YA BASTA PREPARES FOR G8

Ya Basta! is entering a period of cultural action leading up to the G8 arriving in Scotland in July 05.
It will involve performances from Scotland's leading political theatre makers including 7:84, Birds of Paradise and Theatre Workshop as well as residencies, participatory workshops, film screenings and exhibitions.

We hope that a wide range of people from every part of Scotland will become involved. If you are planning an event between mid May and early July, you may want to be part of the Ya Basta! programme. Venues, such as The Arches and Tramway, in Glasgow, are already getting involved.

Ya Basta!, like those who protest at the G8, is a broad movement of people who want to say enough is enough, the agenda of the G8 leaders is not our agenda and we want to make our voices heard through the activity that we know best - the arts. We also hope to demystify both the G8 and the protests by making work on themes held dear by both sides.
Participants in Ya Basta! are free to identify which particular theme they wish to focus on whether local or global. We want to reach out to those who are already active in organising protests and engage them both in using and enjoying the arts as alternatives to mass media. We dream of engaging with people who believe that the economics of the G8 is the only possible world order and showing them an alternative.We want to wake up those who have never considered the power of corporations and faceless institutions. By profiling the non-dominant world view, we can explain and show just why those protesting feel so passionately about the power of the G8.

As well as the companies already mentioned, we are still hoping to fill a programme running from mid-May to the beginning of July. Therefore we want to invite companies, individuals and groups to be part of Ya Basta!

Existing companies and venues might consider sympathetic programming as a way of fitting into the action. Grassroots and community groups might find Ya Basta! to be the ideal platform from their creative campaigning.

Individuals could become involved through residencies, exhibitions or publications or simply by engaging with newfound networks. At the moment the programme is wide open and we hope to be able to respond to as many ideas as possible. Ya Basta! is being organised by a team of interested colleagues, who believe that by working together we can make this happen. Although we do not have funds for commissioning work we hope to be able to publicise events through print for Ya Basta!, which will be distributed nationwide.

To facilitate planning and collaboration we are holding a meeting on 15th Dec 04 5pm -7pm at The Arches. Refreshments Provided. This will provide a forum for artists, activists and venues to meet with a view to creating projects.

The deadline for submissions is 20th Jan 05.

For further information contact;
Jean Cameron, The Arches on 0141-565-1000 jean (at) thearches.co.uk

Morven Gregor, Birds of Paradise on 0141-339-1155 morvenbop (at) aol.com