Feminist education

While reviewing the materials which documented the several years of the existence of TERAZ POLIŻ, we realised how much of the group’s activities fell into the non-production field. Initiatives such as workshops for young people on the subject of hate speech or projects popularising feminist drama prove that performing arts have a strong pedagogical potential. Theatre pedagogy, however, is not only about using theatre tools for learning and playing, but also about thinking about the theatre institution in a deeper way – not only as a place where performances are produced and staged, but also as a space for meetings, dialogue, social engagement and the collective development of cultural competences. It is about linking audience development not only to an increase in attendance and ticket revenues, but also to the process of building a relationship with the theatre (as a medium and a place), familiarising people with it and at the same time learning about ourselves.

The educational and popularisation activities carried out by independent groups, on the other hand, nurture what is grassroots and strip institutions of their monopoly on certain practices (for example, ‘freeing’ education from the realm of educational institutions). This type of grassroots work has a lot in common with artivism as the involvement of creative means in socially and politically oriented activities.