Dynamic Dialogues will be back in Helsingborg in early spring 2012, register already here if you want to take part!
Making a cultural institution the anchor point for a divided community
In Helsingborg, Clear Village collaborates with Helsingborg City Theatre, to host a series of Labs that we call the “Dynamic Dialogues” to co-vision the future of life in the City, support and link all cultural players and develop cultural productions, performers and places. We invited inhabitants from the whole community of Helsingborg to participate and contribute to the Dynamic Dialogues Lab series. In the two Labs held so far, the more than eighty participants count young students, council officials, an Imam, Priests, non-religious people, engaged inhabitants, creative businessmen and –women, academic researchers, actors from the theatre, urban planners and many many more.
A brief background on Helsingborg
Helsingborgs population is segregated by an invisible boarder just behind the main station into an economically safe conventional North and the deprived or financially exposed inhabitants of the South. The Dynamic Dialogues Labs aim to be a safe platform that connects the community of all citizens, facilitate an open discussion and create understanding between the different segments of society. We empower all to have a vision for their City and to trust their own ability to making change happen. Helsingborg City Theatre has initiated the Dynamic Dialogues and they offer themselves as a hub for the change-makers, that stands as an offer, but not a limitation to all engaged, participating and affiliated with cultural change.
The Lab Process
The Dynamic Dialogues Lab Series is participatory design in action. Each Dynamic Dialogues Lab facilitates the meeting of diverse stakeholders in Helsingborg. The Labs presents the participants with energetic discussions, powerful meetings, inspiration and equal participation for all. In between the Labs, recommendations are followed and suggestions implemented –by the Theatre, the participants, the City, all together or however appropriate for each particular initiative.
Dynamic Dialogues #II builds on the outcomes of Dynamic Dialogues #I and builds on the wish for a community driven “Cultural Cabinet”. This should in particular focus on how inhabitants, the free agents, the independent cultural scene and the institutions can collaborate to continuously fulfill Helsingborg’s appetite for culture.
In the following months, Clear Village, The Helsingborg Theatre and the Cultural Cabinet continue the collaborative process to explore and work with the cultural drivers for change in the City. Consequently, the realm in which we are working integrates stageplays with all other parts of the creative sphere, from graphical, spatial and musical elements, to those less associated with theatre, such as football, skateboarding –and, in fact, the Dialogues themselves.
The outcomes of the Dynamic Dialogues are so far:
+ Pupils from 3 different schools in the periphery of Helsingborg have been working together on writing, creating and practicing for a musical in the Theatre. This great initiative is called Wag The City Hbg and is a collaboration between the Helsingborg City Theatre and the independent theatre group, Spiritus Mundi. Read here about the project.
+ The Autumn programme of the Helsingborg Theatre on the Foyer stage has been bubbling with inspiring content and productions acting directly on the suggestions from the Dynamic Dialogues #1.
+ The Cultural Cabinet performed at the H+ “Smack Bang in the People’s Harbour” on December 17th, only one month after their establishment.
Click here for a more detailed report of Dynamic Dialogues Lab #2
