Urbanites
Offers people with disabilities a theatre
In 2019, Stedelingen was created, a partnership between Parktheater Eindhoven, Stichting Carte Blanche and care organization Lunet. The goal of Stedelingen is to offer people with intellectual disabilities a theatre.
In preparation: Stedelingen IV
After three high-profile editions, work is underway on the next performance: Stedelingen IV. Due to financial challenges, the production cannot go ahead this year. However, the partners are in talks with new funds and sponsors to make a fourth edition possible. As soon as there is more clarity, news about the schedule and program will follow.
Making creative talents visible
The first performance in 2019 was a great success and ensured, that the creative possibilities and talents of this often misunderstood group of people in our society became visible. This collaboration was followed up in 2022 with the performance The King is Dead, Long Live the King. In 2024, the third Townspeople production was released. Suikerspinsels en Messenwerpers could be seen on October 12 and 13, 2024 in Parktheater Eindhoven.
Reason for Stedelingen was the wish of Lunet, to give a face to clients of Lunet, who have creative talents, but are not or hardly visible. Carte Blanche has experience with both people with disabilities and working within theater and visual arts. The Parktheater wants its programming to be meaningful for society and is always looking for new forms of theater making.
The cooperation partners have a common ambition in the domain between care and art. Stedelingen shows the added value of a diverse society and stands for inclusiveness. The actors and staff behind the scenes are both people with and without disabilities. Stedelingen adds value to the city.
Stedelingen III - Sugar Plums and Knife Throwers
In the third edition of the project Stedelingen, Carte Blanche, Lunet and the Parktheater present the miraculous performance Suikerspinsels en Messenwerpers. This could be seen on Saturday October 12 and Sunday October 13 in the Hertog Jan Zaal of Parktheater Eindhoven.
This performance, based on the clown drama Saltimbank by Herman Heijermans, takes af in the dressing room of a circus. While in the background all kinds of dizzying acts pass in review, in the foreground we check how dependent people are on each other. Boundaries are pushed back because people do not give up but persevere. What is strange becomes normal. And is what is real really real? Themes such as envy, love, secrets, closeness and family emerge strongly in this world of tightrope walkers, clowns and acrobats.
Sugar Plums and Knife Throwers: the exhibition
In addition to the performance, there is an exhibition in the same theme. Experience the circus in the beautiful art nouveau style of yesteryear. Think of stylish circus posters, objects, ceramic artworks and paintings that completely blend into the theme of the show.
View some photos from the performance here:
"In search of happiness, with a disability
The Eindhovens Dagblad (ED) published a nice article about Stedelingen: "'invisible' people with disabilities being put in the spotlight."
Read the article here
Cooperation partners
The cooperation partners have a common ambition in the domain between care and art. Read more about the partners here:
Carte Blanche
Carte Blanche
Carte Blanche is an artists' collective. The artists who work here, in addition to making their own performances, give space to talents with disabilities and obstacles. At Carte Blanche, disabilities are not a hindrance but rather the engine for making art. At Carte Blanche, art is always both means and end. By working carefully and attentively with our actors and theater makers, we are able to create performances of artistic quality.
But rehearsals and performances also have a positive effect the other way around, not only on artistic development, but also on the well-being of the actors with disabilities and the theater makers. So for us, care and theater always go hand in hand. Keeping in mind that making theater is our main objective!
This working method proves time and again to connect. Not only within Carte Blanche, but also outside with other parties, other people and different domains. Carte Blanche 's theater makers work from a method that most closely resembles Baert's 'presence theory'. Baert assumes that as an educator, caregiver or, in the case of Carte Blanche theater maker, you always include yourself. You relate to each other from person to person. In this way, you stand side by side rather than in a hierarchical structure.
At Carte Blanche, we find that when we as creators also make ourselves vulnerable, we get to hear and check much more from the people who work with us, that they are thereby invited to give more as human beings and as actors.
Because we are convinced that we can learn from each other, actors with and without disabilities stand together on the performance floor as equal colleagues.
At Carte Blanche, actors with and without disabilities work together, based on the conviction that we can learn from each other. As much as possible, the creators of the performance take into account the capabilities of the participants. There is a constant eye for the differences and the friction it can evoke. But even more we encourage working together, interest in and respect for each other.
Lunet care
Lunet care
The Lunet zorg foundation supports people with a mental disability. Every day 2,550 professionals and 1,150 volunteers are ready for 2,800 clients for living and work, day care and leisure, at nearly one hundred locations or in the own/parental home in the Southeast Brabant region. Lunet Zorg aims with its work and assistance to people with mental disabilities to a good life for everyone and check that this is often very difficult for people with disabilities (physical, mental or social).
In doing so, we focus on the client's abilities and look for partners to achieve the goals with. Cohesion, own strength and help only where and when needed are important points in the care of Lunet Zorg. The employees work from the dialogue and on the basis of equality with the client. Participation in society is important for everyone and work is an important part of it. Lunet Zorg realizes that care is more valuable when there is cooperation with others. Together we can explore what clients excel in, what they mean to society and to others. Therefore, this project is right up Lunet Zorg's street.
Lunetzorg has clients with suspected acting talents, as well as musicians (drum band) and people who like to roll up their sleeves in groups.
Parktheater
Parktheater
Besides offering performances, Parktheater also has a social purpose. Parktheater wants to be of significance to the city by entering into new connections and new collaborations, by thinking openly and differently, being creative and letting inspiration do its work.
Parktheater Eindhoven sees it as its task to complement Eindhoven's strong, technical side with the arts; to strengthen, utilize and challenge them. Parktheater wants to play a leading role in the "Touchable Society": an inspiring, inclusive, sharing and healing society.
The Parktheater believes in the power of culture for target groups with a distance to the theater and would like to enrich the region's care with this knowledge by entering into collaborations in the care and social domain, locally, regionally and nationally.
Employees and participants have their say
Stedelingen is made possible in part by:
Culture Eindhoven | VSB Fund | Fund for Cultural Participation
Art and culture in care
The function of art and culture within care is a subject of research and discussion. There is a growing belief that these art and cultural activities have an added social value for the people who make use of care services. We hope to contribute to the documentation of art within care with Stedelingen.
Stedelingen shows that the program has positive effects, but also that people want more afterwards. They are activated, amazed because they have past event activated on a piece of 'me' that people from care did not yet connect with or did not connect with enough. Clients discovered that they can do new things well and make great strides creatively, which adds a lot of value to the daily care supervision of these clients. Because caregivers are part of the theater play, they check the clients with different eyes, they check other talents and 'the person behind the client'.
It would be nice if Stedelingen could contribute to adjusting the policy within the care domain and if cultural interventions could become part of day care.
The wellbeing of the individual is paramount. This is in line with the broad thinking on health as expressed, for example, in the concept of Positive Health.
Positive Health is about the contribution made to people's ability to cope with the physical, emotional and social challenges in life. It looks at bodily functions and daily functioning but also at mental well-being, meaning, quality of life and social participation.
Together you know more
- Cooperation partners start 'Proeftuin' with other care and welfare partners in the province with the aim of gathering innovative insights regarding cultural power in care.
- Lunet is conducting research into the effects of theater on the positive
health of clients of Lunet. This effect measurement gives insight into the power of culture in people with intellectual disabilities.
Performances on healthcare topics
Theater is pre-eminently a means to tell stories from care. There are quite a few topics that theater makers take a close look at. Stories about clients and their health problems, stories about family and staff. The beauty of performances about healthcare is that they can help make issues visible or discussable, or make healthcare professionals and others think. Or put them into perspective.
