Evaluation

This evaluation is based on memos from the meetings of the project team, as well as research papers and feedback by students who participated in the courses.

Our experiences from participating in the Minerva Project were truly inspiring and encouraging. Although we knew before joining the project that experiential learning (including social theatre) can be a powerful tool in minority work, we were now much more able to apply the method in practice. It is, indeed, a long process, which we will continue after the project. Since Forum Theatre was a new experience for us, we are grateful about being able to share the experiences of the other partners.

The stories that were presented in two Forum Theatre performances in Viljandi were based on conflict situations from the lives of our students, selected by the students themselves. Neither of the stories presented conflicts between cultures, but addressed problems of interpersonal communication. From this experience we learned how important the process of story selection is. The more real and serious the problem addressed in the story is to a target group, the more powerful the performance will be. This puts a lot of responsibility to the performers, who should invest enough time and effort to investigate the problem addressed in the performance. We wish everyone plenty of patience in applying the method – results are not achieved instantly.

At the end, we want to point out another valuable effect of this project. Namely, the project forced us to face both our strengths and weaknesses in utilising technology (e.g. videoconferences) in communication and study processes. Over the course of the project, we became much more comfortable with using technology.