Reflective journal for Creativity & Change, 2014/2015

Reflective Journal for Creativity and Change, 2014/2015

By Hallie Morrison This journal is a combination of the writing I have contributed to the Creativity and Change 2014/2015 blog, and more personal reflections (p. 60 forward). The imagery from p. 60 forward is my own. The previous imagery belongs to Jorge Ruiz Villasante.

Intro to Development Education and Creativity as a tool for Change. Day 1: On the first day of the CIT Creativity and Change Programme, the group got to know each other through activities that warmed up the conceptual and creative senses.

One of the first activities was based in the medium of clay. The group split into two teams to create two collaborative pieces whilst responding to music. Both teams responded to the same music, varied and lively instrumental songs, which allowed for both teams to come up with open-­‐ended and organic formations from the blocks of clay.

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Unintentionally, the two teams created clay works that seemed to exhibit juxtaposing themes, simultaneously. For example, individually and collectively the works had qualities that seemed open and closed; organic and man-­‐made; orderly and chaotic; sheltered and unsheltered. The group was able to point out these thematic occurrences in discussion after the activity.

The group reflected on the benefits of group creative exercises. Like, how working "shoulder to shoulder" and responding to music allowed artistic decisions to flow organically and automatically. The resulting pieces really inherited the flow of the process. This creative exercise helped set the open-­‐minded tone for the weekend ahead.

From this activity, the group asked, "What kind of teamwork supports our learning?" To which the group offered ideas like, creative communication,

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playfulness, respect, appreciation of what others have to offer, vulnerability... and others pictured, here. These were traits we had realized we had embodied during the team-­‐based clay activity.

After brief discussion, we were presented with a wall full of quotes from past students of the programme. Individuals picked one quote that particularly resonated with their intentions for the programme-­‐-­‐a quote we could foresee ourselves saying at the end of the programme. Some members shared quotes, as their intentions agreed! The activity spurred insight as to where individuals of the group come from-­‐-­‐and where they would like to go with work in Development Education and Creativity and Change.

To familiarize ourselves with a spectrum of concepts relevant to existing work associated with Development Education and Creativity and Change, we followed this colorful chart provided. We shared aloud our previous conceptions of some terms like Values, The World Around Us, Info Design, Future Thinking, and other areas we

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might not have been discussed seriously, before. This spectrum associated to Development Education and Creativity and Change is a sort of guideline to us now, with a correlating list of published works and resources.

From these topics, it was necessary to reflect on the general types of education, today-­‐-­‐and be aware of the education we set out to give and receive. As a group of individuals who work in many areas involved in these areas of education (Formal, Non-­‐Formal, and Informal), we shared the similarities and differences between the types. We discussed which aspects may be more conducive to encouraging Development Education and Creativity and Change in our respective areas.

(Non-­‐formal education involves "Inclusion, critical thinking, obtaining knowledge, inspiration, Facilitators rather than Teachers, different facilities and resources than the Formal classroom, etc.")

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(Informal education involves "Media, people you meet, experience, personal reflection, direct environment, and 'It just happens'.")

Collectively, the group thought Informal education was a type of education that constantly happens-­‐-­‐an experience-­‐based education that occurs simply by living.

Also, the group discussed Informal education as the opposite of Formal education, in a way. Formal education involves "Structure, Curriculum, Discussion/Debate, Linear ness, Exclusivity" and other factors more restricting than those of Informal education. Some members of the group were more familiar with types of education than others, which was helpful for everyone to understand each other better.

In the last activity before lunch, the group illustrated on chronological timelines the stages of their developing interests in topics related to Development Education and

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Creativity and Change. Many members began at the very beginning with their childhoods and explained significant steps and events along the way. To see our developing interests related to Creativity and Change as marked from a young age was moving, overall. This activity was based in very personal reflection, as it generally demanded thoughtful excavating of our memories.

A lot of the day's discussion led up to the defining of a Global Citizen. Through a drawing, we focused on associating traits related to the Head, Heart, and Hand that make a (possibly ideal) Global Citizen. Traits like "Listening, practical, reflective, reading," and others tied to the Head. For the Heart, "Values, empathy, emotional, passion, purpose" and others... For the Hand, "Skill, experienced, tangible"... And even for the Feet, we mentioned that "Travelling" could make up a Global Citizen.

This activity involving drawing and critical thinking was a constructive start to the following brainstorming of what traits make a Global Citizen, and how we could all strive to embody such traits-­‐-­‐and encourage others to do so, as well.

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At the end our first day, the group developed personalized boxes from an assortment of creative materials as tool kits for our upcoming work. As part of our assignments, the group will develop a tool kit that contains plans, activities, resources, and more, to aid in our actualizing of Creativity and Change and Development Education in our respective lives and areas of work. Additional assignments include reflective journals of the involved topics and activities we will cover throughout the programme. In the last moments of the day, we began to build the tool kit project that will grow into great evidence of our efforts during the programme

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Intro to Development Education and Creativity as a tool for Change: Day 2

The values are further explained in this chart of research demonstrating how values can be relative to neighboring values. The chart shows if someone predominantly holds the value of Security, they are likely to also value power and conservation, as they are nearby values.

