pics4peace is the topic of the theater project with Wolfsmehl in Augsburg

How can we strengthen the strengths of children in difficult life situations, give them more self-confidence, motivate them to stand up for more justice, mutual respect and consideration, to take a stand against exclusion of others and bullying, to work for the improvement of their situation?

These were the questions the cooperation partners asked themselves as part of the federal program "Kultur macht stark." The Friedrich-Bödecker-Kreis (FBK) Bayern takes over the authorship and is the sponsor.

The Martinschule Special Education Center is the venue for the weekly workshops after school. The students are very heterogeneous in terms of their linguistic, cultural and social backgrounds. All activities are therefore always about supporting them in their emotional-social development. In the course of media education, the students are involved and made participants, not only to better understand how to use media, but also to use it creatively. Especially when it comes to everyday problems in dealing with others. This also plays a role in the theater project.

The starting point for pics4peace is: Picking up young people where they are, taking up their concerns, encouraging them or - as in this case - guiding them to implement them creatively, in order to find ways of action for what everyone - no matter how young - can do against injustice, suffering or exclusion and bullying, if they notice it.

An Artist and Author of plays and radio dramas, Wolfsmehl leads the workshops. Every week, he works out scene after scene with the students. The kids decide what it's about. They take up their problems, points of contention, weak points and annoyances. They talk about them and think about how things should be. It becomes their pics4peace; their scenic pictures, enriched by their music, about what moves them, annoys them, scares them and about what everyone can do to make it better: Scenic pics4peace, scenic pictures for more justice and peace among each other. And we report about it again and again.

In the end, the play is performed not only at the Martin School, but also at the S'ensemble Theater, which is an integral part of the cultural scene in Augsburg. The stage for contemporary theater enjoys a high reputation, not least because of its many successful premieres. The workshop for drama reacts promptly to current developments. The Youth Ensemble also includes children and young people who have come to us as a result of flight and expulsion. Therefore, it was no question for the Theater Director Dr. Sebastian Seidel to support the Kultur-macht-stark initiative.

We will keep you informed!

(Photo left: Georg Braun, Chairman FBK; right: Wolfsmehl, Author)