and “inner strength”. “If you are strong, you don’t need violence”. The aim is to show young people that they have strengths of their own, and that there are indeed things they can do to counteract a subliminally aggressive atmosphere in the classroom and among their friends. The focus is upon everyday forms of violence such as harassment and exclusion – not just upon the extreme forms of physical violence.
The aim is to encourage pupils and to give them an example for the conflict solving in their immediate surroundings. GEN ROSSO is able to bring in on the musical performance up to 250 children who act different roles during the show (they become dancers, singers, actors, sound and light engineers, stage setters or moderators). Artists of GEN ROSSO prepare pupils in three day in 11 workshops to perform their musical STREETLIGHT together on the big stage in front of thousands of visitors. The project acquaints participants with their own strengths and talents and enables them to deal creatively with the topics of violence, empathy and tolerance. The emphasis is upon an emotional appeal, shred activities and sustainability.
THE TARGET GROUP OF THE PROJECT:
This programme of the primary prevention is not focused only on the aggressor or the victim, but addresses especially the passive observers. The project is intended for youth at the ages of 13 to 25. It actively enlists the involvement of parents and numerous other persons in the school setting. Taken a step further, it is also conceivable for use in work with inmates in correctional facilities. In the last years is spread also in the arts schools or prisons. The active participation of youth in the musical is a stepping stone for their personal involvement and the follow-up activities with the spirit of the project “STRONG WITHOUT VIOLENCE”. The project marks the approach of youth to the violence.
Gen Rosso: is the international performing arts group of musicians, dancers and actors. This international troupe has been traveling to promote understanding among nations, solidarity and a spirit of brother- and sisterhood for more than 40 years. The cast is constantly evolving, and the binding element between the current roster of 18 band members and technicians is their Christian background. The band is enthusiastic about its creative and encouraging encounters with young people as parts of the project weeks.
More about Gen Rosso: www.genrosso.com. More about the Streetlight http://www.genrosso.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=49.
The role of teachers: Teachers take part in a two-day conference at the beginning of the project phase. Then they incorporate the project themes and content into their pupils’ lesson plans for several weeks preparatory to the project week. An extensive and constantly growing collection of tried and tested teaching materials is available for this purpose. At this stage, if they wish, teachers can develop ideas of their own for the workshops or activities they intend to offer during the project week. During project days, other teachers serve as points of contact for the musicians and technicians, and as organizers to help the project run as smoothly as possible within the school. “Violence and Strength” can be made a topic for instruction in nearly any subject. There are no limits to the ideas teachers may develop in the context. These materials collected throughout the life of the project are made available to all schools. I addition to a manual and master copies, the teaching materials also include all of the lyrics to the musical in English and German, notes, music and film material, and much more. A period of roughly two months has proven successful for of preparing interdisciplinary lessons. The teachers’ conference precedes classroom work with pupils on these themes.
THE SCHEDULE OF THE PROJECT:
The project “STRONG WITHOUT VIOLENCE” is consists of 4 program units. The first one is based on the cooperation among psychologists, experts and teachers, who are familiarized with the project and with the story of the musical STREETLIGHT. They are dealt with the themes of self-confidence, violence, bullying, attitude to violence etc. They work on the methodology of the work with children at their specific school. The second program unit is based on the 3-month work of teachers and pupils, who are dealing with the themes and ideas of the project in their common lessons. The flashpoint of the project is the “project week” The whole school together with GEN ROSSO follows the preparation and realization of the public musical performance in workshops and public performance on stage. The workshops are: gang dance, Brazil dance, hip-hop dance, theatre, sound and light, band, choirs, moderators and scene settings. Gen Rosso’s STREETLIGHT is a musical in two acts which brings a true story back to life and under a brighter light. The story from Chicago in 60’s brings the themes such as friendship, love, personal responsibility, revenge or belonging to the group or gang… The fourth program unit is based on follow-up activities which offer to the youth a big opportunity to develop and realize heir own ideas with the spirit of the project “STRONG WITHOUT VIOLENCE”.
The sequence of events is the same each time:
- seminars for teachers, featuring workshops and information about the project and its background
- six to eight weeks of substantive preparation of school pupils during school lessons – including interdisciplinary and mixed age-group instruction. The topics: violence and strength, empathy, tolerance and mutual esteem and alternatives to violence and harassment
- project week with the international band Gen Rosso at the school (workshops with the musicians and with teachers, performance of the musical “Streetlight”)
- feedback
The project week:
- Monday – Gen Rosso arrives to school, welcoming, stage set-up
- Tuesday – Day is begun as a group, workshops
- Wednesday – Day is begun as a group, workshops, dress rehearsal, evening performance and presentation of the results of other workshop (exhibition, performance on stage, …)
- Thursday – Second performance for schools located nearby, stage taken down
- Friday – day is begun as a group, farewell, feedback round with teaching staff, project management and Gen Rosso
EXPERIENCES:
“The project “STRONG WITHOUT VIOLENCE” places the focus upon the idea of inner strength, and not upon the problem of violence. Our approach to prevention is geared to young people’s abilities and talents – quantities highlighted and cultivates particularly through music, dance and theatre. Our experience with musical project weeks in Czech, German, Romanian, Hungarian and Polish schools demonstrates not just that young people are enthusiastic and remarkably motivated when it comes to working with artists and technicians on the musical project, but that there are lasting improvements in the atmosphere in these schools as well. We can observe the positive effect of the “climate exchange” in schools and places great hope in the ripple effects that schools like these have on their surroundings. Strengthening young people, giving them an opportunity to show their talents and abilities, and giving them the esteem and recognition they deserve – this is a kind of “immunization programme” against violence. If you have inner strength, you don’t need violence.”
[Mathias Kaps, International Project Co-ordinator and Chairman of STARKMACHER e. V.]
“The project also draws its strength not least from the fact that young people themselves can become actively involved through competitions and workshops: this offers an opportunity for passive media consumers to become active co-determiners of our society. Not content to confine itself to a brief flash in the pan, the project “STRONG WITHOUT VIOLENCE” seeks to transform the atmosphere in schools over the long term. Only if pupils can learn and flourish in an atmosphere of shared belonging, esteem and encouragement will they be strong enough to stand their ground against violence. The artists in Gen Rosso themselves put their entire hearts into encounters and workshops with young people, offering important personal testimony and inviting others to join in. In then becomes the responsibility of teachers and pupils to seize upon this inspiration, and to turn enthusiasm into deeds by developing ideas and projects for their own schools.”
[Prof. Dr. Christian Pfeiffer, Director of the Criminological Research Institute of lower Saxony]
“The experiences we have shared at the European level are much more than partnership! Europe has really become small as a result of this project and we are working together across all boundaries. Now we would also like to let the pupils share this transnational experience. In the summer 2009 for the first time we will be offering a European camp in which groups coming from different countries can take part. We want to conduct workshop with a European mixture of participants. Once the project week is complete, we hope the small teams will be created in the individual countries that can then implement regional and local projects. This can be the beginning of a European youth network.
[Marie Kotková, Czech Project Co-orrdinator and the project manager of TRIALOG, o. s.].