South Baltic Academy of Independent Theatre - a Tool of Social Change

The project origin is in occurrence of a new innovative methodology for youth social activation which proved its efficiency and usefulness in the Nordic countries. This method has been acquired by the LB of this project, tested in Polish circumstances and highly appreciated as a method for youth activation. However, it still needs adaptation to circumstances of a given country. The method is extremely broad so selection of the most effcient tools and instruments matching the needs of a given target group/society is necessary. The essence of the method is in creating leadership abilities and socialization of young people through the use of theatrical experience. Under the project the training will be offered to young people in Poland and Lithuania by experienced coaches from Poland, Sweden, Lithuania and Germany. Theatrical exercises will develop among their participants self-confidence, self-control, abilities of public speeches, body and space awareness and they will improve an imagination and a creativity of the trainees. In addition to that the most active trainees will learn how to organize events and how to become a natural group leader. The main innovative feature of the project is its cross-sectoral approach i.e. extending methods which had been used so far exclusively in the sphere of art towards civic community and offering them (after adaptation) to the NGOs community (AO) and other organization active in the civic society. These methods offer an interesting solution how to deal with every year more acute problems of rising gap between young generation and the rest of the society and the passiveness and demanding attitude of the youngsters. Nowadays, disintegration of local societies becomes a key developmental challenge for the whole Europe. Even in small towns or neighbourhoods, people do not know each other. Participation in cultural life, common creations of amateur theatrical performances, organization of collective events can be a starting point to initiate genuine local co-operation and develop local projects. It will contribute not only to activation of young people but will also lead to strengthening local and regional identity. The main objective of the project is socio-economic activation of the SB regions by youth empowerment. The project aims at thorough adaptation of the above mentioned Nordic methodology of youth activation to Polish and Lithuanian conditions, its SB wide dissemination and establishing preconditions for its permanent usage. The main results are following: innovative methodology for empowerment and activation of young people transferred to the NGO sector, establishment of its SB-wide multiplication mechanism and initiation of SB debate on methodology for youth empowerment through theatrical based methods. The project will also result in transfer of the Nordic method to Lithuania and its joint fine tuning to Polish and Lithuanian circumstances.

The smooth operation of BAIT is one of the most important achievements of the project. Within 36 months of the project's realization we succeeded to: (a) recruit 53 participants from 3 countries (Lithuania, Poland, Sweden), (b) establish the detailed training program engaging 64 lectors, (c) realize 34 147,5 studenthours of the training, (d) stage 4 diploma performances ending the first year of Academy for over 890 spectators (e) staging 5 second-year diploma spectacles for over 1080 spectators (in 3 countries), (f) present 17 final diploma works created by students to 450 during BAIT Fest in September 2014 (g) organize and conduct 7791,5 studenthours of the theatrical workshops led by BAIT students to the other target groups. The fast integration among the students from different countries, development of common communication ways (mixing Polish, Lithuania, Swedish, Russian and English), friendships and the sense of common responsibility for the partners and the other members of the group are the additive, immeasurable results of the project. We strenghen the self-esteem of the BAIT students and developed their lidership skills, which they could verify conducting theatrical workshops to other participants, writing individual projects and creating independent pieces of art. We also established a strong partnership between Lithuania and the Polish partners - with a significant support of Associated Organizations. We feel that both partners are involved to a great extent in the realization of the project and take full responsibility for taken actions. So far, the information about the project reached almost 21 400 people and 6 countries. We are also pleased to have a good feedback from the students and teachers about both the quality of teaching, and the working and accommodation conditions. Our biggest success are 42 students who completed the full education process and among them 38 students were awarded by diplomas certifying their qualifications. In the end of the project the electronical publication "Towards Empowerment" was written and published, with the summary of the activities of the project and educational process as well with resume of evaluation process, describing the impact of the participation in 3 years of the project's implementation to the participants. The ebook was published on project's website and FB project's profile and presented during conferences for professionals and 'face to face' meetings.