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After understanding working with the chart of values and being able to see how values can be called, and relate to each other, we attempted to define the ideal traits of a global citizen's Head, Heart, and Hand. For example, one group felt "awareness of world issues, sharing education and knowledge, being non-­‐antrhopocentric, and future thinking" were important elements of a global citizen's Head, or Understanding. When thinking about the Heart, the other group thought "proactive ness, positivity, and respectfulness" were important Attitude traits. Also, they thought "sustainability, equality, responsibility, ethics, empathy, innovative ness, and critical analysis" were important Values. Lastly, one group mainly said "creating versus consuming" would be an important trait of a global citizen's Hand.

Mapping out the ideal traits of a global citizens and understanding where each trait can be enacted, via the Head, Heart, or Hand, proved influential in the group's understanding of the lifestyle of a global citizen.

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For a fun and personalized studio activity, the group was presented with images of themselves. The group used images of themselves and other craft materials to create poster-­‐like portraits that conveyed their values and hopes, as everyday global citizens.

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The results of the task were moving and inspiring. Each portrait reflected its maker, and expressed beautiful messages of what its maker hopes for in the world.

In a later activity, the group participated in a Walking Debate. Below are the topics presented, and accompanying notes of reflection. Throughout the debate, group members shared their reasonings for their positions in the room (one side of the room for Agree, Disagree, and Maybe in the middle). This Walking Debate was particularly helpful to hear group member's ways of thinking about certain topics.

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At the end of the second day, the group listened to a talk by Cliona Maher from CIT's International Students Department. Cliona presented on the inspiring efforts of Development Education and Creativity and Change happening at La Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, Mexico. Cliona worked at this university for twelve years, and shared with us examples of exceptional projects by students from her time at the university.

To date, students of the university have been developing personal projects that involve Development Education and Creativity and Change for people of all ages in their communities, which use areas of theatre, art, and music. In one case, a student from the university developed a now largely popular public theatre program that engages the youth of Veracruz in theatrical plays, which they base around educational and socially relevant themes. Cliona's presentation on the strongly influential measures of global citizenship currently happening was reassuring and inspiring.

Intro to Development Education and Creativity as a tool for Change: Day 3

On the third day of our introduction to Development Education and Creativity and Change, the group focused on creative ways of representing global themes.

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To start the third day, a founding representative from Ireland's Clowns Without Borders (CWB) came to speak to us. He spoke to us about the past and upcoming projects of CWB, and their commitment to Development Education and Creativity and Change. CWB typically travels to parts of the world that lack emphasis on expressive public performances, like clown acts, due to severe conditions of poverty, lack of resources, lack of freedoms and rights, and more. CWB brings their original acts fills with props and humor to these areas of the world for the sole mission of making people smile. It was clear after his talk that you cannot put a price on the smile of child, and that the efforts of CWB are highly valuable in parts of the world, today.

For the first task of the day, the group was split up into teams of three or four and given an idea they needed to convey through an info graphics project.

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For one group, a statistic was provided, stating that the "poorest 40% of the world utilized 5% of the world's income, and the richest 20% of the population used around three quarters of the world's income." As stated text, the statistic may be hard to comprehend and may not seem relevant to a reader, hence the task of creating visuals that would make the facts more accessible for people. For the aforementioned statistic, the group created a three slide project to explain the main components of the statistic sequentially. Other groups created animations, through which the whole group was able to see that time-­‐based presentations can help separate information and add information by frame accordingly, for better explanation and comprehension for the viewer.

A time-­‐lapse animation as info graphics, for one group's message.

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On the afternoon of our last programme day of the weekend, the group had open studio time to develop different collage works that expressed our ideas of global citizenship and Development Education. Open studio time was a great time for our Creativity to help us brainstorm the types of Change we can make.

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We each took to our own stations to develop collages on postcards, collages on badges, which we made with a professional badge maker, and even drawings, to practice our graphics harvesting! Graphics harvesting is a method of illustrating spoken information that is generally too hard to follow for people that are visual learners.

Our badge making station

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At the end of open studio, many of us had completed works of collage driven by concepts of global citizenship and development education. Here are some of our pieces!

Each postcard is about 18 x 23 centimeters.

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Some larger collages

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Our badges! The idea behind the badges is to have a product one can wear everyday to express their beliefs on Creativity and Change.

To wrap up the last day of the programme weekend, we were to select-­‐-­‐without much judgement-­‐-­‐a photograph that captures how we were feeling. We each shared what elements of the images summarized our feelings at the end of the programme weekend.

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We took note of last reflections from the course of the weekend that related to our selected images. The pictures helped us to create metaphoric meaning based on our experience over the weekend.

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And to tie things together, we asked ourselves "Why creativity is important to learning?" This was almost an easy question for the group, after using so many different creative activities as chances for reflection on the importance of creativity in learning situations. Like we reflected between the different types of education on the first day, most of us felt Creativity was something that should be included in Informal learning-­‐-­‐learning that happens constantly, just by living.

