Bridging the gap - dialogue & diversity
“Three-quarters of the world’s major conflicts have a cultural dimension. Bridging the gap between cultures is urgent and necessary for peace, stability and development.”
So says the United Nations and 21st May is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. It just so happens that the Hands Up Project conference 2022 falls on that day and it couldn’t be more appropriate. You can participate in discussions of intercultural team teaching, attend workshops on building bridges across cultural differences and find out how to use Remote Theatre as a way of engendering a sense of global belonging.
“Lemon and Mint”
Diversity and dialogue lie at the heart of the Hands Up Project. We are all, every single one of us - child or adult - a musician or a playwright, a visual artist or storyteller, a poet, an actor or author. We come together from around the world to talk about our affinities and our differences and we find harmony through dialogue. The bridges are easy to build when we share our ideas about home, chat in a classroom, or write plays and poems together. Romanians, Ukrainians, Palestinians, Jordanians, British, Spanish and so many more - we bridge the gaps by talking about our food and our drink, our songs and stories, our dress and our dreams through the medium of English.
Dalya and Elena, Grade 4 team teachers
And something extraordinary happens every time we do. The world gets a little closer to us, our hearts become a little more open and our understanding stretches towards people we may never meet.
Children who are prevented from crossing borders find that they can take their plays to the Palestinian National Theatre in Jerusalem, to the Al Arowwad Cultural Centre in Bethlehem and the Freedom Theatre in Jenin. They perform in the Theatre Royal in the United Kingdom. Suddenly, their voices can be heard through the medium of Lockdown theatre, performed remotely through Zoom or Facebook, by audiences anywhere in the world.
We can never be quite sure what is going to happen when we come together. Will a performance be interrupted by a power cut? Perhaps a student will be unable to join due to a weak connection. We may only be able to communicate through a chat box, or a mini whiteboard. You may hear the voice of a bomb falling in the background. What you can be sure of, though, is that against all the odds and in the most difficult of circumstances, the children’s voices will rise above everything
That is why we are delighted to invite you to a day of dialogue with the Hands Up Project on the 21 May 2022 in recognition of the harmony we achieve when we share our world.