Eastern Theatre Foundation

Eastern Theater Foundation is a not-for-profit non-governmental organization founded in November 2021 in Lublin Poland. Since May 2023 the organization has run a theatre studio in the historical city center of Lublin. The Eastern Theatre Studio is the art incubator for young artists and, youth and children passionate about arts. We have our own venue where we can host projects like exchanges, training, artistic Residencies, and performance productions. The main activities run by the organization are related to 3 areas: 1) production and presentations of theatre performances, music concerts, and other performings arts, festival productions 2) education projects for talented young people such as summer theatre camps and semi-camps, workshops, international youth exchanges for youth talented and interested in arts, training courses for young artists, art managers, culture workers and volunteers, 3) culture-social inclusion projects run with local communities, local leaders and public institutions. In 2023 Eastern Theatre implemented 16 international projects (seminars for young artists, artistic exchanges and exchanges for young people talented and passionate in arts, and training courses). 4 of them were hosted by ET in Poland and the rest were co-organized as sending partners in Germany, Finland, Italy, Austria, Croatia, and Spain. On the local level members and volunteers of ET are providing artistic education and social inclusion activities for children from the neighborhood of Lubartowska str. In Lublin. The participants of local actions have fewer opportunities because of economic barriers, and in their families, there are issues related to alcoholism, violence, and criminal background. In June and July 2023, we provided 20 different activities for those children and it allowed us to learn about the educational, emotional, and social needs of the participants now we are working on the design of a long-term social inclusion project for 2024. Apart from social and educational work, in December 2022 created a theatre performance ‘Republic of Dreams’ dir. Gosia Jakubowska-Raczkowska, created and performed by Paulina Prokopiuk, is based on her European Solidarity Corps volunteering 6-months experience in Finland and her personal reflections from her journey to Lapland and the Barents Sea. In 2023 we performed this show several times in rural areas of the Lublin region and in Eastern Theatre Studio in Lublin. Soon will be available the show in English, to attract an international audience and migrants living in Lublin. In the second part of 2023, we are supporting 2 productions of young artists: one theatre performance about a critical review of Z Generation made by young Z-gen creators, and a second one about the mental health of young artists. Our projects are supported by 20 young people (students) from Lublin, they learn about project management, art production, and marketing of art and social projects and take part in international projects organized by our NGO. The members of the voluntary team are Polish students and young migrants from Belarus and Ukraine who live in Lublin at the moment. They are students of PR and Communication studies and Media Production studies.