{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1251\deff0\deflang1049\deftab708{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\fcharset204{\*\fname Times New Roman;}Times New Roman CYR;}{\f1\froman\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}}
{\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}{\s2 heading 2;}}
{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1503;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\qc\b\f0\fs24 Interactive Clock \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATR\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  for Children with Limited Abilities (Mini Circus)\par
\pard\keepn\s2\qc Project Description\par
\pard\qc\par
\pard\qj\b0\ldblquote Children \endash  one of the reference points in international development strategies, because they are the ones whose social and individual development will determine the future of the world. Another reference point has to be the environment, because that is the basis and source of resources for all future development.\rdblquote  (UNO report \ldblquote Children and environment\rdblquote ).\par
According to statistics, today\rquote s Russia is 62\super nd\nosupersub  in the world for quality of life. If in some maternity wards there is no water or in hospices the windows are without glass and in the winter the ailing people cork them with pillows, it is hard to talk about quality of life, but by the same token it is also necessary to do so. There are lots of difficulties that, on first sight, seem to reduce to nothing all efforts for an improvement of the situation (\ldblquote Which quality of life are you talking about \endash  of surviving\'85,\rdblquote  \ldblquote Not quality of life, but quality of death rather worries me\rdblquote\'85).\par
In order to survive these days it is necessary to have varied knowledge and problem-solving skills. Adults are settled in their habits and a monopoly on knowledge and information on alternative technologies and resources of energy create a situation in which people are not able to change themselves and their environment. The traditional system of construction and architecture destroys the environment, and so our last hope is our children. Maybe they will succeed in building and living in a different way. They have an alternative, they just have to know it, if they want to survive on this planet. For children with limited abilities knowledge of methods for improving the quality of life is especially important, because they have no choice. Where can they get the necessary information about the near future? The creation of knowledge systems and of a value of education for sustainable development is the mission of many scientists. There are extremely few publications on the topic, and they are all, as a rule, a list of horrible facts not adapted at all for children\rquote s comprehension. From mass media children get much negative information that makes them feel their weakness and fear facing future, and so they don\rquote t want to grow up. One possible way to avoid the formation of pessimism is to create for them a game, in which they get the possibility to express their thoughts about their future, to see alternatives to the \ldblquote alarming\rdblquote  scenarios of the future and, maybe, to understand their own role in improving life. The creation of a \ldblquote future workshop\rdblquote  in miniature form that is able to come to every house and even into a separate chamber to a seriously ill child, is not an easy task, but why not try to resolve it in the name of a better life even for only one child.\par
Visual aid-models for education for sustainable development don\rquote t exist in a single school, and in the hospitals there are neither video- nor audio-programs, that would aid in reducing aggressiveness and stimulating immunity. Therefore, the working experience with the puppet theatre \ldblquote Sfera mira\rdblquote  (\ldblquote Sphere of peace\rdblquote ) will be used for the preparation of the project in the children's school-hostel and with the theatre \ldblquote Krugly dom\rdblquote  (\ldblquote Round house\rdblquote ) for homeless children on the markets of St. Petersburg. How is it possible to understand, with the help of modern arts, the mood of an ill child and, at the same time, give in a popular form information about alternative technologies for improving quality of life? In Russia, the original working experience of Jean Claude in Swiss oncological clinics is very famous. In 1995, the Russian association \ldblquote Yanosh Korchak\rdblquote  organized the work of a clown in Moscow. The psychotherapeutic method with clowns became known and used in many countries of the world, outgoing from the USA. One of the best clown-psychotherapists and founder of this method, Patch Adams, came to Moscow and worked successfully with children for more than 15 years. Unfortunately, there are only a few artists like this, and many ill people. Therefore, the idea of creating an electronic-mechanic theatre was born, so that even students without special experience can work with children in a high-quality way. For example, the hours with the cinematic figures on the city towers are not less effective than live-actors. If the idea will be developed, then the parents or the doctor can bring the magic theatre-circus to the ill child into the hospital, and the part of storyteller art-therapists could be carried out by student volunteers from theatre- and medical schools. The spectators of the project would be children from age 5, their parents and the medical personnel of the clinic.\par
