ART IS FOR EVERYONE!

ART IS FOR EVERYONE! – Meeting with Justyna Sobczyk, co-founder of Teatr 21.

 12.06.2024   5 p.m. (Georgia), 3 p.m. (Poland)

Director, theatre pedagogue, founder of Warsaw’s Teatr 21, board member of the Teatr21 Foundation. Co-founder of the Inclusive Art Centre/Teatr 21 – the first social cultural institution in Warsaw dedicated to the work of artists with disabilities. For 18 years associated with the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute, on behalf of which she has co-directed the Postgraduate Studies in Theatre Pedagogy for 10 years. Lecturer at the Theatre Academy in Warsaw, Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow. Outside of Teatr 21, she has directed many plays for children and young people: Homeland (Polish Theatre in Poznań, 2016), Enemy. Instruction Manual. (Zagłębie Theatre in Sosnowiec, 2018), Wall (Polish Theatre in Bydgoszcz, 2019), Kingdoms (Gulliver Theatre + Teatr21, 2022), Secret Garden (Zagłębie Theatre in Sosnowiec, 2023). Winner of the Kamyk Puzyna award for theatre and pedagogical activity and group work (Polityka Passport) for the Teatr 21 team. Member of the Social City Council at the President of the Capital City of Warsaw. Graduate of the Academy of Leadership Psychology.

Teatr 21 is a theatre group whose actors are mainly people with Down syndrome and autism. Over the 18 years of its activity, it has created dozens of plays presented in theatres and institutions throughout Poland. The group has performed at national festivals (including Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Kraków) and international ones (Prague, Berlin, Helsinki, Freiburg). In 2019, the play “Revolution, which did not happen” was awarded at the International Theatre Festival “Divine Comedy” in Kraków. In addition to artistic activity, Teatr 21 is also involved in education, theatre pedagogy, publishing, organizes conferences, lectures and works in international networks. In 2021, Teatr 21 was awarded the POLITYKA Passport in the “Theater” category. Currently, Teatr 21 is creating the project of the Inclusive Art Center, which is the first social cultural institution in Warsaw entirely dedicated to the work of artists with disabilities. Its main task is to include various social groups in the field of art, culture and science. Among other things, meetings with artists, workshops for families and the elderly, lectures on disability studies and the art of people with disabilities, exhibitions of visual artists and many others take place here. The space itself and all events are adapted to the needs of people with various disabilities. The Inclusive Art Center is the permanent home of Teatr 21.

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