The activities of the AwArtMali project continue, coordinated by Tamat NGO, co-financed by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) of the European Commission, in partnership with ISMU, Giusti Eventi, CONGENIA, Instrategies, Cardet and Farneto Teatro.
AwArtMali takes “TUNKA” TO BAMAKO to raise awareness through theatre
After two performances in Oagadougou, Burkina Faso, “TUNKA. L’aventure “, the show created and organized by the partner Farneto Teatro to inform and raise awareness on the risks of migration, has landed in Mali. The first four dates took place in four different areas of the city: different neighbourhoods and audiences that allowed further development and verification of the mise-en-scène.
On January 29th, the show was staged on the Théâter Acte Sept terrace – city’s historical organization – welcomed by a large audience, especially young people but also culture and entertainment operators, and by the centre director: one of the most important personalities of the Malian scene, Adama Traoré, a great supporter and pioneer – among other things – of the social intervention theatre in Mali. Traoré intervened at the end of the show, underlining the method adopted to deal with a delicate, engaging and sensitive theme (showing and informing), and the interpretative quality.
On January 30th , the show took place in Theater Blomba, a multiplex active in all disciplines and very popular: at the show – in the evening, after a stimulating meeting on internet-related issues (strengths and limitations of the network) promoted by the Institut Francais (“La nuit des idées”) – over one hundred people attended, university students but also families from the neighborhood.
On January 31th , in the morning, the show was greeted with great enthusiasm by the students of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédia Balla Fasséké Kouyaté (together with those of a nearby high school). The Conservatory is a beautiful complex of structures, gardens and open spaces that “ensures the artistic and professional training of creators in the field of plastic arts, dance, design, multimedia crafts, music, theatre and cultural engineering”. Doctor Fofana, general manager, who spoke after the show, insisted on the importance that theatre treats these issues at high levels of interpretative quality and hoped for future collaborations (the project’s theatre team will meet up with the Conservatoire before the end of the tour). The students of the dramatic arts department – also the administrative director Diakité, and Kulibali, the head of department – stopped for a long time to ask questions to the director Luca Fusi and the actors on the dramaturgy construction, the working method, the interpretation choices.
On February 1st, at 5.30 pm, the show took place in a particularly popular city district, Dialakorodji, where the Happy Theatre group has been working for a few years: a young complex, which produces and hosts, works in schools with teachers and animates the neighbourhood. Assitan Tangara, the group director, together with Honorine Diama (in turn director, author and actress), not only organized the show in the neighbourhood by choosing the CinemaSo space (home of the cinema), but collaborated on the organization of the tour in Bamako. The show was attended by numerous children and families, who followed with great attention (even the children!) and participation, applauding warmly. The Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Mali, Bart Ouvry, was present and intervened at the end of the show: the appreciation for the show and its objectives and his presence were an important sign for the project and also for the neighbourhood, underlined by the people friendliness.
“TUNKA” is now preparing the tounée in Kati and in 14 identified rural villages, and will return to Bamako on February 20th at the Institut Français.
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What is AwArtMali
AwArtMali aims to contribute to the change of perceptions and behaviour of Malian people looking to irregular migration towards the EU as the only solution to their socio-economic problems.
The action is intended to reach and involve Malian people in order to make them aware and inform them on the risks of irregular migration, on legal alternatives and on economic opportunities available in their country with a multistakeholder approach consisting in awareness campaign and information activities.