B12: Process Drama: An Ingenious Assistant to Integration
Art facilitators and educators from the Newcomer Art Project (N.A.P.) of Windsor Women Working With Immigrant Women have managed to engage and empower newcomer youth girls in their community of Windsor, Ontario through using the technique of process drama. Process drama, developed by Brian Way and Dorothy Heathcote, two ground breaking educators of our time, is conventionally known as a teaching method to learn drama and develop thinking skills in young children. N.A.P. art facilitators have incorporated this method into their settlement strategies to help build newcomer youth self esteem and confidence, and various skills such as critical thinking, social and communication skills amongst many others. Youth clients, through their total engagement with the problems that are imagined by themselves, engage in discussion and problem solving. N.A.P.’s optimistic theory is not only that the process helps make successful newcomer youth but promotes great citizenry as well. The workshop will engage participants in a short summarization of theories of process drama. The presentation will then give insight on the workings of process drama through active participation by attendees.
Cassandra Richardson is a Youth Settlement Worker and the Lead Programme Facilitator with the N.A.P.. She has worked in the settlement sector for over three years where her work and academic career have been dedicated to social justice issues. She has her masters in Communications and Social Justice from the University of Windsor and her BA in Communications and Environmental Sciences with the College of St. Catherine’s in St. Paul Minnesota, USA. Working with marginalized groups in her career, where conventional methods of teaching often fall short to motivate and empower clients, she developed a great interest in the workings of art as an agent of personal and social change.
Chris Rabideau, B.A. Education, Ontario College of Teachers (Honours B.A. Drama in Education & Community, University of Windsor) Chris is thrilled to be part of the N.A.P.. He has assisted the young women in directing many of their presentations. Chris brings experience as a performer, director and educator to social justice workshops for youth. His most recent social justice works have included the history-making “Waking up Blue”, a play for Anti-Homophobia Day in Windsor, with local high school students. The show continues to play throughout southern Ontario and has also been documented for a film release this year. He continues to work with the girls that attend the NAP helping them to come into their own and have their voices heard as young immigrant women living in a Canadian culture. Together with other art facilitators in the program he has helped young immigrant girls tackle and discuss important issues like homophobia, xenophobia, bullying, and other forms of discrimination using the expressive arts.