Closely connected with the concept \ldblquote quality of life\rdblquote  is the concept \ldblquote environment\rdblquote . Today, the condition of the biosphere is analogous to the state of an ill person: dehydration, increased temperature and destruction of useful organisms require immediate treatment with varied methods. The only general difference between a person and the biosphere is dimension. The mini circus with the figurative name \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ecotheatr\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  allows to design and teach in a playing area difficult subjects, like the human organism and his interaction with the environment. With the help of \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ecotheatr\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  it is easy to explain clearly to a child what happens inside of him or her, if he or she is ill, and how the organism fights against the illness and how treatment works. \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ecotheatr\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  prepares the child gradually to the changes, that will happen to his or her body during treatment. For example, the history of a state called Hematope-land is demonstrated on the screen of a \lang1033\f1 multimediaprogect\lang1049\f0 . There are many streets and strange houses. Strange creatures live there. In Hematope-land the leucocyte-police is on the watch. They catch and eat terrorist-microbes, the thrombocytes build round houses, and absolutely small persons soon go to school, become erythrocites and feed everyone with oxygen ice-cream. Another game-simulator is called \ldblquote Choose a country.\rdblquote  It can help children realize that quality of life includes such values like the possibility to work and freedom of choice. The screen of the laptop shows a short description of countries and people who live there. The children are invited to settle in the country, where the quality of life is most convenient for them. A child needs to get some holiday from the suffering that tortures his or her body and soul, therefore the mini circus has to be beside the ill child in the moments of strong shocks, at the first arrival at the hospital or at the preparations to an operation. The art-therapist has, besides the \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATRE\lang1049\f0\rdblquote , a few requirements: whistles, tops, balls, puppets, poems, songs, dances and masks. All this helps to raise the mood of the child and his or her tenacity, which is one of the most important tasks of psychological support, and in case of a long hospital stay it is also an effective method of education for a sustainable development of the child. In the sections of the clinics, where \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTEATHRE\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  visits, children live in individual cubicles, sometimes together with their parents. It starts with them getting to know each other, and \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATRE\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  gets installed on the table in front of the bed of the child. On the screen of the laptop spots of sunlight on water, moved by the wind, appear. A lamp with water is hung from the ceiling and creates a whole circular rainbow around the bed and \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATRE\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  In this way, a playing landscape takes shape in the ward. If desired, everyone, including the medical personal, is photographed. Everyone takes part in the game \ldblquote My house.\rdblquote  \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATRE\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  makes use of the personal experience of the child in a maximally effective way.  It works with the method of social modeling, in which different situations of the child\rquote s life are played. The whole thing is founded on an atmosphere of faith and respect for different ideas and opinions. \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATRE\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  represents a m\lang1033\f1 ini\lang1049\f0  world with varied countries, cities, houses, people, plants and animals"\lang1033\f1 LUCOMORJA\lang1049\f0 ". Short films about the different countries, eco-settlements and future houses are shown on the screen. The child is invited to choose clothes, a house project and energy fonts, which it likes most, to work out it\rquote s own version of the future of the chosen country, to choose it\rquote s version of scenario of development in the 21 century (for example \ldblquote golden century\rdblquote , \ldblquote hell on earth\rdblquote , \ldblquote at the moment for us everything is still alright\rdblquote , \ldblquote enough for everyone\rdblquote , happiness means\'85\rdblquote ). Audio- and video-programs and animated cartoons about life on earth, about methods of its protection and improvement with the help of alternative technologies and energy fonts, are shown on the screen. The history of the origin of the world and of mankind, their development