Public Spectacle

Public Spectacle has four main projects; Creative Voice Workshops, Public Spectacles, Trainings, and Konya Secondary School. In our Creative Voice Workshops, Public Spectacle works with survivors of intimate partner violence in local battered women?s shelters to embrace creative writing as a tool for healing. Through workshops lasting up to three weeks, we provide a safe space for women to speak about their experiences, using a dynamic artistic context to tell their stories. In our Public Spectacles, we use principles of experiential learning, in combination with theatrical activities pioneered by Augusto Boal?s Theater of the Oppressed, creating a space where individuals can examine their personal notions about domestic violence. Through role plays, skits and group discussions Public Spectacle encourages individuals to talk about intimate partner violence, its affect on their communities and what they can do to help stop this epidemic. Our training programs include information about domestic violence, family violence and interpersonal violence, how to recognize abusive behaviors, what you can do if you or someone you know is in an abusive situation and steps to developing a safety plan. Finally, on a recent trip to Kenya, Public Spectacle representatives visit Konya Primary School, located in a small village North East of Lake Victoria. The headmaster, Thomas Omondi, explained due to poverty, illiteracy and HIV/AIDS students who score well on the national exams and are selected into secondary schools are often unable to attend. Since Konya Primary School is in a rural district, the secondary schools are boarding schools far from home and very expensive. The result is a large population of youth with no future schooling or job opportunities. This combination of boys and girls without future endeavors can perpetuate violence. Public Spectacle has teamed up with the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) of Konya Primary School to upgrade a section of the primary school to secondary level and help accommodate approximately 180 prospective secondary school children within the next 24 months. The main objective of Konya Secondary School is to give high quality form education and equal opportunities to both boys and girls from poor families, thus making them better citizens of this country. This project will especially benefit the under privileged orphans and those from poor families.