Organisation — Focus and Mission
Hua Dan is dedicated to using theatre to inspire people’s full potential. We are one of the first organisations in China dedicated to pioneering the uses and applications of participatory and educational theatre. Hua Dan seeks to achieve this through our three main goals:
- Personal Leadership: More people leading their own lives and their communities with integrity, courage and confidence.
- Relationships: Increased understanding and collaboration between people and groups from different backgrounds.
- Participatory Arts: More people understanding the value and application of participatory arts for personal growth and social transformation.
We do this by:
- Delivering inspirational workshops in partnership with community organisations and commercial enterprises, to empower individuals from all classes of society with skills that improve their employability, social mobility and quality of life.
- Training migrant workers to be professional arts practitioners, project managers and branch leaders of Hua Dan, lifting them out of poverty and enabling them to participate equally in mainstream society.
- Working with outstanding arts practitoners to ensure a constant commitment to innovation in how the arts can achieve personal and social transformation.
- Aiming to become a leading Chinese social enterprise with a scalable model adaptable to other regions around the world.
Our Programmes and Projects
- Women Empowerment Programme: Operating since 2006, this programme has helped shape the individual capacity of over 800 migrant women based in Beijing, giving them the confidence and skills to transform their lives. Results show that women participating in our programme have increased employment options and chances for career development, an improved social support network and are better equipped to adapt to the new challenges of city life. Dong Fen, one of our first participants, recently won a British Council/You Cheng award for her consultancy social enterprise initiative at Hua Dan.
- Migrant Training and Employment Programme: A central component of Hua Dan’s work is training and employing marginalised youths and migrant workers to facilitate workshops and eventually manage Hua Dan projects. This not only creates greater access to jobs in the arts for a more diverse range of Chinese citizens, but is also providing a platform for expression of cultural values and perspectives. Hua Dan currently has five long term migrant facilitators on staff.
- Children’s Education Programme: Since 2007, Hua Dan has worked in partnership with schools and community centres in Beijing to reach over 3,800 migrant children. We have delivered projects, theatre programs and workshops on a variety of themes complementing school curriculum, which have enabled migrant children to realise their own potential, equipping them with key life skills such as self-awareness, confidence, communication and leadership. The programme also provides training to teachers to support the integration of more creative, interactive and experience-driven learning into the curriculum.
- Sichuan Earthquake Rehabilitation Programme: Our Sichuan team has been running a rehabilitation program since 2008. We have worked with over 2,500 women and children using participatory arts to help building confidence, communication and leadership skills required for rebuilding homes, communities and lives.
- Community Engagement Programme: Since 2008, this programme has run bespoke workshops and projects with partner organisations. They generally have a multi-stakeholder approach where Hua Dan brings together people from different parts of the community to engage in dialogue and debate about new and innovative solutions for issues that migrant and rural communities face in China.
Evaluating Our Impact
Hua Dan is committed to the careful and continuous monitoring and evaluation of its projects for two main purposes:
- To learn from ourselves for the continued improvement of Hua Dan projects.
- To assess the extent to which project activities lead to the desired change and impact.
In terms of direct participants these changes include improved self-awareness, greater self-expression, increased creativity and imagination and an increased willingness to participate in the devopment of others and society. We also assess change experienced by those indirectly involved as well as potential impact on the wider community.
