Joint Press Release UNHCR/TENet
Primary school students participating in a school festival hosted in 2023 at the premises of the 87th Intercultural Primary School of Athens. ©UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis
An institution now celebrating its tenth anniversary, the student art festivals of the “It could be me – it could be you” project, organized by the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network (TENet-Gr) in collaboration with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, return this spring with artistic activities in 19 cities across the country.
Starting on 9 April and running until mid-June 2024, the student festivals, entitled “Together”, will bring together more than 200 schools with 3,500 students, including refugee children, as well as teachers, theatre pedagogues, parents, and local community members, who will have the opportunity to participate in workshops and performances resulting from the schools’ work on human rights and refugee issues.
The aim of the festivals, which have the continuous support and participation of local authorities, universities, education directorates, parents’ associations, and museums, is to bring together the educational and local communies through play, sharing, and creative conversations. Having worked on concepts such as empathy, acceptance, and the right to equal opportunities for all, the children will participate in activities ranging from theatre performances and improvisations to radio shows, films and art acts.
“It is worth noting that the students, while sharing their feedback, said that they felt they were given a voice”, notes a teacher from a high school in Attica about the participation of her class in the project last year.
The festivals by TENet-Gr started in 2015 in the form of “Action Days” hosted in schools that participated in the “It could be me – it could be you” project and evolved into one of the most popular activities of the project thanks to the teamwork, passion, and cooperation of dozens of people, schools, groups and institutions. In addition to the “It could be me – it could be you” network of schools, this year’s events will also involve schools or youth groups who have implemented similar artistic programmes in the current school year.
As one teacher puts it, summing up in one sentence the whole essence of the festivals: “In this beautiful, never-ending journey of multiculturalism and human rights, the benefits were many. We were given and we gave, we shared, and we created. Looking forward to a world as we want it to be, as we can make it to be. Together!”
Students in Patras city participating in one of the largest festivals of the “It could be me- It could be you” project in 2023. © ΤENet/Photosynthesis
You may find below the festival schedule as it stands so far. For schools from other parts of the country or from abroad, there will be an online celebration!
Note for editors
The educational project “It could be me – it could be you” has been implemented since 2015 by UNHCR and the Hellenic Theatre/Drama & Education Network, using experiential activities, theatre and educational drama techniques.
It includes training seminars for teachers and animators, interactive workshops for children and young people, including refugees, school networking activities and student festivals. The “It could be me – it could be you” project is approved by the Ministry of Education and accredited by IDEA, the International Drama/Theatre & Education Association. It has engaged so far more than 40,000 students and 18,800 teachers.
The student festivals for the school year 2023/2024 will be held in Athens, Amfilohia, Amfissa, Zakynthos, Ierapetra, Igoumenitsa, Heraklion, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Kalamata, Corfu, Larissa, Patras, Rhodes, Samos, Serres, Trikala, Tripoli and Chania.
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