FK Exchange Program Inter Cultural awareness programs – Norway, Ethiopia, South Africa, Uganda, Thailand – 2001 – 2019
FK is a Norwegian Government project that seeks to promote development and cross cultural understanding through a program of professional exchanges between Norwegians and their counterparts from Africa, South America and South East Asia. Professions represented can include engineers, doctors, environmental and agricultural project workers.
Before their exchange, each group of participants are brought together for a two week briefing on a Preparatory Course. On this Wolf + Water deliver the “Inter Cultural Challenges” training, using drama and other participatory methods with participants to explore the psychological and practical impacts of leaving ones own culture and arriving in another.
The training is both in the psychology of culture shock, but also uses role play to enable participants practice facing their biggest personal challenges.
Arts Wave Devon, Torrington 2015
Bluecoat Primary school Bollywood dance, Fire and Water
Year 2 students at the Bluecoat Primary learned the art of Bollywood dance under the expert guidance of dance teacher Karina Gracia.
Bollywood is a fusion of Eastern and Western dance and evolved from the Indian film business. It’s highly addictive for the mind, body and the soul. It’s colourful, it’s vibrant, it’s beautiful and it’s infectious
Two groups from the school worked throughout the autumn term to create unique performances exploring the significance of fire and water in Indian culture.
The children performed as part of the Fire and Water Celebration event at the Torrington ‘Christmas lights switch on’ 2015
Saints & Springs – Wells & Wishes, Great Torrington School
Was an integrated multi arts project between Great Torrington School and people with learning disabilities.
Peter Harris delivered a week of exciting drama, movement & music sessions bringing together year 11 pupils from Great Torrington School and local adults with learning difficulties who spent the week diving into the theme of springs, wells & sacred shrines in Torrington & North Devon and worked together to create a strange magic world where anything might happen,
Answering such questions as “what are they about then?” “can wishes really come true?” & “how did St Nectan manage to run all around North Devon for that length of time even though his head cut off?”.
The enchanting performance was performed at the Plough Arts Centre as part of the grand finale of arts wave Torrington ‘Fire and Water’.
Tarka Pottery
Worked with children from the North Devon Home School group at the Tarka Potter Studios. The children made a clay oil burners, incorporating the themes of fire and water using coil and pinch pots techniques.
They learnt how to decorate their finished pieces using a variety of techniques including using coloured decorating slips in red, yellow & orange and a scraffito technique to draw flames around the base and up the sides, dripping coloured slips or glazes to give the impression of water running down. Cutting out fish, underwater animals, sun or flame shapes to allowed the light out in the base of the burner; using glass beads to create a water effect in the bowl as part of the glazing; using shells, seaweed and coral to impress texture.
Meet Me At The Plough
As part of ‘Fire & Water’ we supported the Plough Arts Centre in Torrington launch their “Meet Me At The Plough’ project providing a weekly afternoon creative skills sharing drop in sessions for older people.
Sessions included decoupage, wire craft, painting, sketching and more under the expert guidance of workshop leader Sophie Evans.
The ‘no experience necessary’ sessions provided an opportunity to share skills and talents with others or just have a go at learning something new in a relaxing environment with great company. This project has continued to meet beyond the life of ‘Fire and Water’
The work from these projects was placed in an exhibition at the Plough Arts Centre as part of the arts wave devon celebration event.
What a wonderfully relaxing and creative environment in which to learn new skills and make friends
A Midsummer Nights’ Dream 2012
A re working of Shakespeare’s classic set in the trenches of World War One with our Many Directions group of adults with learning difficulties.
Throughout this 8 month project we explored together the complexity of human relationships, and how “love can become like a battlefield”.
The Work Place Project – North Devon 2011
Brought together members of our Many Directions group to explore the world of work & meaningful activity for people with learning difficulties.
Over a two week period using arts work & digital stills we created a short film looking at these issues.
WestEnders Comedy Show
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The FK Retrospective – Oslo, Norway 2009
Fredskorpset is an arm of the Norwegian government’s Department for Foreign Affairs who we have been proud to work with on their program of international development for nearly 20 years now.
In 2009 we were commissioned to create a bespoke performance with past FK participants on the theatre boat Innvik to celebrate the organisations anniversary using performance, music & dance.
The Ballad of Boozo the Clown – Many Directions – 2009
An everyday story of a Parisian alcoholic suicidal clown whose life disintegrates further and further.
The only non professional performance to be listed in the Guardian newspapers “Top Ten Shows” of the year.
Modig – residency & performance – Ottestad Steinerskoken – Hamar, Norway – 2006
This was our second residency with twenty 8 – 15 year olds with learning difficulties to combine them with a great group of twenty “mainstream” 9 year olds to create a huge outdoor multi media public performance on the theme of bravery involving giant puppets, dragons and …biscuits.