The group of the CIT Creativity and Change Programme 2014/2015!

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City Mapping: Creative Methods Day 5

Sharing creativity and ideas in through street art is and opportunity to engage the public with questions and themes that are important to us. So on our second day of our second weekend together, the group started by touring some of the well-­‐known pieces of street art in Cork.

Getting inspiration from examples of existing street art in our own city was the foremost step to creating our own work of art as a group. We were to learn of the plans for our group project, soon...

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First, we visited a piece on Western Rd. near the Lancaster Gate apartments. The piece was made by a London-­‐based group in the past few years. We took a minute to discuss what we liked about the piece and the effects we thought it might have on the nearby community.

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The second piece we visited was a "Before I die..." piece, at North Main and Kyle St. The "Before I die..." pieces have been made in many cities all over the world by artists and non-­‐artists alike. The project is available online for free download so that any one who appreciates the piece's presence in their city can create the piece themselves.

We took time to read the responses people put on the piece-­‐-­‐some funny, some crude, some admirable, some moving. We discussed the nature of interactive murals/street art, and how involving citizen participation could be used for creative and positive change.

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Our third stop was a mural on Main St. With this mural we discussed different techniques for making street art. This piece is made like a collage, with printed images on paper that are tailored together and then sealed over, to create the large, colorful images in the mural. Using printed images seemed to suit this mural best, with its finer printed text, small details, and styles of faces. This work is by Cork based artist Tom Doig.

Then, we visited a piece was made by young people from Cork in a creative project facilitated by Mayfield Arts. We watched a stop-­‐motion video of the making of the piece beforehand. This informed our experience of the steps took to make the beautiful mural. This mural was done mostly in paint with some elements of collage.

Seeing the work in person and listening to the stories about the hardships and successes of the process were very inspiring. This price of street art proves testament that large-­‐scale painting can happen under any weather conditions!

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The last stop on our mural walk was another piece by a group from Mayfield arts.

This group used lines of poetry they had written, applied with white paint and stencils on a black, textured background. The piece exists on wooden boards that block some sort of entry way that used to be in use on the Grand Parade and South Mall, near the bridge across from the Quay Co-­‐op. One can see images of figures beneath the poem and feel a history of public messages on these boards.

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Back in our building, we started plans for our group project: a mural of our own! We learned briefly how to create in Photoshop the stylized portraits we would use for our mural.

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We broke into teams to draft possible compositions for our art piece, considering the inclusion of our portraits and lines of poetry, which the group had written the day before.

Our concept: "In Our Tomorrow." This was the main thought behind the lines of poetry written in the group activity the previous day.

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We quickly assumed our skills and responsibilities for the project at hand, because we were to complete the mural in less than two days. Participatory processes like this with groups can often take much longer. We worked at quite a fast pace to get to see all the elements of the process in the short time frame we had for the weekend.

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We were taught how to create stencils with stylized Photoshop images and card. We traced our Photoshop portraits by projecting the image onto the wall and tracing the black areas that would be cut out to create our stencils.

Teams became busy mixing the limited color palette for the mural...

Creating our portrait stencils...

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Choosing the font for the pillars in the mural that would have text, too...

Planning how the lines of poetry would best fit compositionally into our mural...

And priming our background!

We decided on a limited color palette of blues, skin colors for our portraits, blacks and whites. We were inspired by the calming capacity of the blue, which we felt worked well with the concept: "In Our Tomorrow." Responding to what we hope for "In Our Tomorrow," the group felt a sense of connectivity and fluidity should be expressed. We thought blues were conceptually relevant, and we thought of the River Lee, which is visible from the location of our mural site.

We wrapped up the second day of the weekend with the groundwork done for our rapidly developing artwork.

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City Mapping: Creative Methods Day 6

On our third day of our weekend-­‐-­‐the second and last day for completing our public art piece-­‐-­‐we set out strong painting in the spaces for our text and our individual portraits.

Some simple forms and patterns were added in the background.

Our composition sketch

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We created black shapes that would serve as backgrounds for the text, giving a feeling of a flowing river. We assigned sizes of shapes to the lengths of the lines of poetry.

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We readied our stencils and painted our silhouette stencil first with a beige ground.

The flesh-­‐like color helped to separate our portraits from the background, and to help the upcoming dark brown facial details to stand out.

Everyone fit their portraits in a horizontal line near the bottom of the composition.

This line, for us, represents a confident group at a lower horizon, above which our dreams and imaginative lines of poetry float above our heads.

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The pillars in front of our mural were utilized by priming them all black and using their edges as placement for the title of our mural and poem. "In Our Tomorrow" was painted in white on the two frontal edges of both pillars to put the idea behind our work foremost in viewers' eyes-­‐-­‐when walking on the street towards the mural from either direction.

We moved onto stages of filling in our black shapes with our lines of poetry. First, we laid track lines of sorts with chalk for our hand writing to follow-­‐-­‐to avoid the text looking to crowded, unbalanced, or illegible. We hand wrote our lines of poetry with paint markers.

