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Trust the Process is a podcast about socially engaged arts that invites you to trust the unconventional nature of artistic processes and, more importantly, the impact they can have over time. This project is part of the Ask, Pay, Trust the Artist campaign and is supported by the Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts.

The guest of this second episode is the Belgian theatre director Frédérique Lecomte, founder of Théâtre & Réconciliation, a professional theatre company that brings people together through participatory theatre, nurturing connection and reconciliation.

At the heart of the conversation is Les Liaisons Joyeuses, an extraordinary project that each year brings together more than sixty people from across Brussels: ordinary citizens with different backgrounds, languages, and life experiences, many of whom might never otherwise cross paths. No previous theatre experience is required: the guiding principle is that everyone has something to share and is welcome to do so.

Developed over more than twenty-five years of work with communities affected by conflict, displacement, and exclusion, Frédérique’s methodology is grounded in a simple but radical idea: theatre does not ask people to relive their suffering, but offers a space where they can meet, play, create, and be recognised by others. The process itself becomes a form of community-building, contributing to what, in the language of public policy, we might call social cohesion.

If you would like to explore her methodology further, we recommend reading Théâtre & Réconciliation: A Method for Theatre Practice in Conflict Zones, a collection of field notes, correspondence and testimonies documenting the evolution of her practice.

Special guest:

Frédérique Lecomte

Music credits:

Original music by Kerem Çelikoğlu

Episode produced and hosted by:

Sara Bandinu, Culture Action Europe

This podcast aims to spark an ongoing conversation around socially engaged arts — one we hope to nurture by collecting grounded stories of change-making. If you are a socially engaged practitioner and would like to share your experience, feel free to get in touch at sara@cultureactioneurope.org — I would love to hear from you!