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The New Theatre Institute of Latvia released an open call for performing artists to take part in the \u201cMagic Carpets\u201d Lab Series, dedicated to creating artworks in collaboration with communities. We are pleased to announce the participants of the lab: assistant director and producer Marina Ivanova; scenographer Daina \u0160teinerte; theatre directors Roberts Dauburs and Kaiva Kumerova; actress and producer Ivonda Vilsone; actor, playwright, and theatre director \u0112riks Vilsons; director Antra Austri\u0146a; scenographer L\u012bga Zepa; choreographer Laura Gorodko; and D\u017eeina Feldberga, a specialist at the \u201cResilience Avots\u201d center who holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in acting and community work from the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
The lab series will consist of three in-person workshops held in various regions of Latvia \u2014 Vidzeme, Zemgale, and Kurzeme. During these workshops, participants from previous years of the \u201cMagic Carpets\u201d platform \u2014 non-formal education trainer Lauma \u017dubule, choreographer and stage designer L\u012bga \u016abele, playwright Elza Marta R\u016b\u017ea, theatre director Vita Malahova, interdisciplinary artists Arnis Aleinokovas (Lithuania), Jacoppo Natoli (Italy), and theatre maker Katr\u012bna D\u016bka \u2014 will share both theoretical and practical knowledge about creative work with communities, exploring the specificity, complexity, and potential of this process.<\/p>\n
In addition to lectures and hands-on sessions, two mentors \u2014 theatre maker, playwright, and curator Laura Sta\u0161\u0101ne, and theatre director Gildas Aleksa (Lithuania)\u2014will guide, advise, and support participants throughout the lab cycle, helping develop their ideas in diverse directions.<\/p>\n
About the Mentors<\/strong><\/p>\n Laura Sta\u0161\u0101ne<\/strong> is a theatre maker, dramaturg, and curator from Riga, currently studying performing arts with a social focus at Malm\u00f6 Theatre Academy in Sweden. Her work explores how we experience and encounter the human and more-than-human world in the context of ecological crisis. Laura was a long-time contributor to the international new theatre festival Homo Novus<\/em> in Riga, frequently working on site-specific and community-based projects. Since 2020, she has focused on domestic violence in Latvia, creating impactful works including the documentary installation and digital platform Physical Evidence Museum<\/em> and the poetry and documentary book No One Will Believe You<\/em>.<\/p>\n Gildas Aleksa<\/strong> is the artistic director of Teatronas<\/em>, a leading Lithuanian organization developing contemporary circus in Lithuania and the Baltic region. He is also the program curator for the international contemporary circus festival Cirkuliacija<\/em>. Educated as a theatre director, he works across theatre and circus, mentoring and consulting on dramaturgy, directing, and self-production.<\/p>\n Workshop Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n First Workshop (9\u201311 May, K\u0101rlis Manor, C\u0113sis region, Vidzeme):<\/strong> Second Workshop (23\u201325 May, Zemgale):<\/strong> Third Workshop (6\u20137 June, Laidu Manor, Laidi, Kurzeme):<\/strong> \u201cMagic Carpets\u201d is a Creative Europe platform uniting 17 European cultural organisations (14 active members and 3 partners for 2025\u20132028). It supports emerging artists as they embark on creative journeys in unfamiliar lands, working with local communities to produce new artworks that highlight local identities, enhance storytelling, and promote cultural accessibility and activism.<\/p>\n For more information, visit: \u201cMagic Carpets\u201d platform and artist residencies are co-funded by the EU\u2019s Creative Europe programme.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The “Magic Carpets” Lab series, dedicated to working with communities, will bring together ten performing artists. In three workshops in different regions of Latvia, participants will gain theoretical and practical knowledge from experienced mentors and artists to develop their projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ljti-dara","category-magic-carpets"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theatre.kondrats.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTo open the lab, local performing artists experienced in community work\u2014playwright J\u0101nis Balodis, theatre and film director\/dramaturg\/interdisciplinary project maker Krista Bur\u0101ne, and producer Ieva Niedre \u2014 will share practical examples and methods from their work.
\nLauma \u017dubule will lead a session on ethics in community art, raising critical questions: What does ethics mean in art? How do artists balance their vision with the needs of communities? How can respectful collaboration be built? Group discussions will center on real-life examples and ethical dilemmas.<\/p>\n
\nPlaywright Elza Marta R\u016b\u017ea will share her experience from co-creating Neighbour from the Yellow House (Stories from Seda)<\/em> with Max Oliveira Fernandes (Portugal) and the Seda town community\u2014part of the \u201cMagic Carpets\u201d residency premiered at the Valmiera Summer Theatre Festival 2024.
\nChoreographer and scenographer L\u012bga \u016abele will speak on her residency at \u0136engarags Day Centre, outlining key challenges: finding a community, building trust, adapting creative concepts collaboratively, and avoiding rigid methods.
\nInterdisciplinary artist Arnis Aleinikovas (Lithuania) will lead a practical session in somatic movement, body-mind centering, automatic writing (psychography), and ecstatic dance\u2014tools to explore identity and support early-stage community building.
\nArtist Jacoppo Natoli (Italy) will offer practical insights and key concepts around the question: \u201cWhat does it mean for an artist to work with a community?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIn the final lab, participants will finalize and present sketches of their individual projects. The group will also take a shared research trip to the contemporary dance festival Horos in Aizpute.<\/p>\n
\n🔗 https:\/\/theatre.lv\/category\/magic-carpets\/<\/a>
\n🔗 https:\/\/magiccarpets.eu<\/a><\/p>\n