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We started laying in the dark brown facial details with our second/top stencil. We used sponges to control the paint within the cut out spaces.

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Our group started to grow in the mural right before our eyes, and we were able to visualize the end goal.

We finished our inspirational public art piece, "In Our Tomorrow," in less than two days' time! Talking while working, we all seemed to share how pleasantly surprised we were by our fruitful efforts over the past two days. We reflected in a discussion setting after the project upon the challenges of the weekend, and how we could better facilitate groups we might support in

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bringing creative messages to their city. We discussed the successes of the weekend and efforts we thought worked well throughout the process: Mostly, it was helpful that we all recognized each others' skills, and encouraged each other to work in the areas we might do best. We pulled the beautiful and meaningful mural together successfully and quickly because we supported each other, and worked as a team.

Needless to say, we were very proud of each other in the end!

The proud group.

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Arts and Transformation: Case Studies Weekend: Day 7

This weekend, we worked with a guest Facilitator named Danny. Danny came to us from Bristol, UK, to facilitate topics of experiential learning, focusing on changing perspectives and connecting through nature.

We started off with a walking game. The group was instructed to walk around the room, conscious not to create walking patterns, and to make eye contact and smile at the other group members. Danny told he group when to walk faster, and stop.

Then, Danny told everyone in the group to choose one person as their "opposite."

This was a person to avoid whilst walking around the space. Then, everyone was told to choose a "shield," a person that had to be between the individual and the opposite, at all times. The group experienced changes in perspectives during the game that were relatable to how we walk around daily, but in a safe space. For example, many compared the energy necessary to avoid a person to the same futile amount of energy we spend in real life avoiding certain people we may hold judgements against.

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We then discussed experiences and the steps of the Experiential Learning Cycle. As the picture below shows, the steps of this cycle are necessary to create a meaningful experience for people. As Danny would say, following this cycle is important in creating experiences for people from which they can draw "golden nuggets," the "aha moments" that make the experience significant for each person. The Experiential Learning Cycle is the articulation of what all facilitators usually attempt to facilitate in workshops. It is the facilitator's job to always be aware of the group's energy, and to plan the experiences ahead of time. It is up to the facilitator to have previously experienced the experience they hope to have a group undergo.

We talked about how one can get reflective and creative feedback from the members of an experience. We discussed the varying importances for experiencing particular workshops more than once. We discussed what experiences take place on the street and in the world daily that can influence our creative and reflective senses constructively. We discussed what can constitute an experience, and what experiences can be considered interventions.

In part, we also discussed something called the Great Turning. The idea comes from Joanna Macey, author of "The Work That Reconnects." The idea can be represented with the cycle drawn below. The Great Turning refers to the process of turning from one way of working and living to another, like the various revolutions of our world: from the Agricultural Revolution to the Industrial Revolution and to the Technological Revolution. The Turning starts with Gratitude, as it's the important moment of awareness one can have in recognizing their situation or revolution.

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Our group discussed each step, and what each involve; like, how being grateful goes deeper than appreciation, and how being grateful inherently ruins capitalism. The group asked what it takes to act in society. We asked each other why act? Why not act? How do we act? We all agreed that acting on certain issues related to development education can start in the home-­‐-­‐with one's own family-­‐-­‐and can happen even internally in one's mind. Also, the group discussed different types of engaging, like resisting, collaborating, fighting, etc. We talked about how resistance as engagement entails existence. Exist and Resist are like twin parts.

Then, Danny showed the group an appropriated video version of the "Greatest Speech Ever Made," from Charlie Chaplin's speech as Hitler in"The Great Dictator" (1940). The maker of the video matched the speech with imagery, so the video was like a compilation of other video clips that complimented the speech. The video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXh3Ob_zDhs

After watching the video, the group discussed their opinions. Some felt the video content could be seen as too biased or poignant, at times. We discussed the delicacy of expressing our opinions publicly, and how our opinions can always be misinterpreted-­‐-­‐or interpreted differently than expected. We considered how to work with desensitized audiences, and the importance of gauging what audiences already think and believe.

Danny used this video as an example of "warming up" and "cooling down" an existing issue or work. These are strategies for repurposing an issue or work, like the video does to the original "Greatest Speech Ever Made." When "cooling down" an issue or work, one might create something to counter/reduce the attention an existing work is receiving. When "warming up," one might elevate the buzz are an

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existing issue or work to reach another outcome. Like the video example, sometimes "warming up" and "cooling down" can be significantly productive for activists.

We attempted a walk to the nearby park, but due to the weather we walked back to our building. So, from our brief walks we were all asked to recall one image that we mentally captured. To practice a Close Noticing Activity, we were asked to write automatically about the image we saw on our walk. The image was obviously different for each person. We each tried to write about the image for 2 minutes.

Then, Danny explained to us the next to steps in making the recalling of an image an activity in Close Noticing. The first step was to select a scene that one's psyche collected from the walk. The second step was to write about it or create a product about the image. Then, from that product, one is to select what portions of the product they like the most. Lastly, one is to examine those factors selected and determine what they have an affinity to, given what they liked about the image and what the image included. This locating of signs for each person's personal affinities is productive in helping individuals realize aspects of themselves, and how they can harness those affinities to move forwardly productively and creatively.

