Jump to: The Open Space Process | Accompanying | The Broad Cloth
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The Copenhagen Interpretation
Accessible, inclusive, theatre with optional participation, facilitated across analogue, digital, and live performance platforms. It is designed to be particularly accessible for the neurodiverse.
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'Copenhagen' aims to use living, responsive ways to open up accessible story/worlds, so everyone can get involved in a way that is comfortable for them to access. Participants are invited to do anything from quietly bearing witness, to sharing knowledge and discussing ideas, to creatively contributing to the building, exploring, and understanding of the story and fictional world.
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We use these fictional worlds as a lens through which to explore key social themes including:
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Accessibility and inclusivity within cultural engagement, with a focus on neurodivergence
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Cultural exchange and shared resources
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Grassroots approaches to environmental stewardship
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Heritage craft and folk traditions
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Wellbeing through collective cultural engagement
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The balance of heritage conservation and future community sustainability
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Innovation in models of community-led governance
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The flow and recognition of value within collective experience
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The Open Space Process
The Copenhagen Interpretation uses a version of Harrison Owen's Open Space Technology. The principles are essentially an observation of what happens in real life anyway. They allow us to exist in the moment, follow our natural instincts and energies, and let go of "should".
The building blocks of any gathering are the people who are there, in the state they are in: energy, availability, focus, intention, passion. The substance of this whole process is who we are, what we bring, and what we do with that. The outcome will be who we are and what we have when we emerge. These two principles relate to the substance of the process.
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Whatever brings you there, and whatever you bring, are the right things
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Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened
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Wherever you get involved is the right place
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Whenever it starts for you is the right time
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It’s over when it’s over for you
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There are also some specific freedoms represented metaphorically:
The Law of Freedom: you are free to be where you choose to be, doing what you choose to do.
Butterflying: transformation, hovering, being open to receiving, being beautiful just being you
Bumblebeeing: cross-pollination, maneuverability, healthy ecosystem
The Bluebird: the hopeful pursuit of happiness
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Accompanying
During their experience of a 'Copenhagen' project, participants can be accompanied by someone whose role is to support that experience in whatever way is most helpful to that participant. This can include:
- professional access support workers (eg: sign language translators)
- informal support workers (eg: a friend who makes the participant feel more comfortable attending)
- a group of participants intentionally supporting each other through the experience, equipped with tools and awareness we provide for mindful companionship
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The Broad Cloth
Co-produced by The Field Station on the Norwegian island of Ingøy, and The Copenhagen Interpretation in the south of England.
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The Story
Somewhere in a cold sea is an archipelago of small islands, lit by the Midnight Sun in summer and the Northern Lights in winter. They say the oldest of these is Skylark Island - or Himmellærke Øy, if you're using the old language. The community of Skylark Island are shepherding and fishing folk, but everything revolves around their main industry: the traditional manufacture of a woollen textile called broadcloth.
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You are invited to the traditional coming of age ceremony for Kai Skylark. Along the way, you will make discoveries about the island and her people, their traditions and beliefs, their hopes and fears. You will also encounter the unique challenges faced by those who live in isolation on an island. There are storms on the horizon: perhaps The Ancient Ones have their own plans for Kai’s journey…
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We aim to create an authentic environment for this narrative within which we can explore the friction caused when the future makes demands on tradition that we might not be able to accommodate without challenging our beliefs. How, and if, people can move forward together in such scenarios is for the participants to explore.