On Monday, January 29th Breaking Walls held our annual fundraising evening. This event showcased Stars & Change Makers Paola Lázaro and Kurt Peloquin who shared their amazingly powerful, truthful poetry with us. Their honest words, talent and presence inspired everyone in the room.ThankPaola and Kurt for your support of the Breaking Walls mission and all of my fellow artists, ambassadors and associates.

The evening also spotlighted the individuals who support Breaking Walls behind the scenes like the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York, Maciej Golubiewski and the Consul (Political) and South African Consulate General in New York, Dion Van Tonder. It was empowering to hear your support of Breaking Walls. Thank you.

Of course the Brooklyn artists and ambassadors who make up a powerful team were there in force. I have the pleasure of being ambassador and a former artist at Breaking Walls. Last year I took a short hiatus from the group for academic reasons. But luckily I am able to come back to my Breaking Walls’ family to add my voice. Coming back was like I never away. I was welcomed back with many open arms. Even though some things changed, from new people to new ideas it was still the same organization I love.

For Monday’s performance we created a script to perform based on our 2018 Santiago theme “the thirst for truth – words matter”. We were nervous but we knew at the end of the day we will get through it like we always do.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUwsgoBuUyk[/embedyt]

Then we joined Paola and Kurt for a Talk-Back with our supporters. Everyone shared their ideas and thoughts on some important questions. We all felt an uplifting spirit and the need for change from a strong group of positive leaders with powerful voices. When the night concluded each person was left with the sense of what a powerful group of young people can do if they have a voice and are empowered to transform the future.

As we say with enthusiasm – ONWARD to Santiago!!

Breaking Walls 2018 Santiago is thrilled to announce our 2018 Annual Fundraising Evening! Here’s why — in these troubling times Breaking Walls 2018 Santiago will embrace the theme: “The Thirst for Truth – Words Matter”.

To illustrate the power of words Stars & Change-Makers
Paola Lazaro – Playwright &
Kurt Peloquin – Spoken Word
share their commiment to speaking the truth to excite audiences and ignite change.

Of course, our own Brooklyn artists and ambassadors will perform the magic of their thirst for the truth. An interactive conversation will follow.

SAVE THE DATE
Monday, January 29
6:30pm to 8:30pm
Atlantic Theater Company Stage 2
330 West 16th Street
Manhattan

Learn more about Breaking Walls while enjoying South African wine and Spanish Tapas during the Meet-n-Greet with our Special Guests and Breaking Walls young people!

Breaking Walls is proud to announce our first international In-School Arts Education Workshop at the Paula Fuerst Schule in Berlin, Germany. Our collaboration with 40 English Language Learners, ages 14 -16, culminates in a public presentation on Wednesday, November 22, 2018.

In the words of 2017 Berlin artist, “Look, like Breaking Walls – we are all unique.”

Breaking Walls is proud to announce that the prestigious Rai Report is featuring our director/founder, Fran Tarr, in their Humanitarian Highlight PodCast:

http://www.theraigroupintl.com/hhighlight

Breaking Walls is an annual, global youth empowerment Boot Camp — using creative writing and theatrical performance to build global peace and acceptance. Young people from all over our world, representing many cultures, religions, socio-economic conditions, sexual orientations, educational levels and status as immigrants and refugees, discover their voice to act as peacemakers and leaders. Breaking Walls’ collaborative process serves as an innovative, holistic, value-based model for arts and peace education, global citizenship and youth empowerment.

For two weeks, their young people engage in an ensemble writing, performing and peace-building boot camp, community service and engage with the Health & Wellness team. All of these components culminate in a live theatrical performance for an audience in our host city. The ensemble performance is the main impact of Breaking Walls – the creation of an inclusive and peaceful cohabitation and social interaction built on the arts. Additionally, Breaking Walls young people contribute one full-day of community service to their host city.

Breaking Walls 2018 Santiago, the seventh annual global Boot Camp, will bring together 42 young people from Amman, Barcelona, Berlin, Bethlehem, Brooklyn, Cape Town, Detroit, Warsaw and Santiago for 14-days to write about issues of self awareness, the thrist for truth, and shaping an accepting, peaceful world. Our young people also engage in community service, and with our Creative Activist Lab, and the Youth for Global Health team.

Each young person returns to their home community after our intensive 14-day ensemble writing, performing and peace-building boot camp where they having explored their imagination and embraced their creativity. Empowered by compassion, collaboration, accountability, and commitment they strive to nurture a world in which they can trust one another.

Breaking Walls and its partner Rainbow Dreams Trust premiered their third annual creative writing, performance and peace-building initiative in Cape Town on October 4 through 8 in Noordhoek. The Breaking Walls Program brought together twenty-four young artists from different backgrounds in order to “break down” their “personal walls” and the walls between one another.