After this reflective exercise, we warmed up to making our own speeches by telling stories. We partnered up and played a storytelling game called, "Change!" In this game, one partner begins by telling their partner a story. (Starting with an already existing story helps.) Then, when the listening partner desires, they can call, "Change!" at which the narrating partner must change the direction of their story, usually by changing the last direct thing they said. The point is to never stop talking and to get creative in the ways the story changes. Then the partners switch roles.

This game was hilarious for all!

After this warm-­‐up activity, we began workshopping our own speeches. Danny went over the components of a Connected Speech-­‐-­‐an articulate, pointed, and powerful speech. To create a Connected Speech, one should follow the 5 S's: Stand, Smile,

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Speak, Stay, and Sit. Stay means that at the end of one's speech, one should Stay and receive the applause instead of running away as soon as completing speaking. This step is important in encouraging people to receive the praise and credit they deserve. After this, one may Sit. A Connected Speech should also include Beginning, Middle and End points. And lastly, the speaker should create a speech that includes Delivery, Content, and Structure in a comfortable mix.

Each of us worked in our journals on a 30 second speech on something that matters to us. We were to support each other in small groups in the planning process, and then give individual speeches to the whole group. This task was intimidating for many. Needless to say, each of us was pleasantly surprised when we finally condensed our material to share, outlined the material into an important structure for Connected Speech, and finally spoke aloud to the group.

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We were also encouraged by Danny to follow these steps to make ultimate speakers: Be yourself, Give good eye contact, Structure your talk, Keep it simple, Use the power of the pause, Speak from the heart to be heard, Keep to time, Project your voice, Be animated, and Practice Practice Practice!

After each individual's speech, the group offered a point that was Wonderful, something to Improve on, and something to include/do Next time: W.I.N.

We ended the day after each individual gave their speeches on what matters most to them. We were all inspired by each other's opinions and deliveries!

Arts and Transformation: Case Studies Weekend: Day 8 On our last day of the weekend, we started out with some warm-­‐ups.

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We did an activity involving passing an imaginary ball around the circle. The ball could grow or shrink, move, gain weight or transform in any way possible. The catch was that the ball always had to be in someone's hands. This activity made us pay attention to each other's actions in a fun way.

Then, we led each other around the room. In partners, one person closed their eyes and the other led that blinded person around the room by touching hands. The blinded person's hand rested on top of the guide's hand. This was an exercise of

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trust and coordination, as to not bump into the other pairs around the room! As with all of our experienced activities, the Experiential Learning Cycle applied. We discussed this after each exercise.

Then we made our second attempt at getting to the park. This time was very successful, as the weather was fantastic.

Once at the park, we gathered in a circle under an old tree. Specifically, the species of the tree is the oldest in Ireland. Danny read us the 1854 speech made by Chief Seattle of the Duwamish people of the Lushootseed Native American tribe. The speech was supposedly made by Chief Seattle as a letter to the white government after they proposed to purchase the land from the Native tribe. The speech mentions the differences the Native people expressed in honoring the earth, and the

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awareness they had for the white people's lack of respect for the earth. Chief Seattle's speech sounded noble and his speech gave the group a lot to think about as we became aware of the beautiful nature in which our workshop was taking place.

Danny brought the group's attention to the importance of connecting with nature, as we each attempted to do so, on our own. We were each to pick a spot in the park that particularly called to us, and to take 15 minutes to consciously reflect and take inventory of the spot. We were to think about the history of the spot-­‐-­‐the animals and people that might have passed there, the weather the spot might have experienced, how much the trees in the area might have grown, etc. We were asked to try connecting to the spot, and to be considerate of anything that popped into our minds or seemed to speak to us in the 15 minutes in those spots.

After we each spent time in different spots of the park, we reconvened under a magnificent tree. The tree, pictured below, had huge, hearty branches that could

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support a human. Some of the group members took to the tree in their private sessions, and some even climbed into the trees branches and laid back.

We joined in conversation to share our experiences from our different spots in the park. We each discussed why we were drawn to our spots.

Then, we each shared what we heard, felt, saw, and experienced in each of our spots.

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Lastly, we each shared what we wished we could communicate to the nature in our spots. These three main points were important for each of us to share in realizing our connections that came from the active and reflective time. We were practicing consciousness and awareness in nature.

After a great experience in nature, we all headed back to our building.

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Naturally, we all came together for a great lunch, arranged by the group!

Theatre as a tool for exploring development issues and raising awareness: Day 9

For our fourth weekend, we had another guest facilitator. Mary came to us from Crooked House Theatre Company in Kildare. This weekend, Mary took us through topics and techniques of a genre of theatre called Theatre of the Oppressed.

