Dream Up in Germany: the children from “Doors Open” perform Alice in Wonderland

In Frankurt, Germany, Doors Open is part of Dream Up, the international programme of the BNP Paribas Foundation which promotes education through the practice of art. „Doors“ open is a theatre and music program ran by the Kinderschutzbund Frankurt and designed for disadvantaged children and teenagers. It gathered 23 participants between eight and eighteen years old who performed the play Alice in Wonderland on stage. It has been for them an adventure of six weeks of practice and workshops since September 2018.

The play was performed for the first time on May 5th of this year. All the shows were sold out. A total of 450 spectators enjoyed Alice in Wonderland. The underpriviledged youth involved in the play had the opportunity to discover the different aspects of the theatre world. In fact they had their word to say in the choice of the play, the costumes and the sets. Furthermore this experience taught them how to express themselves properly on stage and to form a cohesive team despite of the age difference.

« Doors open means that everybody can participate and can express one self through acting. I have gained self confidence and learned how to be creative around people I did not know before » explained Khadija a 12 year old participant. Dana, a 10 year old girl said : « for me Doors Open means getting to know new people and how to deal with public speaking. I have learned to work with others in a challenging environment »

Artists in the fields of dance, music and theatre were involved in this project. The close cooperation between artistic work and educational development created a great sense of achievement. The spectators were astonished by the performance : «  They could even play the schauspoielhauss frankfurt. Super-funny-clever ». « An incredible project ! wonderful actors that put many effort into it. And it was definitively worth it. I am looking forward to the next production » confirmed another spectator.

Dream Up promotes the education of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through the practice of art. A total of 30 organisations are supported across 29 countries where the BNP Paribas Group is established. Since it‘s creation in 2015, the programme has benefited 30,000 disadvantaged young people through more than 1,500 workshops, shows and artistic creations, either in dance, theater, music or crafts.