Minsk will soon have an inclusive theatre for non-mobile people: actors in wheelchairs. The ambitious project is launched by one of the graduates of our 'SEI Youth: My First Business' programme, dedicated to training young people in social entrepreneurship. First workshops on creation of accessible theatre environment in Belarus will be held at the Republican Theatre of Belarusian Drama.
The idea of the first inclusive theatre for wheelchair users was brought forward by Kseniya, a student of the Faculty of Social and Cultural Communications of Belarusian State University, who participated in our social entrepreneurship training 'SEI Youth: My First Business', which was held in August as a summer school.
It was actually at the university that the idea to implement an inclusive theatre project in Belarus came to her: when she was in a Project Management class, one of her groupmates, whose sister was a wheelchair user, started this project. The two friends wanted to do as much as possible to ensure that people with disabilities are not left alone and believe in themselves!
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Kseniya (first on the left), aged 18, student of Belarusian State University at the specialty of "social project planning”, graduate of 'SEI Youth: My First Business’ programme |
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Kseniya, graduate of 'SEI Youth: My First Business’ programme |
Our graduate Kseniya decided that the best way to get rid of psychological barriers and find new friends for the disabled would be to take part in amateur theatre, as she herself used to take part in a school theatre studio: a French-language theatre "Clartés". The idea to create an inclusive theatre caught the eye of Aliaksei Strelnikau, a theatre critic. Thus, an initiative was launched to organize a number of specialized workshops for people with disabilities. The workshops will be held in the near future at the Republican Theatre of Belarusian Drama.
You can support the inclusive theatre through “MaeSens” crowdfunding platform .
The training 'SEI Youth: My First Business' was held within the framework of a social entrepreneurship training programme in Belarus organized by ODB Brussels in partnership with TNU Network University (Netherlands), Belarusian Youth Non-Governmental Organization "New Faces" and Public Association of Belarusians of the World 'Homeland’ with support from European Union.