Project environment

Stella Polaris is situated in Fossnes Senter, Stokke, in the south of Norway. Fossnes Senter is in the countryside 15 minutes outside a small city called Tønsberg. It is somewhat isolated in means of public transport but there are some buses going otherwise reached by car. The surrondings are forest and agricultural landscape. It is close to the coast (15-30min) with beautiful beaches and hiking possibilities. In the summer the average temperatures are between 15 -25 degrees. And while the summers are light and the days are long the winter is dark with little daylight. Average temperature in the winter is everything between + 5 - -20, and usually also a lot of snow. From Tønsberg it is very good connections with train and busses to other cities in Norway, Oslo fex. is 1,5 hour away. There is also a small international airport 25 minutes away with car.
Fossnes Senter consist of buildings from a closed down treatment center from the 60`s, in the 80`s it was transformed into an artist village. Nowadays there are living painters, sculputrers and cheramic artists. There`s a small gallery, an outdoor art path, kindergarden, bed&breakfast, bakery and immigration center. In Fossnes Senter is living people and families from around the world, social life is activated around the cafe or bigger event organized by SP three times a year.
Volunteers are living independently in a house at the area together with some workers from SP.

Proposed activities for EVS volunteers:

1. For young people interrested in working with theatre or in a artistic organisation this is a very good opportunity to learn a lot in a somewhat short time.
2. The volunteer will be integrated inthe group as a daily member and according to his/her skills and progress, involved in the performances as a actor.
3. The volunteer will be involved to all program activities of Stella Polaris. The tasks will be divided into five categories, each of them will be supervised by project manager and volunteer's supervisor:
" Youth Theater- the youth theater is a place for talent development, personal development and joy. Volunteer will be offered to take part on the activities of Youth Theater - on one hand as a member of Stella Polaris - the volunteer will help with the coordination, with the preparation of properties and material needed for theater shows etc. and on other hand she/he will take part on it on the position of youngster - the member of youth theater - volunteer will have a chance to take a part on the trainings and performances.
" Children Theater - the children theater is a part of Stella Polaris. The task of the volunteer is to be actively involved to the preparation and realization of classes for the children. The children attending the theater are in the age between 7-14 and there are around 20 kids in each of the two groups. The volunteer will help with the coordination of the activities for children, with the preparation of the properties and other material, with preparation of the shows and with the organizational stuff connected with the children theater. There are also children of refugees in the theater those often need a special care. Work with these children is very often much more about to be a friend to the children than about theater skills. The volunteer will also assist the work with these children. In the case of interest volunteer will be welcome to bring new theater games and other activities.
" Practical work - can be different things that needs to be done in a theater, ex: web-design, making scenography, fixing the cars, sewing costumes, prepare food for big events etc.. here we have to get to know the volunteer to see what fits for him/her.
" Special events and projects - the different range of workshops, trainings, one day events, shows, summer schools, festivities etc. are organized, the task of the volunteer is to help with preparation and realization. particularly with the international projects, workshops and festivals
" Own project the volunteer will be encouraged to realize own ideas and organized own project in the frame of Stella Polaris activities. Only the condition is, the project should correspond to mission and possibilities of Stella Polaris.

After agreement with volunteer we are able and willing to form these tasks according to the individual volunteer's needs. Seeing that the volunteer requires further guidance or support, Stella Polaris is able to provide specific training or stronger supervision. All tasks will correspond with volunteer potential and will be discussed with the volunteer.
The volunteer's attendance in the organization will be 35 hours weekly. The volunteer will have holiday 15 working days in the course of 6 months.
But the volunteer has to be flexible and the working days will all be different depending on the project we are doing

Volunteer profiles and recruitment process:

We don`t have any special demands that the volunteers has to fullfil. The absolutely most important criteria is the motivation to work in a independent theatre group like Stella Polaris and follow us in our daily life. The intendent activities for the volunteer include pedagocial work so the experience in this field is a advantage. We try to be flexible towards the activities and find tasks that the volunteers enjoy to work with. But in a theater group there is cleaning and administrative work like in all other places. The keyword is motivation, communication and a open mind.
SP is part of Youthnet, we also send emails to all contacts when there is a opening EVS-placement. We read all incoming applies. In the times we get so many mails that we have to have an automatic answer at our mail-address telling about the next opening placement. Those volunteers who we find interesting are contacted, often by phone, and based upon the application and the telephone interview we make our desicion. Those who are not selected will get an written explanation why they were not selcted if they wish so.
We don`t have any special demands towards the sending organisation. We do wish to come more in contact with organisations working with artistic expression, in this way we might come in contact with young people who are not directly familiar with EVS.

Risk prevention, protection and safety:

Safety at work is high priority. When we work with scenography and putting up stage constructions we always put safety first. And in our everyday training which sometimes involves physical training and acrobatics we also teach them that how to make it safe for the body and how to support each other in more complicated exercises. Workers at SP are experienced in treatments of physical injuries and two of the workers are certified in the MA-URI massage
The volunteer will be advised about risk prevention and management on the on-arrival training. The host-organisation keep names and numbers of the nearest relatives so we can contact them in case of emergency. And of course make sure everything is ok with the insurance on arrival.

SP does not host volunteers under age of 18 years.

Motivation and EVS experience

Stella Polaris` work has always been inspired by cultural heritage and this heritage is inside all the people living in the world. Stella Polaris wants to share their knowledge of the northern cultural history and get inspired by other cultures, fex. We have organized short-term projects where people from all over Europe work with Northern mythology and Viking history for one month. And one important thing about this project is that the participants share their knowledge from their own culture which often are used in the performance and if not always is a big inspiration for everyone. That`s one of the reasons why we would like to continue hosting young people from around Europe.
We have been very satisfied by the results of our projects. In our long- term projects we get to know more of the personality and talent of the person. The person get to know more of our work, Norwegian culture, the language and the daily life in Norway and SP. Our short-term projects are more intense we see people from all different corners of Europe come together, create something new and become friends. Get experiences that you only get once in a lifetime.
We also feel that to live and learn something new in another country is an important experience for all the young people growing up today.
SP has hosted altogether 6 long-term volunteers since 2006 and has organized annually a one month short-term theatre project since 2008 with maximum volunteers per project 20.
Description of the organisation
Stella Polaris is a independent theatre group, the group was founded in 1985 by Merete Klingen and Per Spildra Borg.
Our aim is to create a theatrical world where the borders between fantasy and reality are burst open in order to take the spectator on a journey through stories where place and time do not exist. Stella Polaris wants to comunicate with their audience from heart to heart.
Our productions spans from small storytelling to big outdoor events. We are inspired by medieval theatre, combined with impulses of other cultures and times. We also offer workshops in circus and theatre skills, as well as storytelling. Our performances can be showed anywhere where there's a crowd - outdoor and indoor, day and night. At base in the countryside 15 minutes outside a small city called Tønsberg, we have a youth group and children theatre. Most of the people working in the theatre live in this small community very close to the theatre. At the moment the daily staff consist of leaders Per Spildra Borg and Merete Klingen, four actors or sircus performers and four administrative workers. We co-operate with up to thirty free-lance musicians and actors