“I can’t reap if I don’t know the ground I’ve sowed my seed in.”
- Emmanuel Ohene Boafo (Actor at Het Nationaal Theater)
In recent years there have been various emancipation movements that fought to make the theater field more inclusive. But the possibility of standing on each others shoulders and create a sustainable movement has not been forthcoming. This is due to a lack of an accessible archive and the absence of the exchange of various theater histories. There is a great interest in cultural institutions, educational institutions, dramaturges, directors, writers, makers and actors, but collective knowledge is lacking. Platform The Need for Legacy wants to fill this void. We want to allows inclusiveness in the theater to take on a more sustainable character and this time it does not linger in the umpteenth wave of diversity.
The Need for Legacy originates from a diversity debate that was organized in 2017, during the in-depth program Nieuwe Grond of the Dutch Theatre Festival. During this debate, organized by Quincy Gario and Lara Staal, various guests, including Sruti Bala and Maarten van Hinte, spoke about the tools and strategies needed to make the theater field more diverse and inclusive. After this first thinking session during Nieuwe Grond 2017, I approached Marjorie Boston and Maarten van Hinte, and in collaboration with Alexander Nieuwenhuis we compiled a program for the next edition of Nieuwe Grond, which took place in September 2018. The program consisted of the reopening of boxes from 'bijzondere collecties', containing legacies from different influencial multicultural theatre groups that had never been archived, a legacy-lecture about Rufus Collins by Maarten van Hinte and a panel on legacy organized by Marjorie Boston and curated by Gable Roelofsen.
Connected to this program I assembled a small group of young makers, performers and dramaturges to talk about their specific need for legacy. This is how the current platform was born.
The Need for Legacy is a platform and community created by a new generation of theater makers, who come together to share their experiences and needs towards a more diverse and inclusive theater world. This is connected to forgotten histories that are researched together. In this way, The Need for Legacy functions as a mouthpiece for organizations involved in the archiving of Dutch performing arts, thereby correcting the way in which the performing arts are archived and how this knowledge is disclosed, for example at drama schools.
Last year, Gable Roelofsen and I, created 3 round tables with up to 30 young people working in the theatre field. every round table consists of two parts: The first part is about community building and creates a safe space for youg people to exchange experiences and sharpen their way of formulating their needs. The second part is an interview with a specific guest from the field. So far our guest have been: Sruti Bala, Dionne Verwey, Samora Bergtop and Maarten van Hinte.
We recently installed a board consisting of Emmanuel Ohene Boafo, Naomi van der Linden and Gable Roelofsen.
At the recent theatre festival at 'TF Pro' we created another program:
The Need For Legacy: 'decolonizing education'
A new collaboration with magazine 'De Theatermaker' is in the making...
The Need for Legacy originates from a diversity debate that was organized in 2017, during the in-depth program Nieuwe Grond of the Dutch Theatre Festival. During this debate, organized by Quincy Gario and Lara Staal, various guests, including Sruti Bala and Maarten van Hinte, spoke about the tools and strategies needed to make the theater field more diverse and inclusive. After this first thinking session during Nieuwe Grond 2017, I approached Marjorie Boston and Maarten van Hinte, and in collaboration with Alexander Nieuwenhuis we compiled a program for the next edition of Nieuwe Grond, which took place in September 2018. The program consisted of the reopening of boxes from 'bijzondere collecties', containing legacies from different influencial multicultural theatre groups that had never been archived, a legacy-lecture about Rufus Collins by Maarten van Hinte and a panel on legacy organized by Marjorie Boston and curated by Gable Roelofsen.
Connected to this program I assembled a small group of young makers, performers and dramaturges to talk about their specific need for legacy. This is how the current platform was born.
The Need for Legacy is a platform and community created by a new generation of theater makers, who come together to share their experiences and needs towards a more diverse and inclusive theater world. This is connected to forgotten histories that are researched together. In this way, The Need for Legacy functions as a mouthpiece for organizations involved in the archiving of Dutch performing arts, thereby correcting the way in which the performing arts are archived and how this knowledge is disclosed, for example at drama schools.
Last year, Gable Roelofsen and I, created 3 round tables with up to 30 young people working in the theatre field. every round table consists of two parts: The first part is about community building and creates a safe space for youg people to exchange experiences and sharpen their way of formulating their needs. The second part is an interview with a specific guest from the field. So far our guest have been: Sruti Bala, Dionne Verwey, Samora Bergtop and Maarten van Hinte.
We recently installed a board consisting of Emmanuel Ohene Boafo, Naomi van der Linden and Gable Roelofsen.
At the recent theatre festival at 'TF Pro' we created another program:
The Need For Legacy: 'decolonizing education'
A new collaboration with magazine 'De Theatermaker' is in the making...
