As Europe faces the migrant crisis and the losses of the lives of those who tried to reach Europe, increasing poverty, terrorist attacks, Brexit and other challenges to the European Union, people all over Europe—and beyond—are seeking new ways to respond creatively to these changes and challenges. “Play, Perform, Learn, Grow: Exploring Creative Community Practice” (PPLG) is being organized to bring together educators and researchers, psychologists and therapists, social workers and out-side-of-school youth workers, medical doctors, artists, social activists and community organizers, - refugees, migrants and locals – and all others who, at this historical crossroads, are seeking new—and often performatory—ways to address the pain, alienation, and violence of our times, re-create their lives, and build new kinds of communities.
PPLG invites practitioners and researchers from throughout Europe, and the world, who are, in various ways, exploring and/or researching performance, play and the arts as alternative approaches to traditional ways of educating students, practicing therapy, engaging social problems, and activating and creating communities across geographical, language, religious and ideological boundaries. The conference is an opportunity to share practices, ideas, and experiences and to learn from and network with others with similar concerns from very different intellectual, experiential and cultural backgrounds.
“Play, Perform, Learn, Grow: Exploring Creative Community Practices” has been inspired by and builds with the history of Performing the World, which since 2001 has been a biannual gathering in New York of performance activists and scholars from around the world. PPLG is meant to set the stage for the creation of Performing the World on the Move, a regularly scheduled mobile conference that could respond to local contexts and create opportunities for new leaders and communities to emerge.