About

Caravan Next is a large-scale Social Community Theatre collaborative project connecting professional artists with communities and citizens in a network of theatre organisations and cultural institutions all over Europe.
The concept of Social Community Theatre is to use art and theatre to promote community empowerment. It is an art form that expands the traditional concept of both “theatre” and ”audience” and rethinks theatre as a process of meeting and exchange between local citizens and professional artists. In this process, the participators from the community are co-authors and co-actors of the final product. Thus, Social Community Theatre is also a way to get into contact with present challenges of the different communities and to establish new networks.
Social Community Theatre events often take place outside regular theatre buildings and include activities such as parades, festivals, outdoor performances, workshops, visual installations, cultural barters and other forms of artistic interventions.

With a circulation of at least 300 cultural professionals and more than 300 cultural events Caravan Next will connect Europe and other countries in the world and create thousands of new relationships.
The activities will be performed in 16 different European countries: Belgium, Bosnia, Greece, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia and The Netherlands. Furthermore there will be 5 international conferences to share knowledge and experience in United States, Uruguay, Taiwan, Australia and Morocco as well as in 5 countries within Europe.
During Caravan Next activities, people who do not normally attend cultural events will be engaged: old and young people, children, families, foreigners and people in a condition of social fragility. 800 people are to be involved in each MICRO event and 8000 people in each MACRO event. Furthermore, many of the activities will be live streamed becoming available for people from all over the world.

Caravan Next uses digital technology to expand the range of participants, audience and creative contribution. We use digital technology also as a tool for direct interaction and engagement with the Caravan Next partners, as a way to create cross-country collaboration and connectivity, and as a mean to enhance and expand community engagement. This will be done by developing a digital puppet and a mascot to be integrated elements in the Caravan Next events crossing Europe, by using live streaming in connection to both artistic events, conferences and community workshops, and by the development of an App based on feedback from participants and new explorative ideas formed from the specific needs of each event.

The process of living methodology plays an important role in Caravan Next. The methodology of Social Community Theatre in itself connects existing knowledge and theories with the living experience and the practical knowledge emerging from the artistic and community life. With methodical supervision the partners are provided with a common cultural background about Social Community Theatre as well as with the possible strategies and various instruments to keep a direction in the artistic process. Furthermore, the process of exploration, research and reporting from an academic point of view is prioritised in order to strengthen the academic knowledge base of Social Community Theatre. Much may be discovered in the process and by the end of the project, the methodology itself will be improved.