BOND STREET THEATRE COALITION LTD

The Arts Exchange was designed to promote creative cross-border dialogue between professional theatre artists from the three countries -- the USA, India and Afghanistan. The three-year project produced two major, collaboratively created theatre productions, two tours in the USA, and a fruitful exchange of theatre-based training methods aimed at advancing underserved populations in India and Afghanistan through creative expression and civic dialogue.
The project goals were: to create a model arts partnership through peer-to-peer exchange, to introduce effective problem-solving and communication skills to underserved children and adults, to introduce effective theatre-based teaching methods to educators and trainers, to dispel misunderstandings about Afghan culture in the US and India through performances, lectures, media coverage, and post-performance talk-backs, and to promote a positive image of the US in Afghanistan and India.
Outcomes: The three-year project reached 50,000 people plus the wide reaches of the media in three countries; the team projected an inherent message of "peace and mutual understanding through collaboration" in all of it creative activities; and the partnership strengthened the entrepreneurial and organizational capacity of all three organizations with an immediate multiplication of activities.

Funded by the US Institute of Peace, Bond Street Theatre's 2-year project built the capacity of Afghan theatre companies to bring crucial information about voting rights through informational theatre to audiences in rural areas and urban centers.
BST trained theatre groups in Herat, Kabul, Jalalabad, and Kandahar, and created four all-female companies to insure that women who are isolated by location or tradition had access to information regarding their right to vote. All-male teams provided similar information for men.
A previous Theatre for Social Development program developed by BST for Afghanistan provided training in new theatre methods and business training to insure sustainability, as well as offering effective theatre-based practices to address conflict prevention, reconciliation skills, and innovative approaches to peacebuilding.
The Voter Education project reached more than 200,000 people and improved voter turnout substantially, and especially among women.

Bond Street Theatre has worked in Myanmar (Burma) since 2009, partnering with Thukhuma Khayeethe (Art Travelers) and Gitameit Music School to revitalize modern theatre in the country, which was heavily censored under the military regime. Our programs aimed to help revitalize theatre as a tool to address human rights, post-crisis healing, community education, social improvement, and improved life skills for children and youth. 
The company's first collaboration promoted good hygiene among children in rural villages along the Thai border and monastery schools that housed children orphaned by hurricane Nargis.   Funded by the Open Society, other projects addressed interethnic tensions in the country, which have increased with the new openness to the outside world, and promoted peaceful coexistance. Currently, BST and TK devised a Burmese, mobile theatre version of Ben Jonson's play, "Volpone", about status and greed, and presented the play in neighborhoods and squatter settlements. All projects introduce new methods of self-expression among participants, and provides direct training for local artists in educational theatre and theatre as a tool to address human rights, post-crisis healing, community education, social improvement, and improved life skills for children and youth.

Bond Street Theatre partnered with FAVILEK (Women Victims Get Up, Stand Up), a Haitian women's group who are all survivors of violence, for the Haiti Project.  The company traveled to Port-au-Prince in 2011 to perform in the tent camps, and train the women of FAVILEK to create a new performance about the 2010 earthquake and its tragic aftermath.  In 2012, the BST Haiti Team returned to Haiti to finish the show, and to assist FAVILEK to tour the piece about gender violence and instability to the tent camps.  Goals of the project are: 1) To continue theatre training for the women of FAVILEK, building on our initial program in 2011, to empower FAVILEK to effectively use theatre as a means to inform and educate the public about the situation of violence facing women and girls; 2. To assist FAVILEK in creating an effective and powerful theatre performance thatreflects the Haitian experience and proposes solutions and positive actions to address the issue of gender violence; 3. To connect FAVILEK with local associations and non-governmental organizations to facilitate future partnerships, building the sustainability of FAVILEK and ensuring more opportunities to present the new performance, and; 4. To provide theatre-based workshops to children and adults in the community for psychosocial relief of the stress of violence and displacement, as well as provide opportunities of training to a new generation of Haitian theatre practitioners.
The company looks forward to continuing our partnerships in Haiti and to engage Haitian men as allies in the community.

The Youth Leadership project trained 400+ youth in 25 provinces in Afghanistan to design and implement their own volunteer community improvement projects, brought youth together across ethnic, regional and social divides for collaboration and sustained cooperative activities, and introduced the concept of positive engagement and voluntarism as a desirable alternate to extremist activities.

BST began collaborating with arts and advocacy organizations in Malaysia in 2017. Working with Asylum Access, a legal aid organization for refugees, BST and partner group Masakini Theatre translated critical information regarding healthcare, education and legal rights into illustrative plays to replace Asylum Access's “Know Your Options” PowerPoint lectures. This approach was highly effective for refugee communities, especially those with limited literacy such as the Rohingyas and Somalis, as well as Afghan, Iranian, Syrian, and other refugees in Kuala Lumpur. BST also trained Asylum Access staff in theatre skills to ensure program continuation. The program resulted in the formation of the first Rohingya Women’s Theatre, through RWDN, and continues to disseminate information in their community. Our goals are 1) to build the capacity of refugees in Kuala Lumpur to create and perform plays on topics of their own design, through workshops in self-expression and play writing, as well as leadership and program management, with a focus on female refugees, and 2) to reach citizens of Malaysia with performances on refugee issues, catalyzing greater understanding and acceptance of refugees, and forging links between refugee and host communities.

Bond Street Theatre, in collaboration with Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust (RCCTT), implemented a training and performance program designed to engage South African youth as advocates against gender-based violence (GBV), and to promote the value of gender equality, respect and inclusiveness in South African society. BST conducted 80 hours of theatre, communication and advocacy training involving BST artist-trainers, RCCTT staff, a local artist Co-Director, local filmmaker, and 8 youth participants from Athlone and Khayelitsha townships. We created a 40 minute performance titled "Voices of Change", which follows the lives of two young women, both of whom struggle against the confining roles dictated by their fathers, peer pressure, and tradition. The play was created and scripted by the young ensemble members from their lived experiences and talent. The youth presented performances across Cape Town, reaching people in key townships. Shows were followed by discussion with audiences.

Bond Street Theatre collaborated with Likikiri Collective, a multimedia organization serving youth in South Sudan, on a performance and training project engaging underserved youth (ages 18-25), to promote gender equality and advance peaceful solutions to social justice issues. The youth created an entertaining performance, "LeHaadi Mitein" (Until When), which portrayed the collision of tradition and modernity -- rural tribal ways versus the new ways of youth in the city. The play was presented in villages surrounding Juba, in open marketplaces and community gathering spots, with direct audience dialogue following each show. The project also presented workshops with local youth to encourage teamwork, self-efficacy, and boost awareness of the value of equal rights for all, anti-violence and social inclusion.