THEATRE THAT BREAKS DOWN WALLS.

ART IS FOR EVERYONE! – Meeting with Agnieszka Bresler and Iwona Konecka, creators of the Kobietostan Collective   20.06.2024   

DThe Association Kolektyw Kobietostan is a Wrocław-based equality organization with many years of experience working in areas at risk of exclusion. Our mission is to reach places of social exclusion, work for social inclusion and equal rights, and counteract discrimination based on gender or social status using various tools of art, especially theater. Through our activities, we restore dignity, discover potential, rebuild family ties, and develop empathy.

For years, we have been developing and implementing a nationwide, innovative model of creative work with people experiencing exclusion, including people serving prison sentences. We are the initiators of the first center in Poland for the exchange of experiences and development of methods in the field of resocialization through art – the Center for the Art of Inmates at the Prison in Krzywaniec.

The President of our Association, Agnieszka Bresler, has many years of pioneering experience in artistic work in prisons. In the years 2014-2019, she co-led the “Odkluczanie” project at the Prison No. 1 in Wrocław. Since 2018, she has been cooperating with the Prison in Krzywaniec, where she has implemented dozens of workshops, projects and theatre productions. Since 2023, she has been a member of the Lower Silesian Council for Social Readaptation and Assistance to Convicts.

Iwona Konecka, vice-president of the Association, has been involved in socially engaged art for over fifteen years. She is also a culture researcher and trainer for adults. She co-created and led two editions of the course “Theatre – social art” preparing artists to work in environments of social exclusion. She has been creating theatre in prisons since 2019.

In 2022-2023, Agnieszka and Iwona jointly created and ran the Center for the Art of Inmates at the Prison in Krzywaniec. For this project, they were awarded the Halina Machulska Award in 2023 granted by the Ochota Theater in Warsaw.

Currently, the Association Kolektyw Kobietostan is a partner in All Hands On Stage – theatre as a tool for professionalisation of inmates, a 3-year innovative international project of six European organisations associated with prison theatre.

As part of the meeting, Agnieszka and Iwona will share with its participants their experience of working behind walls and creating theatre there – the power of its impact, the potential to rebuild relationships and restore dignity. They will talk about the model of the Centre for the Art of Inmates, the methods they use, and the experience gained in other European countries. During the meeting, we will jointly consider what theatre can be used for behind the walls of a total institution and how to engage participants in theatre work in facilities, including closed ones.    www.kobietostan.pl

Meeting is a part of the project: Art without Border – Festival in social spaces. Polish experiences in the past and today and the transfer of practices in Georgia, implemented by Art Junction Foundation.