The People Express team have recently returned from the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam.

Julie Batten, Hema  Majithia and Kalila Storey attended the festival as representatives of both People Express and  EMPAF (the East Midlands Participatory Arts Forum), some of whose members led two workshops during the festival.

The ‘Caravan of Dreams’ was a pre-festival tour of Holland that some of the EMPAF members undertook in a project to discover and document the community arts projects that are taking place around the country, aswell as sharing the work that the EMPAF organisations produce. More about the project can be found on the ‘Caravan of Dreams’ blog.

The festival gave the People Express team an opportunity to learn about many community arts projects from around the globe, through taking part in workshops and attending performances. Some of the highlights for the team included; a performance by Tiny Toons, a Cambodian Hip Hop group who use the offer of Hip Hop dancing to help children off the streets and into education, Drei, twie, ein…. Veulsdiech al get? (3,2,1…Are you feeling alright yet?) by Mariaberg Community Theatre, an intergenerational collectively made piece of theatre from the south of Holland, an experience of ‘Hacking Public Space’ working with Esther Sleugh to create intervention and acts of gifting in Rotterdam, and creating a sock mosaic with Israeli artists Ehud and Anat Shamai.