and future are briefly illustrated. And with the help of rapid or slow motion and macro- and micro-recording, sequences like the birth of a flower out of a seed, the birth and death of stars and planets, the falling of a water drop, the growth of snowflakes, the structure of DNA and microorganisms, projects of future buildings and eco-settlements, alternative fonts of energy and technologies are illustrated. The uniqueness of the project consists in the fact, that, for the first time, the popularization of methods for improving quality of life is promoted by a portable interactive multimedia complex of art-therapy, which allows in a minimal time and in a minimal playing landscape a maximally effective illustration of basic knowledge about quality of life and technologies for its improvement. The aim of the project is an active immersion of the child into an emotional, personality-orientated educational landscape, which stimulates the imagination of the child, so that problems of the biosphere can be comprehended more effectively. \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATRE\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  is a type of informal mini-training on the topics: \ldblquote Me and environment,\rdblquote  \ldblquote Biodiversity,\rdblquote  \ldblquote Alternative fonts of energy and resources,\rdblquote  \ldblquote Alternative technologies for improving quality of life.\rdblquote\par
\par
\par
\par
\par
\par
\pard\keepn\s1\qj Methods, steps\par
\pard\qj\par
The mini circus, arranged as a face of the clock, is a semi-sphere with the screen of a lap-top computer, situated in the center of a backdrop, which is made of elastic material on a collapsible wire frame. On the backing cloth \ldblquote Cosmos\rdblquote , light-diod-\ldblquote stars\rdblquote  are shimmering. In front of the screen, in a round arena, photo-puppets are moving and dancing in circles through the orbit and turning around there own axes while music is playing. The photo-puppets are made of transparent film by printing photographs from the notebook on the printer. Some figures have hinged hands, legs and heads. On the screen the child chooses, alone or with the help of the art-therapist his or her own costume, cuts his or her own figure out and fixes it somewhere in the orbit or at the center of the arena (ego-point). For the city-orbit, the child chooses photo-puppets of his or her relatives, of clowns and popular fairy tale personalities like\lang1033\f1  BABA JAGA, COLOBOK\lang1049\f0  and others, and of future house projects and cars. For the country-orbit it chooses and fixes animals, flowers and insects. For the earth-orbit: crystals, versatiles, stars and other planets. With the help of a console in the hands of the mediator and one for the child, everything starts to move and turn with different speeds and directions. The rotation is underscored by a special music for puppets, composed by the author, which comes out from dynamos and is reminiscent of the music of the small music boxes for children or music watches. Special lamps, focused on the puppets, create dancing shadows on the walls of the ward. The spherical envelope is manufactured with a wasteless technology, created by the author, from spring wire and elastic material. The construction is a binding of spirals and special adjustment and its form is reminiscent of the DNA molecule. This technology could be an alternative to traditional technologies of building eco-settlements, cupolas of churches and other buildings. The envelope of the construction with a diameter of max. 3 meters can be manufactured at home without expensive equipment. The light buildings, manufactured with this technology, don\rquote t need a foundation and leave the surface of the planet unsullied. They can be built at a hillside or village along rivers or lakes. They can turn with the state of the sun or the direction of the wind, and, filled with water, can be used for the creation of sanitary complexes. The spherical design of the theatre \ldblquote Sphere of peace\rdblquote , for example, helped to resolve effectively a conflict situation in the children house. In combination with the more hard and stabile octo-tetraedic structures, the spherical and drop-shaped shells allows fantastic variety in the architecture and kinetic/cinematic house-sculptures, able to sustain any hurricane and earthquake, which means it can save peoples' lives. The orbits-arenas of \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATRE\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  are made of transparent plastic with photo-illustrations of the levels of the biosphere of the near and far environment of the child. \lang1033\f1 M\lang1049\f0 echanic drives for the movement of the puppets and the orbit are disposed under the arena. The diameter of the scene-arena is \lang1033\f1 2500\lang1049\f0  cm. The mini circus is \lang1033\f1 2200\lang1049\f0  cm high. The size of the puppets is \lang1033\f1 60\lang1049\f0  cm. The weight of the mini circus is \lang1033\f1 1\lang1049\f0 6 kg. The dimensions of the folding mini circus are: diameter \lang1033\f1 30\lang1049\f0  cm,  and the shape is reminiscent of a drum or hat box with wheels. With the \lang1033\f1 MINICOMP\lang1049\f0  and other materials inside. In summer, for spectacles for children on the streets or in the parks of St. Petersburg, an umbrella-tent called \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOCON \lang1049\f0\rdblquote  is used, which is also manufactured with the spiral-technology, and after the spectacle every child gets as souvenir a photo-puppet and a booklet with recipes for laughter and quotations from the book of Antoine de Saint-Exupery \ldblquote The Little Prince\rdblquote  and with pictures of the projects \ldblquote Future eco-settlements on different planets\rdblquote . All steps of creation and work on the project will be photographed and enclosed to constructive and financial calculations of the project. For the successful realization of the project, the resources of a documentation-film studio, a watch fabric and a workshop institute for the production of exact devices, will be used. For the resolution of organizational questions of the work in hospitals, the author plans put up a close collaboration with charity organizations. For promotion and information of the public about the results of the project, electronic invitation-letters will be sent out to the mass media, with an electronic version of the booklet \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATR\lang1049\f0\rdblquote  enclosed. The booklets will also be sent by post to hospitals and children houses in St. Petersburg and other cities. At the end of the project, thanks to the exceptional working experience, the author plans, that the project gets further financial support from interested organizations, sponsors and medical institutions. \par
Terms and phases of the project\par
\par
For the realization of the project will be needed:\par
Time for preparation of necessary materials, for collection of information, purchase of equipment \endash  3 months\par
Manufacture of the mechanism, recording of the programs \endash  3 months\par
Work in children houses and hospitals, preparation of the report \endash  6 months\par
\par
I phase (preparatory) \endash  3 months\par
II phase (realization) \endash  3 months\par
III phase (tour) \endash  6 months\par
Total: 12 months\par
\par
Estimate of project costs:\par
\par
Equipment:\par
Digital camera, accessories (disks, batteries) \endash  $1200\lang1033\f1 (\lang1049\f0\'c0\'d0\'c5\'cd\'c4\'c0)\par
\lang1033\f1 MINICOMP\lang1049\f0  \endash  $1600 (\'c0\'d0\'c5\'cd\'c4\'c0)\par
Manufacture of the \ldblquote\lang1033\f1 ECOTHEATRE\lang1049\f0\rdblquote , micro-dynamos, gears, springs, instruments, etc. \endash  $1000 \par
Filming, recording, photo- and audio-material and special literature for the preparation of the educational program \endash  $2000\par
Publishing of the booklet and of postcards \endash  $2000\par
Individual financial support, including expenses for the tour to the hospitals \endash  $200 a month (12 months) = $2400 + taxes 50 %, total \endash  $3600\par
Total: $8000\par
\par
Note on the estimate of costs:\par
\par
For the realization of the project, special high quality equipment is necessary. It is known that quality and special equipment is always expensive. It will take at least 3 months to find the necessary equipment and to place orders for its manufacture. Maybe, journeys to other cities, like Moscow or Helsinki, for purchase of equipment will be necessary. For the production of the photo-puppets, a digital camera with the possibility of audio-video-recording is necessary, to guarantee a quick choice of the best picture on the screen and its processing according to the child\rquote s and relatives\rquote  wishes. For the work with portrayals, a notebook with an additional screen and a set of special programs, for example for choosing costumes to the faces and figures, is needed. The notebook can be carried everywhere and will also be used as screen on the backdrop of the arena of the mini circus for the demonstration of the educational programs. For the production of the photo-puppets, a portable printer, that is able to print on transparent film, is needed, to avoid spending time on cutting out details. The production of the electromechanic arena/system for the turning of the puppets is not possible without the help of watch-makers and electromechanics at a factory or at a private company. This requires payment for a special order of max. $1000. To reach the aim of making alternative technologies for improving quality of life more popular, the preparation of the author\rquote s audio-visual program, the rent of a film studio and the payment of specialists for computer animation, of operators, musicians and composers will be necessary. To be able to do full-blooded work on the project, the author will have to take a time-off discharge from work and so he will need an individual financial support of 200US-$ a month for one year. This circumstance will allow him to move freely and to work with children at the hospitals of St. Petersburg and surroundings. \par
\par
\par
I really hope that the realization of the project will help not only to improve the mood of the children, but also give new knowledge about future life. The information and knowledge that will be received during the experience will not be lost, but will help to introduce the interesting and progressive experience of work with children also into penitential institutions of St. Petersburg and surroundings.\par
It is necessary to find a way to life and development, and not to destruction.\par
The oscillation of the pendulum to the side of spiritual values, based on alternative technologies, depends on us. \par
\par
}