Monday 4 December 2023

Theatre Experience for Children in Pune



Theatre is not just for entertainment, rather it is a great platform to present the social issues and voice the feelings and demands of the oppressed and disadvantaged people. Children have a natural attraction towards performing arts, particularly dancing and acting. However, their exposure to live theatre experience is very limited due to their social and economic backgrounds. Some of the organizations working with children use street plays as an awareness tool; however, introduction to the commercial theatre setup is often beyond their reach. This year, ARC (Action for the Rights of the Children) in association with New Vision and terre des hommes Germany organized a special theatre experience for children from various communities in Pune during the child rights week. The venue was Jyotsna Bhole Auditorium run by Maharashtra Cultural Center, Pune. More than 125 children and youth participated in this day-long activity. Two plays were performed by trained artists - Cherry Eke Cherry and Pakka Limbu Timbu. The first play spoke about importance of hard work and patience for achieving desired goals, while the other portrayed the concurrent issues of addiction to mobile games and peer pressure among children and adolescents. The audience could relate to the characters and dialogues, which was visible through their live response in terms of claps and laughter and even silence during certain scenes. The children were excited to see the lights, microphones, sound systems, and other technical aspects of theatre. They asked questions to the system operators and some of them also expressed their interest in joining the theatre group as an artist. Children and youth in the audience got a chance to perform on the stage during the second half, where songs and street plays were performed. The performances touched upon a variety of topics including child rights, environment, de-addiction, gender equality, and education. This was a good opportunity for children to enjoy and learn with fun.



Sunday 3 December 2023

Children's Art Exhibition 2023

 

On the occasion of Child Rights Week, an exhibition of children's artwork was organized in Pune, Maharashtra. The exhibition at Thackeray Art Gallery hosted more than 350 drawings and paintings made by children from various communities across Pune city and district. Through these artworks, children expressed what they saw, learnt and thought about. While some of the drawings gave a strong message against social issues such as child labour and child marriage, others demonstrated beautiful landscapes and fantasy characters of children's choice. Some of the children opted for a number of vibrant colours, while few of them chose to present their art through limited shades of black. The exhibition opened on 30th of November and went on till 2nd of December 2023. Organizations working with children in Pune arranged visits of children from their learning centers and schools to this exhibition during this period. Children were happy to find their artworks displayed in a commercial art gallery. Their friends and other children felt inspired by the artwork on display. Several other people including artists and journalists visited the exhibition and appreciated the children's efforts and skills. This was an opportunity to reach out to the general public for creating awareness about issues faced by the children and work done by the organizations in Pune.

(Click on the image for a better view)


Seminar on Rehabilitation of Children in Street Situation in Pune 06.02.2024

शासकीय व स्वयंसेवी संस्थांच्या समन्वयातून रस्त्यावरील परिस्थितीमधील मुलांचे पुनर्वसन शक्य – चर्चासत्रामध्ये कृती कार्यक्रमाची आखणी रस्त्यावर...