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 Home Overseas Projects East Timor Project News
Taking workers’ issues to the community: Expressional Arts Project, Timor-Leste
02 February 2009
May Day 2008 was a chance for the performers involved in an Expressional Arts Project to perform theatre relating to some of the issues and challenges facing workers in Timor-Leste.
Workers’ issues on the streets – Timor-Leste.
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Supported by Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA, the Expressional Arts Project worked with the Timor-Leste Trade Union Confederation (KSTL) and the Labour Advocacy Institute for East Timor (LAIFET) to develop a performance that addressed the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers. They then took this theatre to the streets. Performers dressed as oppressed workers wrapped in chains, and greedy bosses dressed in business suits, led the May Day march, attended by hundreds of Timorese workers and union members.
Following the success of the performance, and the collaboration between the three local organisations, Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA will continue to work with the Expressional Arts Project over the coming year. The project uses theatre and drama as a tool for popular education and provides young people in the community with the opportunity to express opinions and explore issues affecting their community in a culturally appropriate and fun way.
The program, which runs from November 2008 - October 2009, aims to produce performances about workers' issues, and take these to communities in 13 districts, as well as training the Expressional Arts Project staff in workers' issues, so that they can lead discussions with the community. The project will produce dramas about human rights, child protection, and youth issues, as well as providing training to community members about how to create appropriate performances. The project will include the design and building of a stage to be used for the performances. Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA will also assist the Expressional Arts Project to construct a recording studio, where the staff will record radio dramas based on their performances, which will then be distributed to community radio stations throughout Timor-Leste.
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