Uncategorized - L'ALTRE FESTIVAL

This workshop explored the intersection of art, mental health and community engagement. What does otherness mean in our society? Participants learnt about the benefits of using participatory art practices to promote mental health and well-being. Through interactive sessions, participants obtained practical skills and knowledge to develop inclusive and participatory art practices that address mental health issues in their communities.

“Discover the Otherness and the Other next to you.”

Parcipants were exploring the concept of Otherness and the importance of empathy and respect. During the workshop there
were recollected more than 400 paintings, representing different views andways of the Otherness and there was held a group discussion at the end: Who is the Other? Where is a difference?

The aim is to empower people with mental health issues, cultural workers and professionals from mental health system to use the arts as a means to promote mental health and create more inclusive communities. This activity is part of the INSPIRE project, co-funded by European Union.

With the support of:

You know that l’Altre International Performing Arts and Mental Health Festival is coming soon to Barcelona to celebrate 10 years! Take your calendar and save the dates, from May 31 till June 2 in recinte Fabra i Coats!

And if you want to connect with the arts and the mental health, we would like to share with you the FE-ARTY project’s result which we were working together with our 3 partners, from Greece, Italy and Portugal.

We learnt a lot, we ate a lot, we got lost, we discussed, we walked through the last two years all of the 4 teams, learning together, and now we share with you the last part of the project. We hope that you will enjoy it and see you in a few weeks in l’Altre Festival to celebrate 10 years together!

“Poder nutrirse de lo de fuera,
y poder nutrir al afuera con lo que una lleva dentro.”
Laura Bermejo, Fundació Vidal i Barraquer.

With the support of:

We are happy to annouce that l’Altre International Perfoming Arts and Mental Health Festival will take place in Barcelona on May 31 till June 2, 2024. If you are a company representing people with mental health problems and without, or relatives, or mental health professionals, or friends, or performing arts professionals, or you have a project related to performing arts and mental health, please send us your proposal!

To present your artistic proposal at l’Altre Festival 2024, fill in the application form in the corresponding tab according to the type of company (amateur, non-binary or professional). The call will remain open until January 26, 2024. The selected shows will be announced from February 19, 2024.

The call for proposal counts with the support of:

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or [name of the granting authority]. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Welcome to l’Altre Festival 2023!

We can loose the thread in our life sometimes.

Join us and see the ninth edition of l’Altre Festival in Fabra i Coats venue, Barcelona. More than 35 shows, theater, music, dance and much more. Looking forward to see you in 2024!

“Art empowers instead of hiding, and increases the possibility of self-awareness and self-understanding, especially in an era of alienation and continuous crises…”

The FEARTY team visited l’Altre Festival 2023 and discovered, among other things, how dance can help us to recover different kinds of mental health problems in our lives. Together with more than 50 youngsters they participated on the workshop related to collective mental health. The workshop was held by the Ukrainian psychologist from the Association Djerelo and Yana Reutova, professional dancer from Ukraine who found her new sheltered home in Prague (the Czech Republic).

“This festival was a great way to see how informality and casualness can work well in gathering people of all kinds in a space that provides safety, respect, diversity and a lot of fun. Definitely a useful event to keep in mind on how to approach art, mental health and youth.”

The FEARTY team is composed by 4 partners: ISPS Italy, Festival MENTAL from Portugal, EDRA from Greece and l’Altre Festival from Spain.

L’Altre Festival is coming this weekend from 9 till 11 of June. It means that the FEARTY team visits Barcelona. They will attend the international Performing Arts and Mental Health festival in Barcelona, discovering more than 30 shows and they will participate in the workshop after the show “Together Alone” from Yana Reutova Dance.

Chornomorsk, Odesa, Lviv, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhia… cities on the map of Ukraine that the dancers left in search of safety in the EU after the war broke out. Their stories are different, but they have one thing in common: they all fled from an occupied country and are confronted daily with the trauma, uncertainty and fear that comes with being a refugee in a foreign land. The FEARTY team, together with more than 50 youngsters, will discuss the importance of our collective mental health and how dance can help us to recover different kinds of mental health problems in our lives.

