ÔCIRI
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
A taste of the world through Shadow Theatre, Folk-Tales, and Music Performances. Yoga, matcha, honey, and creative workshops for children aged 0 - 100. From the Extreme Orient to Africa, Amazon and Europe, come dive and explore sounds, colours, thoughts, and flavours. Bring your set of curiosity and mingle in this remote adventure at Tagus Valley's Quinta Dona Maria.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
One only fears the unkown and misunderstood.
ÔCIRI merges from the Portuguese words Ocidente and Oriente and aims to invite inclusivity of expression, thought and lifestyle by staging different perspectives and horizons at Quinta Dona Maria Tagus Museum, an abandoned house currently owned by the Constância Town Hall. The unkown village of Montalvo would host the two-days festival and create a place where realities that seem so far off and distinct from one another become one core island for understanding, tolerance, and genuine compassion.
Dispersed artists and cultural specialists, all resident in Portugal, will be brought together to share the world they have seen through stories, workshops and artistic performances with the local and neighbouring communities of all ages, social and working status. The only pre-requisite to enter the festival is curiosity.
PROGRAMME DRAFT
Saturday
- Yoga Practice with Alexandra Prazeres from the Portuguese Yoga Federation;
- Atelier of Shadows for Children with Beniko Tanaka, https://benikotanaka.com/ ;
- AKAI,https://www.instagram.com/akai.streetfood/, who could affiliate with the nearby restaurant KAIS 66 and work as the festival's go-to for lunch and dinner;
- Shadow Theatre Performance with Beniko Tanaka: Japanese folk-tale told by Beniko's shadows, a dancer, and Portuguese music;
- Star-Gazing Concert for clarinet and string quartet: repertoire by Serge Prokofiev (Russia), Maurice Ravel (France), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (Sierra Leone/England).
Sunday
- AKAI, Japanese Street Food / KAIS 66, Portuguese Restaurant;
- Apiculture related workshop by local worker Vanessa Marques, https://www.instagram.com/melmilflores/ ;
- Peter and the Wolf, A Musical Tale for Families by Serge Prokofiev, Woodwind Quintet and Narrator;
- Green Tea and Matcha Tasting with Inês Matos, https://ces.uc.pt/pt/ces/pessoas/doutorandas-os/ines-carvalho-matos ;
- Concert for Nature: flute, viola, harp
Key objectives for sustainability
ÔCIRI is to be voiced by local artists primarily resident in the Tagus Lezíria area in order to avoida unnecessary travel. Too many artists commute long-distances to perform, when all they need is a stage that welcomes their story. Due to the current working conditions in the arts, many of these have moved and settled in Lisbon. They create stories of migration (Beniko Tanaka, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor), connection with nature (Vanessa Marques, Maurice Ravel), harmony of mind-body-spirit (Alexandra Prazeres, Inês Matos), and story-telling (Serge Prokofiev).
ÔCIRI is to take place at a farmhouse which used to be one of the main working places in the village. Now set to abandonment, the festival intends to upcycle it back to life. To meet this objective, we will need the approval and official authorization from the Constância Town Hall.
Attendance will be free and the events projected on a wall. Waste will be held to a minimum to non-existant, by discussing alternatives with AKAI and KAIS66 as to how to handle take-away drinks through simple actions such as "bring your own mug for a 1€ discount, traditional asian / Portuguese napkins, sit while you eat" Small steps like this one may even create awareness on how simple it actually is to include sustainability in each one's daily life and to appreciate the wonders of slow living.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
ÔCIRI aims to promote an artistic and cultural exchange that leads to deep thinking, acknowledgement of world culture and situations, culminating in tolerance towards one another;
Educational activities will be held in a large room and will be open to children and their families;
Artistic activities will be held outdoors and be open to children of all ages and their families;
Artists will range from young nationals to migrants (Beniko Tanaka);
Repertoire will feature composers from completely different backgrounds and wall projections will present a modern context of each reality, raising awarness to current human issues. Ranging from France, to Russia, Sierra Leone, China, Japan, and the Indigenous tribes in Southern America.
Key objectives for inclusion
Standard classical concerts often have an age limit of attendance, which ÔCIRI will diregard. It will hold events prone to children of all ages and will welcome families to all other events as well. A crying or impatient child is a distraction only if one sees him as such.
Inclusivity of migrants: Japanese visual artist Beniko Tanaka will be the spokesperson for the cause. We might create a place for discussing regarding the refugee crisis and link it to world issues as distant as China and North Korea.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, an unkown composer from England, descendent of Sierra Leone, composed a Clarinet Quintet which is to succeed Prokofiev's "Overture on Hebrew Themes" and one of Ravel's String Quartets.
Language, ethnicity, culture, and religion are mere indicators of our humanity. They have also distanced humans for milleniums, generated wars and misundertstings. ÔCIRI hopes to give birth to a place where humanity becomes silent of words and integrates the natural sounds of our planet and, ultimately, of the cosmos.
Innovative character
Not the traditional sit and listen events: the public engages, participates, and is also a performer.
Workshops: speaker presents their story and allows for interactions with the participants through the creation of materials, like shadow puppets, origami, honey or matcha based recipes;
Performances: children of all ages are welcome, the stage in set only a few inches from the ground or at ground level; if possible and adequate, the public closely surrounds the performers and the performance itself becomes one with the listeners
