Playground Balkan Juggling Project with socially disadvantaged kids

Kids = children from 6-14, youth from 15 to 25 Streetkids: Kids living, begging,working (selling chewinggums, cigarettes ..)on the street, hanging out on the streets in Prishtina,Tirana, Skopje Refugeekids: albanian kids in Kosova who can t go back to their villages, wartraumatised kids, kids who lost familymembers, serbian/roma kids in refugeecamps in Serbia/Mazedonia, UN protected serbian/roma communities in Kosov@ Poor Kids: from socially disadvantaged/poor families in the cities and countryside,orphans Kids with (dis) abilities

Who is doing the project
A group/collective of jugglers from Germany, Serbia, Kosov@, Mazedonia,Albania.
They are working as volunteers, , food and place to stay for free, we try to fondraise for covering the travelling expenses
The group is working together with local groups&collectives who help finding/providing a space, making contacts to the kids, helping with communication
After the workshops teachers and helpers are getting a “reference”/documentation from the Playground about their participation in the project and a copy of CD Rom and film.

What is a Playground
In 2000 the playground organized several juggling, music and creativity workshops for kids in Shutka/Skopje, childrensummercamp in Gjacove and Peje, refugeecamps and schools. more infos& pictures
The main idea is about creating a space where kids can get active by themselves, playing ,juggling, learning, creating, painting, making music, experimenting.

For Playground Balkan Juggling Project we want to concentrate mainly on the teaching of juggling with various instruments, as
“Juggling is supporting the abilities of concentration & koordination, feeling of rhythm, psychomotoric, right-left koordination, synchronisation between right and left brainside. It´s causing a meditative state of consciousness, mental relaxation and flow experience and happiness, which is activating the individual resources and strenghtening the whole personality.
Pois and Staff move the whole body, they are good for fitness training and usefull in varied places such as
Kindergardens, Sports, Youthwork, work with disabled people, Dance Pedagogy , therapy and rehabilitation.”

What the Playground Crew is doing:
Workshops and Shows&Animation
Teaching of Kids: learning to juggle with balls(clubes), spinning staff and pois, devilstick, diabolo.
At the beginning of the workshop the Playground Crew is doing a fire and fluoro show to introduce the various juggling toys to the kids
Then they are organizing a Playground (workshopspace) for a week , where kids can check out the toys and learn to play them by themselves, also they are learning how to construct juggling toys by themselves out of cheap materials/trash.
The playground can provide animation for about 30 kids, setting up workstations/rooms with different themes. If there is too much chaos and single workstations getting too overcrowded, the kids are going to be split in small working groups of 7-10 kids.
The playground is bringing/needs a soundsystem because music supports a lot the learning process.
There are Playground Sessions also at night/evening, where kids can play in floureszent light, and older kids/youth can try fireplaying.
Also part of the workshop&shows is bodypainting with floureszent&theatre colours and constructing/playing with masks.
In the end of the week there is going to be a party where kids/youth can present their own show, change into new characters by bodypaining and playing with the masks, and dance.

How to do it?
A Playground can happen in the public space like a park or garden, in youthcentres& schools, in social centres, @ refugee camps. The less physical structures (like rooms, garden fence, tents ect) the more teachers/helpers are needed to structure and care for the group/interested kids.

Documentation&Evaluation
Besides of writing a report, the playground balkan juggling project is going to be supervised with filming and taking pictures to make a short documentary film and an exhibition.

Future Perspectives:
The idea is that once a learning process has been initiated the kids are going on with juggling.
For this the Playground Crew will leave some professional juggling toys and material to the local crew and kids.
It would be good if afterward our workshops the participants could go on playing, meeting regularly, finding a space for juggling.
Also the Kids are getting a reference that they participated in the playground workshop.
Kids who participated in the workshops can be teachers of other kids in their social environment.
Also with getting more professional they also get the possibilities to set up a show for more commerical reasons: playing for restaurants, theatres,festivals or making shows on the street for tourists.

Financing:
-The playground is collecting donations from private persons and partyorganizers/collectives,

- we try to make some money by selling our music and films on www.theplayground.de/mailorder.htm

-we are looking for sponsors,fonds,organisations , who give financial support to the Balkan Juggling Project, especially for travelling expenses.

-also we are looking for local groups who want to invite/do the Playground. So its possible to do cooperations in fondraising, for example local groups can use(work on) this concept to find financial support and helping hands for space, material, local crew, food, kitchen.

Dates/Projects 2005

Bosnia: beginning/middle August

Kosov@ and Mazedonia: September/ Oktober

more about Balkan Projects and Playground Tour