Behind Bars

The project Behind Bars  is a colaboration between No Boundaries eV (www.no-boundaries.de) and the education department of the youth detention facilty Berlin, in cooperation with Gangway e.V. It is designed to promote the interest in language as well as language skills and the ability of detained young people to express themselves.

In the everyday prison life, speech and expression often lose diversity, which in turn leads to frustration, misunderstanding and conflict. Behind Bars wants to use language as a tool to open up spaces in order to mediate between the different interests and cultures. In order to use language as a medium for formulating their own needs and visions and in the process prevent conflicts constructively, we need the guidance of experienced artists and teachers. Twice a week (90 minutes each) workshops will be held, run by resident artists and educators of the youth detention facilty Berlin. The three-month modules cover topics that are based on the lives of the involved young people, culminating in the creation of authentic texts. The lecturers will guide the youth to develop linguistic diversity, to verbalize their own ideas, to expand their vocabulary, to recognize the stylistic features of different text forms and finally to put forward and present their own texts in front of others.

All information about events and publications related to this project will be announced in the near future….