BREAKING WALLS 2018 SANTIAGO
Breaking Walls is a global youth empowerment movement 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.
Breaking Walls initially focused on youth in Brooklyn and then Bethlehem, Palestine. Berlin was selected for our initial Breaking Walls 2012 Berlin Boot Camp because the vision of dismantling the iconic symbol of the Berlin Wall inspired Breaking Walls to dream even larger than Bethlehem and Brooklyn. Over nine days 16 new artists from Bethlehem, Brooklyn and Berlin experienced the writing-performing workshop as well as face-to-face dialogue while touring Berlin together. Since 2012 we have built momentum in Cape Town, Barcelona, Detroit, Warsaw and next – Santiago.
Breaking Wall 2018 Santiago happens from July 5 through 19. During two weeks, our 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 where diverse voices and cultures achieve a unified, creative outcome. Our young participants represent a diversity of cultural/religious and socio-economic backgrounds. Additionally, sexual orientation, educational levels and immigration/refugee status add gravitas to what scholars call a “voice of poverty” – voices rarely, if ever articulated.
We are keenly aware that each community Breaking Walls collaborates with offers unique opportunities beyond the Boot Camp. Awareness of how differently Santiago lives and breathes compared to their home communities is eye-opening and empowering.
Our intensive ensemble writing, performing and peace-building theme is “the thirst for truth – our words matter” perfectly matches Chilean Nobel Prize Winner Pablo Neruda’s vision of Chile as the “country made for poets” and makes Chile a natural choice for an artistic and educational collaboration. Chile, like our Breaking Walls global young people, is a vast mixture of races and nationalities where our young people explore their imaginations and share life experience with their peers. The challenges they all face in these turbulent times, such as struggling with social unrest, intolerance, peer pressure and life in the real and “virtual world,” serve as inspiration for creativity, empathy and unity. Each Breaking Walls artist, ambassador and associate will be enhancing and strengthening their literacy, critical thinking and presentation skills through our multi-level, cross-cultural process taking place in a complex Latin American country. Our 2018 Chile-based artists are from the International School Nido d Aguila and the indigenous Mapuche culture — a partnership that promises to open new levels of artistic and personal experiences and transformation for all.
BREAKING WALLS 2018 SANTIAGO APPLICATION PROCESS
To ensure that Breaking Walls creates a sustainable collaboration, we offer three levels of involvement for youth: artists, 13 to 20, write and perform their original work for a live audience; ambassadors, 17 to 21, former artists who mentor the writing/performing process; and, associates, 22 to 25, participants from past Breaking Walls Boot Camps who have become prominent leaders in their home communities.
The criteria for being invited to be a Breaking Walls artist are that each young person be: comfortable with reading, writing and speaking in English; like to write creatively; is not afraid to perform on stage in front of a live audience; and, is willing to stay 24/14 with their peers from around the world for the full 14-day Boot Camp.
Each potential new artist submits an application to be reviewed, next an interview with Breaking Walls director/founder, Fran Tarr, is set-up where each applicant is given a creative writing assignment to be completed, memorized and recorded as an Mp4 File as their audition. After review of the applicants’ audition, invitations may or may not be issued.
Each artist is required to sign a Letter of Intent, a Behavior Contract and Media Release Form. They must also commit to three eight-delegation Skype meetings ahead of the 2018 Boot Camp launch on July 5.
To apply to Breaking Walls 2018 as an artist send an email request to: breakingwallspro@gmail.com