As a continuation of our previous project, CATCH (Creative Arts for Change), we followed it up this year with CAPE (Creative Arts for Peace and Equality), bringing ten female artists from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan for ten intensive days of workshops in different artistic practices and their uses in social therapy. The ladies spent their ten days with us in Anfeh in June 2019, learning about social therapy, clowning and improv, art therapy and multimedia from professionals from Lebanon and Sweden, as well as getting in some much needed beach-time during breaks!
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REPORT ON CAPE 2019/2020 on the Clowns Without Borders Sweden website
“We had so much to absorb in so little time but there was a beautiful support system […] I love to see how the simple tools that they gave us during the training (and a little bit of love) can make so much difference.”
Helena, CAPE workshop participant
Besides learning these things for themselves, a main aspect of this workshop involves training and enabling other women in turn. Our participants then worked in their respective countries with groups of women and teens, acting as trainers and facilitators in these fields for several months. The social therapy tools they acquired helped the participants establish the basics of team-building and create a safe space for the participants, whereas the clowning sessions help to let go and bring out the creative side, also using it to help participants tell difficult stories in a light-hearted and humorous way. Expressive arts and multimedia were used as tools for expression and storytelling in a tangible medium.
“Thank you for showing me how powerful I am, I’ve tried things I never thought I could do”
CAPE sessions participant
All of these separate workshops across the four countries had their challenges and breakthroughs. One of the most important results of the sessions that we noticed across the different groups was the way that they managed to create amazing and dynamic teams that became very close over the course of their sessions, despite differences in age, background and experiences. Through our initial ten participants, we’ve now reached over 300 persons!
” I’ve never felt so close to anyone, but with every session I felt we were a family”
CAPE sessions participant
CAPE (Creative Arts for Peace and Equality) is a collaboration between Clown Me In (Lebanon), Palestinian Circus School (Palestine), Al Balad Theatre (Jordan) and Clowns Without Borders (Sweden).
The project is financed by The Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA)
هذا المشروع بالتعاون بين جمعية “Clown Me In” (لبنان)، و”مدرسة سيرك فلسطين” (فلسطين)، و”مسرح البلد” (الاردن)
و”مهرّجون بلا حدود” (السويد). بتمويل من“The Folke Bernadotte Academy”
Clown Me In 