One Caucasus is not only a festival but also a long-term borderland program. Together with local communities we organize workshops for youth from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. We focus on creating and running interdisciplinary workshops oriented on the learning-by-doing method.
Our educators and local communties are creating new educational initiatives across the Marneuli region. The workshops in the Marneuli villages consists of three main projects:
The Academy of Informal Education of Marneuli region 1st-6th of August
The Academy is designed to transform unique educational experiences of One Caucasus workshops to an all-year Informal Education Program that will be conducted in towns and villages across Marneuli region. The first phase of the workshop took place in the city of Manrueli from 1st to 6th of August. 17 teachers and educators from the area were invited to join interactive, non-formal workshops led by experienced trainers. They were introduced to the non-formal education methods and tools which they can use in their everyday work back at their schools. The second phase is the co-operation with the international educators and to practice with them their skills in the framework of One Caucasus. The last phase consists of starting and conducting their own informal education initiatives.
Workshops and artistic interventions 11-28th of August
From 11th to 28th of August international educators teamed up with the teachers from the Academy of Informal Education in order to work with the local communities. By the means of several interdisciplinary workshops they gathered stories, legends and knowledge about the region. As the result a Local Multilayered Archive will be created and presented during the One Caucasus Festival.
The workshops take place in:
Damia
An educator from Poland, Łukasz together with Arman, a teacher from Dami focused on local kids' dreams and ambitions by means of theater-like performances. They are also documenting these intimate confessions in the notebook. During One Caucaus Łukasz will continue his work and invites children to join collective performances.
Khojorni
Educators Ana and Orhan commute almost every day to Khojorni — a little village right next to the border with Armenia that undergoes heavy desolation. They were introduced to the local community by the teacher Musa. They work with Armenian and Azeri habitants and kids with whom they create a sound map of the village consisting of spoken stories and sound field recordings which will be presented during the Festival.
Shoumiani
Khanza, Lude and Badri’s workshops are a continuation of last year video project on Michael Josef Jacksonian — Michael Jackson's doppelgänger who was born in Shoumiani. This year the participants expanded upon this story and decided to make a plaque dedicated to Michael Josef Jacksonian which will be a great monument of children imagination.
Tserakvi
Krzysztof and Matylda worked in Tserakvi, where they gathered – with great help of Vusala, Esmira and Tatia teachers – local legends, fairy tales and also fictional stories written by kids. They also created a made up map of Tserakvi island that will be turned into an interactive installation where you will be able to explore the landmarks associated with each legend and read the stories.
Marnueli
Valentina and Oksana worked with different teachers from the Marneuli region: Marie, Nana, Lily and Nona. Their project is focused on creating a series of short stories which depict characteristics of Georgian, Azeries and Armenian in the eyes of local children. During the One Caucasus they will present a short stop-motion video with their results.
Education initiatives September 2017 - May 2018
The teachers who participated in the project will keep on working in their schools in villages/towns across Marneuli until May 2018. They will use non-formal education tools and will continue to work on the projects developed during the Festival. In this way the One Caucasus will become a whole year initiative which will have a visible and real impact on the local community.
ONE CAUCASUS 2015 WORKSHOPS:
StoryPuri
The history of a region and its people is hidden in the flavours of local cuisine. We started to collect and revitalize the recipes and stories of the four ethnicities of the Marneuli region: Azeris, Armenians, Georgian and Greek.
Caucasus News + Cartoon-Making Workshop
This year, the kids are involved in an interdisciplinary movie project called “Caucasus News”. In other words, they work as a TV Station by creating their own news using different methods such as stop-motion cartoons and standard reporter style shooting. The workshop’s aim is to bring kids from Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian villages of the Marneuli district together. Mixed teams will assume functions such a reporters, journalists, animators, cameraman, sound-engineers etc.
Computer-Programming through Fun
The main goal of this workshop is to introduce the idea that computer programming can be a creative and fun activity. While working in SCRATCH, children create their own interactive stories, games or animations with a possibility of sharing them with others in the on-line community. Workshops are a great opportunity to: learn the innovative and algorithmic way of thinking, develop analytical skills and also collaborate and reason in logical and efficient ways.
Children in Words
We work with local kids using short forms of literature and inspire them to write their own stories.
Let’s English It
During the “Let’s English it” workshop, kids learn English through having fun and while enjoying learning songs. Moreover, common singing makes kids more confident and inspires to learn languages.
What is communication? How to communicate with strangers?
This year our long –term volunteers and trainers Naila Huseynli and Irakli Mikiani involved Azerbaijan teenagers to the Communication workshop. The master class called “What is communication? How to communicate with strangers”. The main goal of workshop is get information about the forms of communication, norms and values of other cultures, improve communication and discussion skills, express feeling, making empathy.
Many more extraordinary workshops will be waiting for you and your family during our festival. Don’t think twice and join us in Tserakvi for One Caucasus!
