A shared portrait: AS_TIDE workshop in Malta, 7-13 March 2009 AS_TIDE, Art for Social responsible Transformation and Intercultural Dialogue in Europe, with the support of the EU’s Culture Programme (2007-2013)
AS_TIDE, Art for Social responsible Transformation and Intercultural Dialogue in Europe, with the support of the EU’s Culture Programme (2007-2013) is organising a participated intercultural development workshop in Malta on March 7-13, 2009, titled "A shared portrait: creative dialogue at the Marsa Open Centre”.
The Marsa Open Centre is a residential complex for immigrants. It is located in the small harbour town of Marsa, a few kilometres from Valletta, in the central area of the island of Malta, an access gate to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea. The centre offers lodging and basic facilities to the immigrants, who become residents after their 18 months of detention in the Closed Centres in Malta. The area of Marsa has suffered due to the lack of preparation to welcome such a centre, and has recently experienced various social tensions between the migrants and the local residents. At the same time the centre aims to develop a policy of integration and dialogue with the area of Marsa, and this has been started through actions of social utility for Marsa, as well as by planning the enhancement of the hygienic and general conditions of the centre.
St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity (As_Tide local partner) proposed to consider Marsa Centre as a possible scenario for the As_Tide workshop. After visiting the location and speaking to local operators and stakeholders, Love Difference and Atelier designed the workshop’s program: the general objective is that of defining, together with the operators of the centre and the support of the artists, “a picture of the place through the eyes of the operators”. A shared vision that has in mind all the people present within the space, being able to see further than the category of “problematic” that the centre brings within itself. The workshop will proceed through the following phases: internal alignment within the working team and participants; exploration of the space; definition of relations and perspectives; preparation of a visible outcome.
Love Difference (Emanuela Baldi, Filippo Fabbrica, Abdalla Daif) will coordinate the workshop, Atelier culture.projects (Natasha Borg, Sara Falconi) will take care of the logistics.
As_Tide artists (Yolanda de los Bueis, Christoph Schwarz) and other artists selected from Malta will contribute to return and develop the inputs coming from the participants to build up a collective dialogue and give shape to the output of the workshop.
The staff of the Marsa Open Centre will take part in the workshop: management, cultural operators, mediators, caretakers, security and hosting responsibles, social workers, who are at the centre day after day, who face residents and their problems, who can describe the reality of experiencing such a context from within.
The workshop will be held at St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Valletta, on the 7th and 8th March and at the Marsa Open Centre, Marsa, from 9th till 13th March.