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Mary explained a bit of the rich history of this genre, which started with the work of Augosto Boal in the early 1970's in Brazil. Theatre of the Oppressed started when Boal, a Worker's Party activist, performed plays about the injustices farmers faced in Brazil to actual farmers in Brazil. Theatre of the Oppressed has become a type of rehearsal theatre, where the actors are the people from the areas of the oppression being addressed, in which the oppressed peoples act out solutions and strategies to better their situation.

To get the group comfortable with theatre work, we started out with many entertaining warm-­‐ups

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In one exercise, Mary walked around the outside of the seated group. Mary asked us to observe the body language of each seated person as Mary passed behind them.

We discussed Focus, and how expecting something can make a person act or react strangely. Everyone was focused on Mary walking around the group, and when Mary came close to passing behind someone, they generally would exhibit particular body language, like tensing their bodies or even closing their eyes, momentarily. We discussed the insecurities we feel when being focused on. We all became more aware of our body language after this brief exercise.

To get energized, the group stood in a circle with one chair in between each person, and one person in the middle of the circle. The person in the middle needed to grab an open spot when pairs from around the circle switched spots, usually by running across the circle. People in the periphery needed to swap spots by consenting silently with someone across the circle, usually with head shakes or certain eye contact. After many turns, everyone had the experience of standing in the middle and seeking a spot in the circle. The point of this game was to avoid focus. The game was definitely energizing!

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Then the group split into two groups to practice Image Theatre. Image Theatre is when the participants' bodies are the only materials with which to create images.

Usually, the groups needed to express objects, like "Something inanimate you see in nature, An object from the kitchen you usually don't think about," etc. For example, as pictured above, the participants needed to figure out how to position their bodies to collectively create an "airplane"...

A rolling pin...

A seashell...

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A mountain...

And to even express concepts. Concepts are harder to depict with the participants' bodies in Image Theatre, because participants first usually need to debunk the images audiences might think of when attempting to portray a concept like "Violence." Mary explained the difference between making the form of a gun when depicting Violence-­‐-­‐the gun as an image is not violent, the intentions of people are what make the gun a tool of violence.

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One group attempted to depict "Sexism." The other group attempted to depict "Corruption." This group did an excellent job in using their number of participants as spots along a possible trail of Corruption. As pictured above, the group created a dynamic line that started with a very low, fallen figure with an out-­‐turned hand. At the opposite end was a standing and smiling figure shaking an in-­‐between figure's hand. The in-­‐between figure was connected to a few others, whose faces were turned down and their hands were reaching into each other's hands. Those figures in the middle of the line seemed to be taking and passing something, which travelled all the way to the smiling and standing figure. It was easy for the observing group to assume that the figures were passing money, or resources, from the bottom of a chain to the top. It was easy for the observing group to guess almost right away that the image was of "Corruption." The group creating the image did a great job at expressing the image through depicted actions, rather than objects, for a change.

"Corruption," as seen from the back.

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In our last exercise of Image Theatre, the group broke into pairs to try a type of Image Theatre called "Sculpting." Sculpting essentially involves one partner sculpting the other into whatever image they aim to express. One partner was to sculpt their partner into an image of "victory." The sculpting partner could do so by moving their partners limbs and explaining how to hold facial expressions. The sculpting partner has to manipulate their partner to show exactly what they mean and the partner being sculpted cannot influence the image. The can only do what their sculpting partner instructs them to do. Then, the partners switch. The second sculptor needed to sculpt their partner into an image of "powerless."

One pair demonstrated a particularly disturbing representation of "power" and "powerless." The image of "power" was sculpted like a figure stomping the ground.

The image of "powerless" was sculpted like a figure crouching on the ground. When positioned together, the image created "oppression," as pictured above. Putting the two sculptures together created a very strong image of oppression and the opposition of power and the powerless. While very serious, this activity was helpful for the group to understand how Image Theatre can be used to address more sensitive topics.

After Image Theatre, we began plans for our two plays for Theatre of the Oppressed.

On the second day of the weekend, we would plan, rehearse, perform, and alter our plays in the participatory fashion of Theatre of the Oppressed.

Theatre as a tool for exploring development issues and raising awareness: Day 10

On the second day of our Theatre weekend, we focused on creating two plays in the style of Theatre of the Oppressed. While we have no pictures from this day, as we were all engrossed in creating the plays, we have the stories from the plays to share.

In two groups, all members set out to create meaningful and realistic plays. A main factor of Theatre of the Oppressed is the reality of the situations for the oppressed participants of the plays. So, each group aimed to choose an issue very relevant to the lives of the group members. One group chose to make their play about the issues migrants face in holding centers in Ireland. The other group centered their play around the powerlessness of the elderly who are often force by their family members into nursing homes.

As Mary explained, a plot for Theatre of the Oppressed always involves the Oppressed and the Oppressor. Other characters include an Ally, for each the Oppressor and Oppressed, and another supporting character who is usually a mediator of sorts.

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In personal reflection, I enjoyed learning the methods behind the Theatre of the Oppressed. I have based some workshop ideas off the style of theatre, and I think this type of theatre is a seriously creative discovery on Agosto Boal’s end, the originator of the style of theatre. I truly believe think this type of theatre exercise can liberate many types of people from their respective oppressions.

