Mapping aims at creating a Map on the aesthetic of Performing Arts for Early Years (PAfEY) – children from 0 to 6 years of age – through a common field research shared by 18 partners of 17 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and UK.
A piece of research on the aesthetic dimension of small children, to create a map useful for improving the quality of
artistic production and research for the youngest ones. Not a Manifesto on the how-to’s of PAfEY, but a Map collecting the most significant traces left by a meticulous process of artistic research, focused on the relationship that artists establish with very young children through performing acts.
The project is centred on Artistic quality and on the quality of the Relationship with early years, and it will be based on the following activities:
- Fieldwork guided by ITYARN researchers (International Theatre for Young Audience Research Network), involving at least 3 artists of each producing partner and leading to the creation of the Map
- 19 festivals of PAfEY in 14 different cities over the 4 years
- A co-production project resulting in 16 different productions, created thanks to a shared productive process developed over the first two years, and that will be touring in the festivals starting from 2021
- A Final Event (Spring 2022), hosting all the shows produced and a Common Performance
- The Map illustrated, an Exhibition presented first at Bologna Children’s Book Fair in 2022 and then in tour, and a book containing the illustrations of The Map by international artists
- Follow-up meetings, seminars about direction and dramaturgy in performing arts for early years
- A new audience, action research process on audience development
- The books: The Map, Research book (a collection of articles on the research), a Handbook about the research on
Audience Development, the Diary of the experience and the Follow-up paper