Different social groups and their stories require that creators have a specific capacity for listening and close observation. Which processes should we develop in order to uncover marginalised issues? We are interested in the methods and tools we can use in our theatrical work to ensure the sensitivity and openness needed during interviews. We want to share the experience of collecting stories and to discuss strategies for gathering material for documentary theatre projects.

On April 27, 2023 at 6 pm you can join us on the first in a series of online expert debates will take place, organized by the Czech independent theater collective Nesladim in co-production with l’Altre Festival, international performing arts and mental health festival. We have the honor of welcoming international guests, performer James Leadbitter (UK) and performer Viki Brown (UK).

The aim of the debates is to find areas of overlap between theatrical productions and a wide range of topics covering mental health, mental hygiene and ethics. The starting point for this project is to map out a network of European theatres dealing with these issues and, subsequently, to share theatre-related experiences. The debates are aimed at a professional, as well as a wider audience, with an interest in documentary theatre and its various forms.

How can arts and culture address the multiple expressions of troubled young minds when facing the crises of our time? That was one of the questions of the Brainstorming Report “Youth, Mental Health and Culture” which is now available on the website of Voices of Culture. This report explores the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being. L’Altre Festival, one of the member of the project “Festivals, Art Therapy and Young People “FEARTY”, had the opportunity to work and to participate on the report’s creation.

FEARTY is a project funded by Erasmus+ program and this year it continues working on the strategies to arrive to young people through arts and art therapy, in order to promote wellbeing and prevent mental health problems.

We would like to present you ART4MORE festival. It is an innovative International Festival, dedicated to contemporary art, Mental Health and public awareness around social issues in Athens, Greece. It is carried out annually by K.S.D.E.O. “EDRA” on the occasion of World Mental Health Day (October 10). ART4MORE is aimed at the general public, in an effort to inform / raise awareness to combat the stigma and discrimination that accompanies Mental Health conditions, as well as Mental Health professionals, mentally ill & professional artists and Mental Health agencies.

The festival brings together contemporary international works from the fields of visual arts, music, cinema, architecture, theatre, dance, new media and design. Exhibitions, Workshops for Children & Adults, Screenings, Discussions, Events, Music Concerts, etc.

We had the opportunity to participate on it this year as a member of FE-ARTY project. We participated on an open discussion and experiential game together with ISPS Italy, EDRA and Safe Space – Festival Mental.

The project “Festival, Art Therapy and Youth – FEARTY” presents the variety of forms of art therapy carried out with the participation of young people, in order to promote and popularize this discipline, to encourage young people to quickly take up prevention & treatment for mental illnesses.

Meanwhile you are unpacking your summer suitcase, we are starting to pack it to start a trip around Europe in the last quarter. To meet, learn and share ideas about culture, mental health, art therapy and youth. Here is our itinerary. Let’s see if we meet you on the road.

1st stop: PERUGIA (Italy) within the framework of the European project FEARTY as one of the partner entities to get to know the festival of the coordinating entity ISPS Italy – from August 31 to September 4.
2nd stop: BRUSSELS (Belgium) in collaboration with Voices of Culture. A meeting with 53 cultural entities by speaking about culture, mental health and youth – from October 4 to 5.
3rd stop: ATHENS (Greece) to get to know the EDRA entity and its Art4more festival, one of the partner entities of the FEARTY project from October 13 to 17.
4th stop: BRUSSELS (Belgium) We return to close the conversations with Voices of Culture on December 8.

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Otherness: exploring the intersection of participatory arts practices and mental health

FE-ARTY documental

Call for proposals 2024

L’Altre Festival 2023 video

How Performing Arts can help to heal the collective Mental Health

FEARTY visit in Barcelona

Strategies for gathering material for documentary theatre projects

Youth, Mental Health and Culture

ART4MORE festival

L’Altre discovering Europe

FAACCC 2024

Off l'Altre Festival 2024

Orgull Boig 2024