press release
I Have A Voice Arts Festival
May - oct 2023
Initiated by Give A Hand Foundation, the 2023 edition of the I Have A Voice Festival (IHAVF) will be helmed by Slam Out Loud (SOL), India in collaboration with the Cartwheel Initiative.
The I Have A Voice Festival connects marginalised children and youth through their stories of home, community, and identity. Through this festival, using the art forms of spoken word, poetry, storytelling, visual arts, and photography, SOL will help create a cultural space for the children, by the children and of the children. The themes of individual voice, collective identities, and communities will guide the curatorial framework. This edition of the festival will be presented in a hybrid format, with a series of online and offline workshops for children and organisation directors, online campaigns, artwork submissions, and more fun activities from May through September 2023, culminating in a one-day festival showcase on October 07, 2023, which will be streamed online for all international organisations and audiences to participate from around the world!
The day-long live event will be full of performances, art activities, talks, and exhibitions.
The festival is collaborating with eight youth organisations in Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the US, and Canada, digitally – Mumbai Smile, Rock paper scissor, Tekkatho Foundation, VIDYA, Yellow Boat, Freedom Story, Fifaliana, Youth Potential South Africa, and Artolution.
THEME OF THE FESTIVAL
DREAMS: THE FUEL OF OUR BEING
The festival will celebrate all the dreamers who channelise their emotions, thoughts and values to transform the world into a better place for themselves and every individual in it. The festival will explore the affirmative power of dreaming figuratively, and voicing them out.
WORKSHOPS
Workshops will offer children unique ways to express themselves creatively in the future. The 'Writing Poetry Workshop' will teach them reflection tools and how to turn their thoughts into poetry. The 'Photography Storytelling Workshop' will show how to tell a story through photos, using light and framing. The 'Body Expressions Workshop' will help children express emotions through body movements and voice modulation. Finally, the 'Self-Reflection and Storytelling Workshop' will encourage children to reflect on their dreams and create a story using photography, with guidance from Ashok Sinha.
The Art Neighborhood Virtual Action Figure Workshop
In this workshop, participants will be creating their own action figures out of modest materials, such as cardboard, tape, glue, designed and decorated with found objects crayons, pencils and markers. Designed at a small scale, the figures will have a further opportunity to join the larger installation of the “Art Neighborhood” which is a sculpture created by Lisa Ludwig, created using reclaimed cardboard boxes and found materials. This diorama environment comments on the economic crisis and our nation’s dire need to come together as one. Donated Action Figure artworks allow the participants and the neighborhood to reach a shared goal of community and sustainability. Lisa has been doing workshops all over New York City where anyone can make an action figure of themselves. The figures are then brought to the neighborhood and put on display. The action figures are a celebration of the transformative power of art. With over 500 action figures donated from fellow collaborators, The Art Neighborhood has potential for even more growth, with a boundless range. MAKE YOUR OWN AND JOIN THE ART NEIGHBORHOOD.
SCHEDULE
May 27, 2023
A workshop on writing poetry, understanding reflection tools, prompts, translating thoughts into a poem.
June 17, 2023
A workshop on telling your story through photographs, picking up an incident from their life or a daily routine and converting it into photograph story. Understanding of frame and light.
July 22, 2023
A workshop on expressing emotions through body, body movements and voice modulation.
August 19, 2023
Title: Storytelling and Photography Description: A workshop on self-reflection and telling your own story. Participants will reflect on their dreams, aspirations, and capacities and create a story using photography. This will be conducted by Ashok Sinha.
August, 2023
Art Neighborhood Workshop (dates TBD)