The five day-camp was represented by three Cape Town communities, namely the Deutsche Internationale Schule Kapstadt, the Hout Bay High School of Hangberg Hout Bay and the Rainbow Dreams Trust youth clubs in Hout Bay (Imizamo Yethu, Khayelitsha, Masiphumulele and Philippi Townships).

Through creating Art together, the Breaking Walls artists learned a lot about themselves and unfamiliar youth cultures, enabling them to see they are not alone and to leave prejudices behind. During the initiative the young artists participated in several artistic activities, with the theme of this year in mind: “Changing the world one word at a time”. On Thursday, the 5^th of October, the youngsters creatd a one-of-a-kind mural, depicting their thoughts with a cry out for acceptance and not just tolerance, amongst each other. At the culmination of the project, Breaking Walls artists performed a theatre piece together. After expressing in writing their feelings, their home situation and their concerns for the future, their words were transformed into a script. Our Director then directed the artists through rehearsals and the play was performed as the climax of the initiative, on Saturday at 6.30pm at the 7^th of October at the Deutsche Internationale Schule, Tamberskloof, Cape Town.

“These teenagers are the leaders of tomorrow”, states founder of the Breaking Walls Program Fran Tarr. “Breaking Walls empowers youth to discover their voices and offers them a platform from which to speak in their own words.” Dannie Kagan, founder and director of the partner organization Rainbow Dreams Trust, adds: “Here in Cape Town there is a great division between the different youth communities. By sharing each other’s stories, the young artists can learn so much about other cultures they didn’t know before. Consequently, they can spread the word in their own community, which will lead to less prejudices towards each other and a greater understanding and acceptance.”

Cape Town artist Athenkosi says it all: “When we artists work together doing our creative writing and rehearsing for our performance, we see only one race; the human race.”

We are so pleased, and very proud to share how truly magical Day One was at our 2017 Breaking Walls Initiative was in Cape Town.

Enjoy these images as we Ensemble-Build, Write and learn how to drum- SA-Style!

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Sending you all our love!!

xoxo

 

Breaking Walls director/founder, Fran Tarr, is so pleased and proud to share with you that Brooklyn artist, Britani’s, presentation at the 2017 International Day of Peace Youth Assembly at the United Nations was as stellar as she is. Britani knocked it out-of-the-park for Breaking Walls!

Here is Britani’s presentation: Britani

Breaking Walls in participating in KIND Causes – a program from The KIND Foundation that supports ideas aimed at making the world a little kinder.

Each month, The KIND Foundation grants $10,000 to people spreading kindness to those in need. The entry that receives the most votes will unlock the funding.

A KIND Foundation Grant will allow Breaking Walls 2017 Cape Town A Voyage Of Kindness to bring together 24 young men and women from the three divergent popualions of Cape Town to craf their definition of Kindness and Kind Acts by creating original theater as one unified community for five days and carry this message into their home communities.

To VOTE for us CLICK HERE: https://www.kindsnacks.com/foundation/causes/cause/breaking-walls-2017-cape-town-voyage-of-kindness/

I am Izabela, and I would like to talk about my close encounter with Breaking Walls and my new friends. During Breaking Wall’s two-week project, I have seen more and more interesting people than in recent years. It’s an amazing feeling – sharing one space with peers from such far away parts of the world. It was not for me everyday. I will not lie to you that from my arrival at the Hostel I felt comfortable. Many times I was uncomfortable, many times I felt strange, many times I just felt like not crossing my borders. But now, after the completion of the project, I know that this crossing of all our borders is the most important experience of Breaking Walls. To find myself in difficult situations, to communicate successfully  in another language, to make friends with my fellow artists who possess completely different cultures and views on the world … this allowed me to discover my new self. I am very happy that I joined Breaking Walls and created a “small global family” with wonderful people. Family Breaking Walls.

I will be very happy to mention our outings for meals, jointly going through the streets and guarding not to ignore the red light. Such simple sights were enriched by laughter, and will be in my memory forever. Even now as I write about it and remember teaching the Polish language to my new friends, I laugh to myself.

The moment that was most special to me was the performance day. Our group of 2017 artists opened up their hearts and showed what we can do best in front of the audience. It was the day everyone was waiting for, and we were preparing for this show many days. After the applause, tears, emotions and smiles on the stage, I felt great pride. We did a beautiful, unforgettable show together. We did it together, many unique people created one artistic show that proved that if people share passion and sensitivity — nationality, color and religion do not matter.

I can not imagine not repeating such an enriching the experience of acceptance and kindness again.