Creative Debate
CREATIVE DEBATE
Our longest-running programme using the power of art to enable social change
“Empathy is the most powerful weapon”
Augusto Boal
What is Creative Debate?
Creative Debate is an artistic conversation that supports active citizenship through communication across the social spectrum. We see citizenship as part of an inclusive vision of society, where everyone, regardless of their legal and social status, age, gender and ability, has the space to make their own unique contribution.
The method stems from Forum Theatre: a group of people listen to a story, watch a film, a play or a piece of news based on the real experience of previous participants to the programme. After being spectators, the group engages in facilitated debate and identifies issues directly relevant to their own experience. They are then called to create their own work – a scene, a play, a social media reel or a short film based on their personal views and experience –in response to the original story and changing its outcome for the better.
Background
Artistic Director Emilia Teglia developed Creative Debate over the course of two decades of work in participatory theatre. Emilia trained with Augusto Boal in the early 2000s. In 2010, she set up Accent on Acting, a pilot project using Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to give a voice to people with experience of migration. The project developed into Odd Eyes Theatre, a charity using theatre and film to open communication between people from different socio-economic background and walks of life.
Creative Debate Youth & Community
Creative Debate enhances learning, social awareness and leadership skills complementing the statutory programme of secondary schools, colleges and universities. The goal of this technique is to support participants to gain confidence in expressing their views, creating a safe environment for unprejudiced dialogue and ultimately liberating and empowering young people.
Group activities augment personal development and active involvement with the social context of belonging for young people, migrants and refugees, including speakers of English as second language, and participants with Additional Learning Needs, those at risk of offending, and wit experience of mental health and trauma, as well as adults from a range of background, including those affected by trauma, senior citizens and those with refugee status.
As part of the programme, we also offer a limited number of placements with Odd Eyes Theatre. Trainees benefit of one-to-one mentoring from our Trustees and from the Artistic Director. They acquire skills in theatre, media and leadership, learning about using art and media for social change and for self-advocacy, as well as gaining insights into governance and into theatre and film production. This personalised training is aimed at ‘holding the hand’ of the most vulnerable or our participants to support their personal growth and offer concrete tools to enhance their chances of employability, in view of taking active part in the community and taking full ownership of their future.
In practice: read about #Haters youth and community programme
Watch Connected, one of the films made by a group of neurodivergent young participants from ELATT.
Creative Debate for organisations
The programme is a useful tool for organisations and policy makers: from universities to businesses to government departments and NGOs, Creative Debate is designed to support forward thinking about equality, inclusion and ESG practice through art, debate and creative tools.
Activities are designed to encourage communication outside the established parameters, supporting team bonding, prompting the development of original solutions to overcome the pitfalls of circular thinking. Above all, the films and plays bring on invaluable insights about the lives of the individuals who are at the receiving end of public work and academic research, and yet often too distanced from the organisation’s processes.
