Instill enthusiasm for culture in children and promote cross-generation enjoyment of the theatre

Theatre – there are children who have no one to take them to performances and discuss with them afterwards what the play was about. Sponsors take over the task and invite children to accompany them to the theatre.

Like books, the theatre transports us into a world of its own. First of all the preparations: keeping an engagement, getting dressed for the occasion, arriving on time and waiting expectantly in the audience for the performance to begin. Experiencing the unique atmosphere and being carried away by the actors to a fantasy world. Afterwards the discussion: Why did a character act in exactly this way and not otherwise? How would one react in this situation? How does it relate to ones own life?

The Initiative for Theatre Sponsors has made it its aim to win sponsors for children who would otherwise have little or no opportunity to visit the theatre. These children often have a migration background, but there are others whose parents themselves have no access to cultural events. The sponsors – there are already 65 – invite the children, pick them up and visit a performance which is later considered and discussed.

The sponsors receive training beforehand and in some cases develop a relationship with the children which at best lasts beyond the visit to the theatre. The project achieves much at a small outlay and has in the meantime been integrated into the Förderverein Kinderfreundliches Stuttgart (Development association for child-friendly Stuttgart).

In addition to the private sponsors, business firms sponsor visits to the theatre for whole school classes. And the aims for the future? There are plans to set up independent theatre projects in problem schools in which many children can participate and in the process learn the use of language, how to express themselves and how to hold a discussion. The donations in 2006 from the campaign TRIBUTE TO BAMBI, the annual charity event organized by the Burda Publishing Group, will help to extend the project to other towns.

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contact: Irene Armbruster