THE LABYRINTH EVENT 2012

The Labyrinth Event, a comprehensive educational program intended for students and teachers of schools in Warsaw, has accompanied the “La Folle Journée” Festival, organised by the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra and by the Musical Gardens Foundation for the past three years in the Grand Theatre – National Opera.

The fundamental objective of the project is to get children and youth interested in the arts (music in particular) and in artistic activity in general through involvement in various workshops  run by young, Warsaw-based artists. We believe that creative activity is available to everyone and can be great fun, as well as a hobby. One of the main premises of the Labyrinth Event is that music education should be for all children, not only for the most talented, as it has proven positive impact on general development and social skills in children. The unifying element which brings the whole program together is the location of most activities – the headquarters of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra at 272 Grochowska Street.

It is especially important for us to reach children in deprived environments. Cultural exclusion of young people is often the effect of a missing impulse to develop their own creativity, leaving them alone to passively consume products created by the media industry. It is the intent of the Labyrinth Event to activise the school environment around educational innovation in terms of music, theatre and the visual arts. Workshops for teachers are intended to entice them to search for new, attractive forms of artistic education of school children.

The program is organised by the “Music is for Everyone” Foundation, in cooperation with the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, the Mazowieckie Centre for Arts and Culture, the Mazowieckie Local Authority Teacher Development Centre, the National Audiovisual Institute and the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art.
The program is financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and by the Capital City of Warsaw.

Innovation – the Labyrinth Event
The innovation of the project applies to both its organisational framework and to program content. The Foundation contacts schools through a system of coordinators of the Warsaw Cultural Education Program, and teachers directly. The project entails both primary and secondary school students and teachers. The main principle which applies to all parts of the program is active, creative participation through games. The principle also applies to teachers during May workshops “for teachers – music education enthusiasts”, during which the participants played at theatre and creation of sounds.

The organisational backbone of artistic workshops for children in elementary schools is the labyrinth game, with all associated attributes, such as instructions, skills earned, stickers and diplomas.
The most important aspect of the workshops is the possibility to enter a created reality, in which each student becomes a creator, performer, oriental story-teller, sound engineer, melody painter or instrument builder. The participants are accompanied by Russian symphonic music, multi-media effects and a special stage set. The workshops are a testing ground for new activities to inspire children and teachers to search for their own, authentic artistic passions. The workshops have not been designed by teachers, but by young and experienced artists.

Another new idea is “Stravinsky Hip-hop” – a music & animation event, whose main element is an educational story based on Igor Stravinsky’s “A Soldier’s Tale”. The performances are intended for youth and will take place in the fall of 2012 in schools and at the headquarters of Sinfonia Varsovia. This will be accompanied by events by young activists from junior and senior high schools, who will survey musical demand and needs and the attitude to music and their own music activities.

Program components for 2012

1. Workshops for teachers at the headquarters of the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, implemented in cooperation with the Mazowieckie voivodship Local Authority Teacher Development Centre;
2. Artistic workshops for primary school students in creation of sound, expression of movement, melody painting, modern dance, music instruments and theatrical & musical story-telling.
3. “One Minute Class Song” competition for students of primary and junior high schools, consisting of the creation and recording of short songs, the best of which will be displayed on the www.akcjalabirynt.pl website. Awards in the competition consist of musical instruments.
4. Interactive educational performance of “Stravinsky – hip-hop”, after Igor Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale”, intended for students of junior high and high schools. The work is performed by three musicians, two dancers, an actor and a group of dancing youth.

The Labyrinth Event – Facts

• 3 editions of the project so far.
• In 2011 the Labyrinth Event received 1st prize from the Capital City of Warsaw in the competition for non-government organisations for the most interesting cultural education project in the 2nd 2011 edition of the Warsaw Exchange of Cultural Education Programs in 2011.
• 2500 children from primary schools in Warsaw took part in the first edition of the Labyrinth event in 2010. In 2011 this number went up to 4000.
• Nearly 150 teachers – music education enthusiasts met at Labyrinth Event Workshops in 2012.