“Introducing Drama Pedagogy into the Activities of Roma Community Centres” Project

Our project sought to ‘reorient’ community centres towards community life and ‘social participation’ by establishing and launching drama education workshops. In our experience, this method brings the centre closer to the community and provides an opportunity for ‘learning and practising democracy’.

As part of the project, we trained professionals to develop local community life and work with young people. Within the programme, 20 people took part in a 120-hour course in communication and drama pedagogy, as well as a 64-hour course in project planning and management. The majority of participants were Roma or professionals working closely with Roma communities. Following the training, drama clubs were launched in four Roma community centres, where groups of 10–20 people worked together, with the joint participation of Roma and non-Roma young people.

As a result of the programme, new methods were introduced into the work of the community centres, participants’ communication and cooperation skills improved, and community participation was strengthened. The drama-based sessions contributed to the community centres functioning as genuine community spaces. The methods tested during the project can be applied in the participants’ future work and shared with other community centres.