“Songs of My Neighbours” Closing Symposium

Marking the end of “Songs of My Neighbours”, Center of Performing Arts Mitos is organizing the project’s Closing Symposium, during which the project’s activities and conclusions will be presented.

The Symposium will take place in Limassol on the 25th and 26th of April and will include discussions, presentations, performances, screenings, city walks and exhibitions. Organizations, artists and academics from Italy, Poland, Serbia, Israel and the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus will encounter each other and attempt to question the role of the Arts in matters of identity, Otherness, social justice and conflict transformation.

Singing, listening, dialogue and understanding- these simple mediums acting as the very essence of this project- were instigated by two questions:

“What will happen if we listen to each other’s songs?” “What will happen if we sing each other’s songs?”

The exchange of songs and stories between ‘Others’ during the phase of artistic research, between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, Poles and Jews, Italians and Roma, was the starting point of the project’s activity plan.

Songs of My Neighbours is a project co-funded by the Culture Programme of the European Union and the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Cyprus Republic, taking place between Fall 2013 and Summer 2015. This collaborative initiative, which takes place in Cyprus, Italy and Poland, aspires to facilitate dialogue and social justice between communities in zones of conflict through the arts and theatre.

Saturday, 25th April, 2015
These events are free and open to the public.

10.00am-2.30pm
Representatives of partner organizations will present the activities implemented within the context of “Songs of My Neighbours”, and will attempt to raise questions on the role of the Arts concerning issues of identity, Otherness, social justice and conflict transformation. The morning session will take place at the Theatre Museum of Cyprus.

Presenters: Pawel Passini, artistic director of neTTheatre (Centrum Kultury w Lublinie) from Poland; Fabio Tolledi, artistic director of Astragali Teatro (Eufonia) from Italy; Lukasz Walewski and project coordinators Elena Agathokleous and Diomedes Koufteros from Center of Performing Arts Mitos, Cyprus; and Dijana Milosevic, artistic director of Dah Teatar from Serbia. Presentations and discussions will be moderated by Dr. Stavros Stavrou Karayianni. Working language: English. Free entrance.

7.00pm
First screening of “Songs of My Neighbours” documentary
Production: Mitos (CY, 2015).
Duration: 35’ approx.
Dialogues: Polish, Italian, English, Greek, Turkish (with English subtitles).

7.45pm
Screening of documentary “Acting Together on the World Stage” Production: Department of Peacebuilding and the Arts, Brandeis University (USA, 2013).
Duration: 53’
Dialogues: English, Spanish (with English subtitles).
Dr. Lee Perlman, researcher at the Tami Steinmetz Peace Center of the University of Tel Aviv, will introduce the documentary.

9.00pm
Live music, presentations and narrations.

Evening events will take place at the Old Vinegar Factory, 34 Genethliou Mitella Street, Limassol. Free entrance.

Sunday, 26th April, 2015
Sunday events are open only to Symposium participants (by invitation only).

11.00am Historical tour of the Turkish Cypriot neighbourhood of Limassol.

12.00pm “My Neighbourhood”- photo exhibition by students of Agios Antonios High School.

1.30pm Lunch with traditional Cypriot music with Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot musicians.

MITOS’s activities focus on theatre productions, workshops, screenings, symposia and establishing a performance platform for the arts in Cyprus. Alongside this, MITOS gives emphasis to social issues of the local community and collaborates with European and international culture networks in order to support artistic mobility and exchange.

For further information, please contact T: 99985232 or visit songsofmyneighbours.eu and mitos.org.cy

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/l4c7tcp Twitter: @SongsOfMyNeighb

“Songs of My Neighbours” Coordinators: Elena Agathokleous, Diomedes Koufteros

The program is co-funded by the European Union Culture Programme under Strands 1.2.1/1.3.5, and by the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus.

Partners:
neTTheatre – Center for Culture, Lublin, Poland.
Astragali Teatro, Lecce, Italy.

The Grotowski Institute, Wroclaw, Poland.

Center of Performing Arts Mitos, Lemesos, Cyprus (project leader).

Associate Partners:
Brandeis University – Program for Peacebuilding and the Arts Dah Teatar
Cyprus Theatre Museum
Agios Antonios Highschool
Limassol Municipality
Old Vinegar Factory
Art History & Theory Lab – Cyprus University of Technology Zedem Media