Funded by the Home Office and managed by Voluntary Action Leeds, Challenging Conversations aimed to support a range of interventions which encouraged young people to engage in discussions around post Brexit Britain. We were selected as one of the delivery organisations for the pilot project and our approach was to work with dancers from Phoenix Dance Theatre and alumni of RJC to answer the following question:
What needs to happen to make communities function as tolerant, welcoming, safe places?
In our final session, we were joined by Jess Mountford who made a live illustration which reflected a set of discussions around:
- What principles should we live by as human beings and how should these be extended to others?
- What diversity means and how it enriches a society
- How ignorance can breed fear and misconception
- How and why people might find it difficult to cross metaphorical and actual roads
- What might be the benefits of crossing to the other side
The event culminated in a joint meal at The Tetley where we were joined by Tracy Tinker, Rehearsal Director of Phoenix and Kathy Williams, Artistic Director of RJC.
It feels as if we’ve just scratched the surface and there’s clearly an appetite for exploring these issues further. For more details about the programme of work, please contact us directly.
Thank you to all of the people who participated, to RJC Dance, Phoenix Dance Theatre and The Tetley.