Staff member
The way you connected with the children, particularly the ones who were most withdrawn, was magic!
Class Teacher
The day you left the class had real heartache! Thank you so much for your work, words, music…I’ve learnt so much in such a short time. I hope we will see you again – We miss you!
‘The VP Team’ Film & Workshop Program- North Devon, UK 2003
We were invited by a group of adults with learning difficulties to come and help them make a film about the government’s ‘Valuing People’ white paper, the document which set out how people with learning difficulties should be treated by the services that serve them & society in general.
The obvious danger from the outset was that making a video about a government white paper ran the risk of being as exciting as making a film about paint drying…that is until one of the group suggested we do it in the style of the 80’s action series ‘The A Team’…and thus the ‘VP Team’… featuring Choice, Ms Independence, Ms Inclusion & the mysterious Captain Consequence…was born.
Having escaped from “Grimstone Maximum Security Centre for the Mentally Retarded” our heroes live on the edges of society, helping other people with learning difficulties in need…
Over six months we devised a series of episodes around issues pertinent to the group – relationships, person centred planning, personal safety, health and independent living, and then spent a hectic two weeks filming in health centres, police stations, graveyards and best of all, pubs.
Audience member
Congratulations to you andthe team for the film – it was fabulous. The film and the atmosphere it generated kept a smile on my face for days – in fact i’m still smiling now. The acting throughout the film was just superb: and I now want to know why the BBC haven’t bought the whole series – and i mean that. Well done Wolf + Water
David Rolls – Community is Key fund
Fascinating … very witty, to the point, excellent ‘process’,
all local production ….great!
Part of Us Forever – 2003
An hour long film made with teenagers who have or have had cancer and leukemia and who wanted to create a film about their experiences that might help other young people in a similar position. Covering all aspects of the illness, from diagnosis, through treatment, through the effects on family and personal lives and through to recovery…or sometimes death – and reflecting on how the experience has changed them profoundly.
It is a funny, entertaining and touching film that is available from our online shop and is being used nationwide. So, come and meet Cancer the Clown (who only young people with cancer can see), find out what happens when your vomit goes radioactive, how many people you can stand asking you how you are before you resort to violence and sample the delights of Radiotherapy FM…
Copies are available on DVD
Others – Plymouth Drum Theatre, Devon, UK 2002 – 2003
A project working with Refugee First and Refugee Action, bringing together refugees living in Plymouth and young disaffected people from the city to share experiences, frustrations (sometimes which each other) and to devise a public performance.
With the refugee group being drawn from Bosnia, Iran, Russian and Macedonia, we explored the notion of being an outsider, an “other”, and how that related to the experiences of the disaffected young locals.
By time we reached our sell out performances both groups had learned a lot from each other, and worked together brilliantly to deliver two excellent shows, both which ended in standing ovations.
The whole process of the project was documented by both BBC Radio and television.
Excellent, revealing upsetting and wonderful
That was really very powerful indeed – excellent
European Conference on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution – Belfast, 1999
Over the years we have also provided various conferences with bespoke performances that aim to sum up and encapsulate the issues that are to be / have been discussed. This has included work for Mediation UK, Harvard University, Oslo University, Tromso University…and many others.
We were proud to be asked to be part of this conference, which, as the implications of the Northern Ireland Peace Agreement emerged, at the same time as the Balkans War was developing, turned out to be one of our most challenging jobs ever.
Macbeth Film – North Devon, UK – 1998
Was an ambitious project undertaken with adults with learning difficulties from High House Community Resource Centre & pupils from Great Torrington School, to create a full length 16 mm feature film (long before the days when you could make a film on a computer in your bed room!) adaptation of “Macbeth”. It was completed on a budget that equated to what it would cost to shoot 15 seconds of a TV soap opera at that time….
Mailout Magazine
Enthralling, confusing, provoking, uplifting, self indulgent, astonishing and hallucinatory by turns and sometimes simultaneously… I sat watching with my hand on the remote control looking to short cut and save time – but I never pressed it – greater praise has no reviewer
Channel Four Television
An extraordinary and admirably ambitious piece of work…this film deserves to be seen
Western Morning News
Stunning
Face Value – Exeter University 1997 -8 – Across Devon, Cornwall & London
“Face Value” was a performance and workshop package developed with Exeter University that basically took a cognitive behavioural therapy approach to issues of low self esteem and self harm and turned it into an audience interactive theatre performance. This toured to a variety of groups in hospital and youth service settings.
I found Face Value extremely powerful. It was incredible to realise the powerful impact that drama can carry and the positive results it can produce
Face Value changed the way in which I rationalise the problems I face on a day to day basis. The programme made difficult subject matter fun and you were able to absorb all the relevant information in an interesting way