Overseas Exchange Trips

 

Every year the MARACCAS Team travels to Brazil and other parts of South America where we work with individuals, community groups, organisations, schools, councils and universities on differnt projects.

 

After establishing itself as an organisation in Australia, MARACCAS directors decided to take the company overseas to establish itself in South America.

 

We are committed to facilitating creative exchange programs between Australia and South America and have been developing relationships between the two continents since late 2012.

 

In Dec 2012-Jan 2013 we ran our ‘Active Arts’ Program in a number of schools in Brazil as well as specific seminars and workshops based around eco-tourism and study opportunities in Australia. We have developed positive relationships and connections with local councils in both Cambe and Londrina within the cultural and tourism departments.

 

in 2013 we developed ‘Clown Stories’ project which is a story-telling video project that has emphasis on exploring the culture of local communities from Bogota, Colombia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  

In Bogota, we participated in a clowning creative development workshop with Paolo Nani at the International Theatre Festival of Bogota. In Rio, we worked for 4 days with the Centre of the Theatre of the Oppressed (CTO), including 2 days of workshops in Favela da Mare. We were also invited to a seminar at the Federal University of Rio and a workshop at their studio space. We have been invited back to CTO in 2015 to participate in their month-long program where we will explore in more depth the methods and practices of Theatre of the Oppressed. The ‘Clown Stories’ project is an online video series being presented for Anywhere Theatre Festival 2014.

 

One of our main goals as an organisation is to break down socio-cultural barriers and constraints, revealing to audiences the innate connections that we have as humans throughout all areas of the globe. We can realise these connections through promotion of eco-tourism in these areas, anthropological research and exploration of the arts and culture. We are creating lasting relationships and connections within Colombia and Brazil to continue working with the local communities; facilitating cultural exchanges.