MIST – and to see each other is a project to enhance social acceptance of addiction (treatment) in Brabant. Additionally, students, employees and care givers are actively involved in the destigmatizing movement. This project is a collaboration of theatre collective Coup Cura and addiction organization Novadic-Kentron.
Social acceptance for addiction treatment is a big challenge due to stereotyping, stigmatizing and negative attitudes. Arts, theatre and music can be a good connecting force between addiction care and society. Through this project, the theme of addiction gets brought to the attention in a positive way. Where arts, care and wellbeing meet, is where the working area of collective Coup Cura is. Through theatre, they provide a stage for complex issues, in order to create change and impact. In workshops, projects and productions, they bring together the involved organisations, care givers, and people in need.
Together with addiction treatment organization Novadic-Kentron (NK), Coup Cura created the project “MIST – and to see each other” with the aim of enhancing awareness of the addiction problem in Brabant. “MIST – and to see each other” relates to the figurative mist that can exist between people. Sometimes, we do not see each other quite clearly, and we assume a great deal without really looking. Additionally, mist symbolizes the nebulization caused by addiction, and how this combination results in a connection with others which people with an addiction often miss. Precisely for that reason, connecting the addiction problem to society is essential, so that people can seek something to hold onto in others once more. Through artistic expressions, Coup Cura and Novadic-Kentron wish to achieve this.
On three high schools, three MBO schools and four companies in Brabant, people are working on the theme of addiction through creative workshops. During these workshops, 20 students per school and 20 employees per company are paired with (ex-)clients of Novadic-Kentron. During the workshops, the participants get into each other’s experiences and explore their similarities, while their lives are very different. For some of the couples, mini documentaries will be made, in which the viewer finds themselves ‘in the shoes of someone else’. Vulnerable stories will be seen and heard. With all of these experiences and stories, theatre collective Coup Cura writes and rehearses a performance which, aside from within Novadic-Kentron, will be performed in theatres in Brabant.
Through these workshops, documentaries and theatre plays, this project reaches a broad audience of over 5000 students, employees, care givers and audiences of the theatre performance both inside and outside of Novadic-Kentron. With the financial support of Serra Foundation, the societal acceptance of the theme of addiction takes a big step in the right direction.