This weekend was particularly eye-­‐opening for me, in two ways. 1) I learned what styles of leading or facilitating I don’t like, and that I can personalize my approach in facilitation to express the positive side of my personality and integrity. 2) I learned more of the complexity between perspectives of the oppressed and oppressive: when I am in which position? Do I oppress anybody? If so, how? Where does this unconscious oppression come from? How can I check myself, and recognize the consequences of my actions? How can I be more responsible as a global citizen, and citizen of many unique communities? And on the other hand, am I oppressed at all? Yes. How so? What can I do to express the injustice in those situations? Who are my allies? How would creative activities help me in being liberated from my oppression? What steps do I already take in my life to fight my oppressions? How much of my life has been shaped by them?

This weekend was helpful in raising my awareness to my own actions and experiences.

It also helped me check my life, and myself and see that the ways I might be oppressed are ways to be conscious of my living experience, and to get better at caring for myself, in this world. I reflected a lot on my role as an individual, which for me is hard to most of the time: I almost always think about others first.

Peer Facilitation Training: Day 11

At the beginning of this weekend, we were given a brief to design, present, and facilitate a workshop, within a group, to develop our peers’ sense of global citizenship and creativity. We prepared ourselves mentally and emotionally by discussing the Head, Heart, and Hands of the ideal facilitator. We discussed our relations to the 5 ways to well-­‐being, and how we gauge ourselves between the 5.

We drew out what our ideal learning space looks like, and got into the proper mindset to begin brainstorming what we wished to deliver for our peers.

We broke into teams to plan our peer facilitation brief; my team included Aisling Furness and Therese. We started out brainstorming, with the guidance of global citizenship references, resources, and the advice of our facilitators. We discussed what was at the root of being capable of being a global citizenship, for us. We all concluded that the 5 ways to well-­‐being were vital for someone to have the capacities to care for others and the global situation; kind of like one’s needs, according to Maslow, would need to be met. We thought of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs when thinking about what one needs to be creative, as well. We focused on how we could encourage these root needs in our workshop, so as to encourage people to want to be global citizens. We thought Happiness must be at the core of global citizenship and creativity.

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We spent this first day planning and designing our idea and presentation of creative activities to foster Happiness. We felt pressured to make this idea globally relevant, and we spent time discussing critically, and planning appropriately. We decided on a cyclical system based off the 5 ways to well-­‐being: if one is Connected to themselves, their community or the global situation, they can help Give back to it; if one can Give and Connect, they are able to Take Notice of what needs receiving and connecting, initially; if one can do those three things, one can Keep Learning as a global citizen; if one can do those four things, one can Be Active as a global citizen; lastly, if one can do those 5 things, it brings it back to the ability to Connect.

We decided to start with info on the science of Happiness. Then we decided to offer time for participants to deal with their own happiness in an individualized activity.

Then we wanted people to be able to feel Happiness from Giving, so we decided on a group activity with clay and sculpting. We decided that our global focus was in the form of footsteps to Happiness, and would occur through discussion of what the group felt needs to be encouraged in the Me, Local, and Global aspect of practicing Happiness, and the actions we could take to promote those.

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Peer Facilitation Training: Day 12 On our second weekend day, groups finished preparing and actually presenting their workshops. I engaged fully with the other peer groups’ workshops and learned a lot about their respective topics: asylum seekers and immigration issues—human rights, food industry awareness, climate change, etc. After being a participant in my peers’ workshops, I prepared to present my own workshop the next day, with my team.

Peer Facilitation Training: Day 13

My peer facilitation We presented in the

team presented last. morning of the last

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day of our weekend. I remember being nervous but surprisingly confident and prouder of myself as the workshop was going on. My confidence grew from seeing our participants engage, and at least communicate with us if they didn’t wish to engage. I think our workshop made people feel comfortable and free to be happy, which satisfied our root concept: what do people need to feel creative and globally concerned? The creative activities were a hit, and many participants have come back to us later saying that they used the mandala activity, or the group gift-­‐giving idea, with clay. Here are some thoughts from the group that were offered as feedback in the feedback sessions of the last part of the day:

• Good intro of people and topics to expect in wkshp, slides were effective • Good use of different spaces, Exciting move to studio space, proper set up • Related to flow of 5 ways, gift giving was special, gentle process • Giving people time to create, always tell group how long people have to work creatively

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Liked working on each other’s works in clay activity, not too precious but still special • Check in during creative work, don’t leave people hanging • Did well not asking people to do an activity, but well to encourage people to participate, especially in potentially uncomfortable activities like meditation • Good support to participants

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Creative Activism: Day 14

In this weekend, I remember feeling nervous and anxious to be going out in to the city to create Creative Interventions. We began discussing how to encourage someone in the 5 ways of well-­‐being. My partner, Saoirse, and I had “Keep Learning.” We discussed ways, in a positive voice, to encourage someone to keep learning. This activity warmed us up to the positive voice we’d want to have in our Creative Intervention.

