When theater enters the classroom

Students in 4th year of ESO and high school (artistic or humanistic modality) from Girona, Salt, and Banyoles have the opportunity to get closer to the theater with the activity Dramaturgy Tournament for Institutes. An initiative that offers a panoramic view of all the steps involved in a dramaturgical creation. This proposal is part of A Tempo-Arts and Education, the educational project of the La Ciutat Invisible Foundation and Temporada Alta, which aims to bring the arts closer to all children and young people in the territory and encourage their active participation in cultural life. The Tournament is organized jointly with Tramoia Cultura.

During the first term, from October to December, the participating students carry out seven work sessions in the classroom with a team of professionals from the performing arts of dramaturgy who accompany them throughout the process. In the first phase, the boys and girls work on dramatic writing to develop their own text. To make the selection of the text that each institute will represent at the Tournament final, the professionals choose from the texts of the other educational centers to ensure impartiality in the selection. In the second phase, the chosen text is reviewed and collectively rewritten to adapt it to the dramatized reading that the actors and actresses will perform at the final. And finally, the last session is dedicated exclusively to the direction and staging of the text, with the participation of a pair of professional actors and actresses.

Professionals in the arts, teachers, and students all draw a positive experience from this entire process. Denise Duncan, one of the playwrights working on the Tournament with educational centers in Salt, reflects that “we live in such a technical world that it is truly revolutionary that the arts still exist.” For this reason, she argues that, “in a vital stage like adolescence, to which we often do not give enough importance, it is essential that boys and girls feel heard in creative spaces like this one, where they can express themselves freely and without fear of being judged.”

Furthermore, when theater enters the classroom, competencies such as linguistic communication; personal, social, and learning to learn; civic; entrepreneurial; and cultural awareness and expression are also developed. Judit Rico, a Spanish language and literature teacher at IES Vallvera, who has participated in the project since the theater elective she teaches to 4th-year ESO students, explains: “I have been doing this activity for eight years and I have seen wonderful things. I remember the case of a student who did not speak in class and through this elective found a form of expression. Here, a whole new world opens up to them; they learn new languages and get to know all the professions linked to theater beyond just the actors and actresses.” And she adds: “As always, theater, music, circus, and dance are the great forgotten ones within formal education. It would be ideal if one or two arts professionals were part of the faculty and that their subjects were not elective but mandatory.”

The final cherry on top of the initiative reaches the third phase, with the meeting of the five participating high schools at the Sala Planeta in Girona during the Temporada Alta to compete in the Tournament final. On stage, a ring is set up, similar to a boxing ring, where professional actors and actresses perform a dramatic reading of the created texts and the audience, made up of the participating students and three other invited high schools, votes for the one they like best. During the vote count, two representatives from each participating high school go into the ring and explain to everyone how they experienced the creative process. This is one of the parts that most excites the students. "It is a very cool and enriching experience, since it is an activity very different from what we are used to doing at school. It is a group effort where everyone gets involved, because it is 100% our work. And the final part of seeing the result of your play in a theater is impressive," explains Sígrid Arumí, one of the participants from last year's edition.

As a prize, the winning high school of the tournament receives a commemorative accreditation and all participating students have the unique opportunity to share a meeting with a playwright and attend a special session of the text that won the previous edition of the Temporada Alta Catalan Playwriting Tournament, a proposal for professionals which inspires the version for high schools.

In this eighth edition of the Tournament, the participating high schools are: Salvador Sunyer i Aimeric and Vallvera from Salt, Narcís Xifra and Escola La Salle from Girona, and INS Brugulat from Banyoles, with the support of the town council of the same municipality.

Like every year, each of the high schools is represented in the Tournament with the image of a shield inspired by the work of a Catalan author, a beautiful way to make classic works of Catalan theater known among the youngest audience. This year the chosen author is Ramon Folch i Camarasa (Barcelona, 1926-2019), and the texts that will be transformed into a shield are: Mans enlaire! (1991), Amor de dentista (1994), Dues hores (1957), El primer plet (1993) and Pobre senyoret! (1994).

Ten years transforming the relationship between arts and school

A Tempo-Arts and Training, promoted by the Fundació La Ciutat Invisible and Temporada Alta with the support of the Fundació Banc Sabadell, organizes free activities, during school hours and both inside and outside of schools, aimed at students of all educational stages, as well as actions and training proposals addressed to education professionals. Furthermore, the project has the collaboration of the Girona Provincial Council, the Salt City Council, the Girona City Council, Costa Brava Mediterranean Foods, and Bonpreu S.A.U.

It is a project with a wide territorial reach, as demonstrated by the participation of public and charter schools –54 out of a total of 57 in Girona and Salt–. In fact, the organizers state that they have reached 100% of the schools in Salt and more than 90% of those in Girona. Throughout the ten editions, nearly 600 artists and trainers have been part of the project, such as Lluís Homar, Gabriel Calderón, Clara Peya, and Rosa Gàmiz, along with theatre companies; and more than 42,000 students through more than 1,400 educational actions.

In this tenth edition, the project proposes 6 programs and 21 artistic proposals of theatre, dance, music, circus, and other performing arts languages. The edition will culminate in March 2027 with a special day in the public space of Girona to celebrate the ten years of A Tempo and assess the project's trajectory.

Additionally, this year the organizers are promoting La Farga Viva, a new line of artistic work linked to the educational project of the Escola La Farga that connects artists, teachers, and curriculum. The project takes a step further in the relationship between arts and education: if A Tempo brings the work, languages, and creation processes of artists closer to schools, in La Farga Viva it is the artists who put themselves at the service of the school's educational project and work jointly with the teaching staff so that the arts become a transversal tool, linked to the curriculum and the day-to-day life of the school. This new initiative will be developed until 2028 and will feature resident artists from different disciplines, shared workspaces with the teaching staff, pedagogical advice, and a report that will document the process with the intention that the experience can also serve as a reference for other educational centers.