Project:

EmpowerINK: Igniting the Voices of Emerging Writers



Project EmpowerINK: Igniting the Voices of Emerging Writers is created to contribute to the development and affirmation of authors' drama texts intended for performing in theatres for children and youth in project partner countries. (Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia)

The purpose of the EmpowerINK Igniting the Voices of Emerging Writers project is to spark a wave of new original texts for young audiences, to empower motivation for creating such texts among young generations of artists in our region, which often lacks attention to this aspect. The program is specifically addressing the need of emerging writers by providing a peer-to-peer support system.

Three artists from project partners countries will participate in a two-week intensive residency at the 30th Festival of Ecological Theatre for Children and Youth (Bačka Palanka, Serbia), followed by a three-month online mentoring program during the 10th Korifej Festival (Kolašin, Montenegro). Additionally, the artists' dramatic texts will be digitally published and promoted at the 27th Gathering of Professional Theatres for Children and Youth (Čakovec, Croatia).

Ivona Marciuš from Croatia, Milana Matejić from Montenegro, and Dunja Matić from Serbia are three young playwrights who will have the opportunity to explore the theme of ecology in theatre through mentoring, a residential program, and a series of collaborative activities as part of this project. They will be writing new, original dramatic texts intended for a young audience.

We strongly believe that the ecological way of thinking in theatre can develop new ways to inspire children to understand sustainability not only as care for nature, but also as the need for tolerance, equality, solidarity, justice, health, hope, respect, and love for nature, oneself, and others.

This project presents an experimental model that has a great potential to become the new good practice in the field of theater for young audiences.

The program is designed as an initiative of“From the First Step” platform.

“From the first step” platform is regional platform for the development and affirmation of theater for children and young people, which continuously works to improve the quality of theater creation for children and young people, both through the networking of artists, institutions, independent organizations and festivals in the region, and through the organization of artistic, theoretical and educational programs. On this occasion, the “From the first step” platform brought together three renowned festivals from the region in order to jointly implement the idea of empowering young writers in the direction of developing their work precisely within the framework of theater for children and youth.

Project partners:




The residency EmpowerINK: Igniting the Voices of Emerging Writers is supported by the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists – EFFEA, an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA), co-funded by the European Union.



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