Mapping

Mapping will be not be a Manifesto on how to make theatre, dance or music for early years, nor a Charter that sets rules on how to create the 'perfect' show. Rather it will be a Map that helps chart the sensitive relationship between young child and artist (the Key Elements of this relationship: the Contact, the Proposal, the Reaction and the Balance), when intersected with the fundamentals of the performing arts (the Filters: Sound, Word, Image and Movement).

The research path will help identify the first points of a dynamic map on the aesthetics of performing arts for early childhood. Two other researches will accompany the main one: A New Audience, the research on Audience Development, will focus on the recipients of the partners’ festivals and activities; and a research process focused on dramaturgy and direction, the Follow Up meetings.

The partnership, spread across the entire territory of the European Union, involves 18 partners from 17 European countries: theatres, institutions and artists who have established a deep relationship with early years over time, and who are willing to offer their specific know-how in developing this piece of research.

As part of the project Irish partner, Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, offered a Galway Doctoral Research Scholarship in Early Years Performance in 2019.

MAPPING (timeline here) will encompass:

• Early years' research and fieldwork;
• 19 Festivals in 14 different cities;
• A co-production project resulting in 16 different productions;
• A Final Event in spring 2022 that will host all the shows produced;
• A illustrated Map and Exhibition presented first at Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2022 and then in tour, and a book containing the illustrations of The Map by international artists.

Further Info Links

• Mapping EU