#theatre.makes.politics
Theatre Pedagogy in the context of political education
From 2022 to 2025, the German Association for Theatre Pedadgogy (BuT) carried out an ERASMUS+ funded project entitled #theatre.makes.politics. The BuT took on the role of project coordinator (led by Lutz Pickardt), with the other project partners being TENet-Gr Greece, LaTransplanisphere France, CID North Macedonia, Exquorum Portugal and the Children’s and Youth Theatre Dortmund.
Three years of intensive cross-border collaboration led to the development of a practical handbook with theatre education methods and formats as a response to anti-democratic forces in Europe, in particular:
- Right-wing populism / extremism
- Disinformation, misinformation, malinformation and conspiracy theories.
- Christian fundamentalism
- Islamic fundamentalism / Islamism
With the rise of anti-democratic forces in Europe, the cohesion of our societies is at risk. Right-wing populist parties in particular are attempting to dominate political discourse, claiming to represent ‘the people’ and to have the ‘right’ answers, while denying others a place in our society.
Many right-wing populists, conspiracy theorists, and Islamist and Christian fundamentalists despise democratic processes and seek to undermine them. They expect tolerance from others, while at the same time being intolerant themselves and acting accordingly. We believe it is extremely important that young Europeans understand how populists and extremists of various stripes seek to manipulate them, and the means they use to stir up resistance and even hostility towards other groups, be they refugees, Muslims, ‘infidels’, LGBTQ+ people, etc.
With the publication of this practical handbook, we are providing an important impetus for youth cultural work and political education and want to encourage young people to broaden their perspectives, develop a deeper understanding of people who are ‘different’ or ‘foreign’ to them, to recognise and overcome their own prejudices, and to discover the joy of interacting, playing and engaging with people they would otherwise never meet.
More information/download the handbook: www.theatremakespolitics.eu