COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Techmoja is a member of Network of Ensemble Theaters, Alternate ROOTS, International Association of Black Dancers, and Dance USA.
PARTNERS
Community Engagement is a key component of who Techmoja is as a company. We have a deep commitment to evaluation, collaboration and process which our the core elements of our engagement strategy. Through pre- and post-show talks, studio residencies, public showings, participatory workshops and programs for artists, families, youth, and the LGBTQIA community, Techmoja educational programs offer opportunities to engage with artists and connect with the performing arts.
Techmoja has developed and codified our community engagement and education work with our at-home audience through residences and performances from 2009-present. Our engagement methods for both youth and adults include 1) performance workshops, 2) creative interventions, and 3) story to stage workshops. We work with partners to create the community engagement which best serves the target audience.
Integral to Techmoja’s work are community cultural residences that celebrate the host community’s culture and help it articulate its concerns. These culture residences act as a bridge between the work and community. Community participants get to engage with two unique traditions, one reflecting a local reality, and are energized to support the performance.
We curate each residency to meet the goals of the participants and to maximize the impact of the performance. These workshops may include:
Story to Stage: It invites participants to tell stories linked to survival, agency, and transformation honoring our collective power to give voice.
Loud As We Want: This high energy performance workshop focuses on creating a healing space for fellow artists and performers. It begins with story sharing and moves into an exploration of the art of being loud through our movements, voices, and music.
Touch & Movement: From a biological perspective body awareness is central to healing. According to the Journal of Art Therapy “the integration of body awareness is increasingly becoming best practice in trauma therapy.” This workshop invites participants to use movement in their daily lives.
Techmoja has partnered with schools, recreation centers, and organizations— coordinating a comprehensive audience engagement strategy tailored to each participating community. These efforts have led to performances on stages, riverfronts, and park grounds, making the performing arts a part of the everyday experience of community members and sharpening Techmoja’s engagement tools. These tools bring the creative process to life for audiences in an active, participatory, and authentic way so that they can experience the performing arts on a deeper, more complex level.
We continue to build support within coastal communities by delivering clear messaging about our goals and ambitions to serve communities and the field, and by providing a welcoming community space for artists to gather and exchange skills and ideas.
At the heart of these efforts is a desire to bring the creative process to life for audiences in an active, participatory and authentic way, helping community members experience the performing arts on a more personal level.
Working Narratives is the proud fiscal sponsor of Techmoja Dance and Theater Co. and Kevin Lee-Y Green. Working Narratives is an arts and social justice organization that believes communities flourish where there is a deep and abiding culture drawing from strong traditions and the creation of new traditions. They believe the power to heal, connect, and inspire resides in culturally-rooted stories.
Dreams of Wilmington provides the space in which workshops, trainings, and rehearsals are held for projects directed by Kevin Lee-Y Green and Techmoja. Established in 1996, DREAMS of Wilmington is a youth development organization that is dedicated to building creative, committed citizens, one child at a time, by providing youth in need with high-quality, free-of-charge programming in the literary, visual and performing arts.
As a multidisciplinary vehicle for the advancement of African-American arts and culture, the Black Arts Alliance serves as an advocate for arts and artists, nurtures emerging and veteran artistic talent, and develops new works in the performing, visual, and literary arts.