As part of our wider celebrations for Refugee Week 2024, Kent welcomed staff, students and the wider community – including residents from Napier Barracks and members of KRAN – to the final performance of Projekt Encounter last week (Monday 10 June).
The performance saw refugees, asylum seekers and first-generation migrants in Kent take part in a transformational piece of theatre, marking the culmination of a 20-week community engagement programme.
Led by theatre company PROJEKT EUROPA, the workshops and final performance were part of an ambitious year-long programme aimed at internationalising the UK theatre industry by championing and platforming the work of first-generation migrant communities and artists around the country.
As well as being led by two University of Kent Alum – theatre-makers Francisca Stangel and Tom Tegento (who is also of refugee background) – the programme was supported by Kent’s Centre for Creative and Practice Research (based within the Division of Arts and Humanities), alongside Canterbury City Council, Kent County Council, The National Lottery Community Fund, Kent Community Foundation and The Womad Foundation.
The piece entitled ¡Tranforma! devised with the involvement of all the participants centred around the theme of change, a subject they are all experts in, and involved navigating multiple languages.
‘We we try to use accessible words. We explain things in different ways and we show, we model, to overcome those language barriers, we use a lot of hand gestures.’ Project Lead Francista Stangel explained. ‘There’s something really lovely that happens inbetween the words, or in the air when we don’t rely on speaking in the same shared language, and we find similarities in other ways.’ This is the third iteration of the project she was worked on.
Projekt Encounter final performance
Speaking about the project,Dr Margherita Laera, Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre in the School of Arts, said: ‘It was so moving to see such a lovely group of people from all over the world, who speak different languages and follow different beliefs and religions, and who have faced the most difficult circumstances, coming together through the joy of making theatre together, creating something beautiful and meaningful in collaboration with one another. The School of Arts’ collaboration with PROJEKT EUROPA led to a unique synergy between Kent staff, students and alumni joining forces to share our belief that creative arts really do make a difference to people’s lives.’
Roles on the production team were taken on by Kent students; Surya Chandra (Rroduction Assistant), Yun Geng (Design Assistant) and Alenya Sharpe, Elliott Jedras, Rosanna Ballinger-Drayton (Drama Techinicicans).