There are many prejudices about women with immigrant background and the fundamental motivation behind the project was to get past these prejudices and give the women a voice, a possibility to tell about their life and thoughts. Several women associations expressed a desire to make a debate-play concerning the life of immigrant women as well as Danish women.

The main purpose of this project was to contribute to the integration of women in the 'Urban-programme area' in Aarhus through an introduction of amateur theater as a sparetime activity. A stage play was carried out and the theme was 'women's life from an ethnic minority point of view'. The idea was to establish a forum where women could tell about their life conditions, which would end up as a debate-theatre. The hope was that is would enhance the understanding of similarities and differences in the life of women of various ethnicities. Furthermore, expectations were that the theatre-project would give the particpating women stronger selfconfidence and make them able to express themselves in other contexts -societal as well as private. The project was carried out in three stages; Initially, a research phase where the manager of the project interviewed women with immigrant background and had them tell their stories. Second, the recruitment phase to get actors for the play, rehearsals and finally the performance of the play 'Girls -13 women, six nationalities and one kitchen'.

The Gellerup Theatre already has a good network among the women in the local area. An important element of the project is the field work and making the women feel safe when telling their story.

Immigrant women

In the beginning, 50 interviews were carried out with women telling their story and the project succeeded in gathering a troup of 13 girls with six different nationalities to perform the play. The play had great succes; besides creating a network and understanding among the participating women the play attracted a big audience from the entire city, among them several city council politicians and perhaps most importantly a large media coverage. GIRLS contributed to creating a different representation of women with immigrant background than what is normally seen in the media. There are plans to make a new play in the future -a 'Girls 2'.

The project benefitted the women who got a better social network and had their selfconfidence strenghtened. It also benefitted immigrant women in general, because of the positive attention. The district and Aarhus as such had a good experience and positive publicity.

The total expenditures for the project was around 370.000 Danish kroner. All of the participating women were volunteering.

The effort is part of the EU Urban Programme for deprived neighbourhoods in European cities. EU support the Urban-effort in Aarhus with 40 million Danish kroner for the time period 2002-2007.

The Urban Programme financed half of the expenditures and the rest was financed by The Gellerup Theatre.

The Gellerup Scene - Municipality of Aarhus
Denmark
Lisbet Lautrup

01/09/2003

case

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration

Equality