We also learned about particular projects by other artivists (artist + activist). Like, a project that occurred throughout India by an artivist and their group, who made henna portraits on their hands of missing persons to raise awareness for the persons and reflect on the fading of their presence, as the henna fades.

We received a brief for “Artivism.” Our task was to “design and implement a creative intervention in a public space that encourages the public to engage with their sense of

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Global citizenship.” We were asked certain questions like, “How will your intervention nurture others in their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior as global citizens? What changes do we want to happen? How can we maximize impact (after the intervention)? And more. We were given logistics and things to be aware of when intervening with the public.

So, my partner and I set out to research Cork. We wanted to walk through the city observing what we felt needed some attention or raised awareness about, in terms

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of encouraging the public to engage with their sense of Global citizenship. We liked most the moments within the city of Cork where/when you can feel/visualize the history—like an antique photo of the Cornmarket hung on the building at the mouth of the Cornmarket. We felt even this image on this building wasn’t noticed enough, so we thought of ways to bring history and tradition to the fore of people’s minds.

We were inspired by the market and food in general, and in looking to make point of Global awareness and citizenship, we thought of traditional foods of the various cultures that exist, today, on the streets of the Cornmarket. Then, we thought of the area of the Cornmarket, its proximity to North Main St, and to Shandon Street. These streets are some of the oldest in the city of Cork. As shown in the map below, North Main street was the main street in the 1600s—it was the first road in Cork City. So we gathered materials from the cultural centers around Cork, and researched more.

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We took to planning. Here is a mapping out of our ideas. We based our ideas on the history, culture, and the sharing of these cultures currently incorporated into the most ancient streets. We worked consciously to help people become more conscious of their role amongst these three streets, and the whole community, and the whole world, as the various cultures come from. We decided we wanted to create an intervention that boosted people’s self-­‐confidence, so that people felt encouraged to express themselves. We wanted to show positivity so that people felt positive about the different cultures in the area. We want to try to change mindsets around learning in public, and ultimately around intervening in the city, by demonstrating.

With our short time frame for planning, we decided to focus on something everyone can relate to and something obviously sold by the various cultures on the ancient streets: food. Further, we thought of something positive: sweets. Then, we thought about what we wanted to tell people, which was mostly: there are many delicious sweets and foods from all of the cultures that are on these ancient Cork streets, which are available to everyone who are open enough to try. We planned to offer the details of the cheapest/most accessible sweets at each cultural food shop on North Main, Shandon, and the Cornmarket streets, which meant: Polish, Eastern Asian, African, Indian, and Irish. We decided we’d make fun, informational cards to pass out to people, and title our project “Three Streets, World Sweets.”

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Creative Activism: Day 15

On the morning of our creative intervention, my partner and I crafted our cards to distribute to the public. We designed double sided cards that we printed and cut by hand. We passed out over 400 cards over the course of the day!

We took to the streets that we focused our project on—North Main, Shandon, and the Cornmarket St. We talked to people, passed out our information, and shared some of the delicious sweets from the different cultural shops on our streets. Thankfully, people didn’t mind taking sweets from strangers, and we were able to chat with many good people about our project. We shared our project with the owners of the shops involved. Most of the owners were very supportive and excited by our creative and educational intervention! At the end of the day, we had no sweets left, and only a few cards.

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Creative Activism: Day 16

On the last day of our Creative Intervention weekend, I created a powerpoint explaining the weekend experience. The powerpoint can be viewed at: http://issuu.com/halliemorrison/docs/three_streets_world_sweets

The other groups and partners shared their interesting experiences of their creative interventions in Cork City. All were proud and felt accomplished!

Course Closure/ Showcase & Evaluation: Day 17

On our last weekend, we spent time working on our toolboxes, which was productive. Then, in the afternoon, we were allowed time for the group to freely share any workshop ideas, information sessions, discussions, etc. that we were practicing in our own works outside of the course. I didn’t share anything, as I felt self-­‐conscious and that I couldn’t share anything. I’m in the midst of a Masters of Arts in Creative Process, which at times is overly academic and self-­‐indulgent—for this I felt that I didn’t have info to share on my efforts with encouraging individuals in the ways of well-­‐being, global citizenship, popular education, etc. I participated in excellent and inspiring activities and info sessions by some of my peers, on efforts like My Plastic Life and the awareness around the harmful nature of plastic production, as delivered by Anne. I learned a lot in that impromptu session she held, which was entirely based off her own environmental interests and the creative research she has encountered in learning more about conserving plastic. I love the way Anne delivered the session. I’ve been inspired by the info and resources she pointed us to, and have used some of the resources in other creative work I have done this semester. I really enjoyed what everyone shared; like, Therese and Joanne’s drawing meditation activity that they use with elderly groups. It is a sketching exercise I like to use as daily as possible.

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Course Closure/ Showcase & Evaluation: Day 18

Our last day was my birthday! I think our 18th session, happening on the 18th of April, and it being my birthday, had everyone in great spirits.

The day was filled with positive reflection and celebratory surprises, for birthdays and thank yous. We ended the programme with a gift giving around the circle, of imaginary gifts we sculpted from imaginary clay.

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