SCHOOL WORKSHOP PROPOSAL

ARTIST PROPOSAL

The company name: DUNIA YETU
Dunia Yetu means “Our Own World”.

The primary focus is on:
“Learning through sharing, experiencing and understanding”

Dunia Yetu is a constituted group of four artists from educational and artistic background.  Our organisation aims to provide a platform for cultural exchange in a more relaxed environment as opposed to formal education.

OUR VISION
We strongly believe in individual’s abilities to embrace one another as people and connecting with each other as human beings by learning about each other’s views and traditions and sharing these in a fun and more relaxed environment.  We believe that through our interactive activities we can bring a first account of African life and experiences to a British audience.
We have lived and experienced these traditions and we want to share this knowledge with the youth as well as the older generation and people with disabilities.
Young people, in a learning environment such as schools or out in the street can learn about the real life and cultures of the African continent; this will enable them to appreciate these cultures instead of having a pre-judgment of the unknown. Dunia Yetu believes that this will enable young people to understand, tolerate and respect each other’s views in the society that we live in. We believe and hope to share the view that: “There is something good about Africa; its culture and natural life”.

OUR PASSION
We are passionate about bringing African culture, its values (e.g. the respect for old people; the importance of listening to one’s parents and solidarity) and the roles of people within African societies to the youths as well as the older generation through a number of interactive and fun activities including workshops and demonstrations on drama, African dance, African songs, African music and story telling, using African tools and materials such as the Djembe (drums), spices, cloths/textiles, paintings.  Dunia Yetu believes that through these interactive activities, children/youths will learn that education, both in schools and in the home is important and that listening to one’s parents is also an important part of the learning process.
We hope, as a general viewpoint, to show to the British audience that similar things may have different meanings in different cultures.

WHAT WE DO
Theatre at your doorstep: we create drama-based exercises and activities that can be performed in schools or at venues of your choice (based on mutual agreement with Dunia Yetu). This can be achieved either in the form of theatre or of workshops. Examples of work done before include the drama-based piece entitled: “In His Shadow” and ‘Grand’Ma Tales’ as stated in the sections that follow.
We understand the safety issues involved in working with children, young people under the age of 18, or vulnerable adults. Our activities are carefully designed, planed and selected for the audience concerned.  We make sure that every person that is to work with vulnerable people has a valid CRB.

In summary Dunia Yetu provide a platform for cultural exchange in a more relaxed environment as opposed to formal education through:

• Drama/Theatre: Our pieces are very lively, including elements of music, drumming, dance.  

• African Story-Telling: Our story-telling activities are very lively, including drumming, miming and acting. These are unique stories that have been passed on from mothers to daughters for generations.

• African traditions:  This is a show and demonstration of different African tools, cuisine, spices and textile.

• Poetry.

Dunia Yetu can deliver these activities over a day, a week or more, depending on the type of programme requested.  For programmes that operate over a period of several weeks, Dunia Yetu offers a combination of workshops outlined below.

THE PROGRAMME WE PROPOSE: OUR WORKSHOPS
We currently offer a selection of ten sessions of workshops that can be delivered in schools or at venues of your choices.  The topics of workshops are as follows:

1. Workshop on African music and dances: in this workshop the audience learns about a variety of dances and songs from the African continents; there is a number of demonstrations in which the audience can take part and learn some of the dances.  We bring with us a range of items including African cloths and dance garments that the audience can try on to learn the dances.

2. Workshop on African textile, the history of cotton and attires.  In this workshop we bring a variety of African garments from different countries that the audience can get a feel of and even try on.  We complete the session with those interested wearing the garments, singing and dancing to a popular African song.  Pictures can be taken as souvenir.

3. Workshop on the impact of spices in the history of the world: this is also an interactive workshop.  Do you know where spices come from? Did you know that spices are not only used for food purposes? Did you know how spices are linked to the word “Karat”, frequently used when buying jewelry?  Did you know how spices are linked to astronomy or to the compass? Did you know why a Nile-Red Sea canal was built in 285-246 BC by Roman? Do you know where Venice's great wealth came from? This workshop will explore, through different stories told to the audience, the importance of spices and their contribution to the different relevant developments around the world. This workshop is not only educational, but fun and gives the audience an opportunity to see, discuss and experience different spices.

4. Grand’Ma tales: these are stories that are told by grandmothers and mothers, and have been passed on from one generation to another.  They are tales with moral endings to them (i.e. why children should listen to their parents or attend school).  Our story-telling activities are very lively, and include drumming, miming and acting.   This is in practice a live drama piece that is performed in front of the audience.

5. Workshop on Survival of women in Africa: this workshop focuses on the changing roles of women in African, the impact of Europe on these changes, and modern society Africa.  What do women do on the daily basis?  We use a number of visuals (photos, videos, PowerPoint projections, African tools and items) to bring to life the discussion and make it fun for the audience.

6. Workshop on Traditional and Modern African society:  this is a workshop on traditional roles of African men, women and children and how they have changed in modern society.  We will bring to the audience live experiences from Togo and Congo.

7. Workshop on Food from around the African Continent: this workshop is on culinary similarities and differences of a variety of African and European dishes.