WORLD MIME DAY

MARCH 22nd

RECOMMENDATIONS

WMO STRONGLY RECOMMENDS THAT ALL EVENTS WOULD BE FREE OF CHARGE FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC

CELEBRATION

WORLD MIME DAY should be marked through media on March 22nd but it can be celebrated during weeks preceding and following March 22nd.

Mime Festival

Probably one of the hardest thing to do, prepare, organize and finance is a mime festival, international, national or local, for adults or children but it can also have a strongest impact on the general public and media. With good preparations and WMO recommendations it can be done and hopefully in the future we will have a network of festivals celebrating the World Mime Day.

Theatre performance

One of the best ways to mark and celebrate World Mime Day is with a free theatre or street mime performance. People like to go to theatre especially if the entrance is free. This is the way to build a partnership with the theatre as it should be asked to join the manifestation with a free space and equipment rental for this occasion.

Street performance

The second half of March is the end of winter in northern hemisphere, so the 22nd could be a nice and sunny day which will bring a lot of people in streets, parks and squares, ideal situation for street mime performances.

Unusual locations

Universities, schools, kindergartens, cultural centers (especially French Institute as Marcel Marceau was french) orphanages, metro, cable car, bus, refugee camps can become venues for mime performances, events, workshops.

Public workshops and lectures

One can organize a workshop almost anywhere - in a students, amateur or professional theatre, museum, cultural or community center, gallery, mime, dance or acting school, at the university, school, kindergarten, sports club, political institution like National Assembly or City Council, refugee camp, orphanage, in a coffee shop, boutique, fitness club, street, park, traffic light, on your neighborhood corner.

Presentations or a lectures on mime can be very interesting and effective.

Marcel Marceau Street INITIATIVE

Initiate OFFICIALLY through city government (usually) to name a street in your city after Marcel Marceau. World Mime Organisation will send you an official letter of support. You should write to the mayor of your city and all members of the city government as well as to the minister of culture and foreign affairs, to your ambassador in France and to the french ambassador in your country.

YOUR IMAGINATION IS YOUR LIMITE - BE CREATIVE AND PERSISTENT!

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Don't forget to invite everyone you know and ask them to invite everyone they know - use your phone, sms, e-mail, internet, social media, word of mouth. If you have some money print flights and posters and distribute them to places where you ask for a permission and where you know they would be seen - universities, schools, community centers, coffee shops, bakeries, fitness clubs...

PROMOTE MIME AS THE LANGUAGE OF PEACE

Media

Media and journalists are crucial. You can find fax numbers and e-mails on the internet. You can go to a news stand and ask a vendor to let you copy e-mail and fax numbers from news papers and magazines. It will take a lot of your time but those numbers and addresses are precious for your work too.

Write a short press release stating in the first sentence place, date and hour of the event. It is not an essay but a simple information sheet with an catchy title in 2-3 words and a sentence or two that will describe the event in an interesting way.

It is alway good to send a general press release 8-10 days prior the event, repeat it 3-4 days before the event with some new details about event and insisting on the the date, place and hour and sending another just 1-2 days before the event repeating the invitation.

You should also write a one page report on the event a day after and send it to sam addresses and faxes and leave your e-mail and/or mobile phone number so that that could call you for more info, interview, photo and/or video material.

Ask a friend to make photos and a video for you, so that you could distribute them to journalists and use them on the internet, social media etc.

Lobbying

One of the most important activities not only in politics is lobbying. Be sure that some one you know knows someone how knows the one who's support you need. It is difficult to ask somebody for a favor for your self but this is not for you it is for a COMMON GOOD! For the benefit of your community, so it shouldn't be so difficult to ask nor to get an answer and support. It will take time and perseverance but do not hesitate nor give up.

Start with your family and friends, than move to local community artists, sports persons and politicians and then go national.

Prepare your self. Write down a story about mime and your community and talk, talk, talk!

Do not forget a fact that this is a World Mime Day so the whole world is interested. Your country, your city and your local community are part of that world and they want to be. Use that fact.

All the international representatives like United Nations, European Union, UNESCO, UNICEF, embassies and cultural centers of different countries can be interested in supporting you with a letter or with some money too, key be help you bring a fellow mime artist from that country to yours.

Marcel Marceau was french so French Embassy and French Institute should be interested the most (it doesn't mean that they are but you should try)

Letter campaign

Letter campaign is a good way to start lobbying and asking for support and later help. Even if you do not get it a letter is a document so it will be filed!

Establishing a "World Day" for anything is a long, long procedure in the UN and UNESCO and it is almost impossible to find a place in the official calendar. This is called "International observance".

International observance (also known as international dedication or international anniversary) denotes a period of time to observe some issue of international interest or concern. This is used to commemorate, promote and mobilize for action. Many of these periods have been established by the United Nations General Assembly, Economic and Social Council or by UNESCO. In this case, the lead agency for a particular international observance uses the symbolism of the United Nations (UN) or UNESCO, a specially designed logo for the year, and their infrastructure to coordinate events worldwide. It also presents a written report about the event. This summarizes the activities that took place around the world under the auspices of the international observance, and makes recommendations for the future.

As we want to establish a World Mime Day it should be "very international". We as a World Mime Organisation should have members and representatives in as menu countries as possible and in all or most of them we have to celebrate the World Mime Day.

To whom should you write?

1)You should write to all the mime artists in your country and abroad and invite them to become embers of the World Mime Organisation.

2)You should write to all the local and national arts and education institutions such as universities, schools, arts and cultural centers, theaters, film producers, film archives, museums (…) asking them to support your and our initiative with a letter of support.

3)You should write to the local municipality, your mayor, ministries of culture, education, youth, tourism, foreign affaires, asking them to support your and our initiative with a letter of support.

4)You should write to the representatives of United Nations, European Union (if a European country), UNESCO, UNICEF, International Red Cross and Crescent, embassies and cultural centers asking them to support your and our initiative with a letter of support.

5) You should gather that documentation and send copies to World Mime Organisation (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and we will write directly to the UN, EU, UNESCO and UNICEF asking for official establishment of the World Mime Day.

Partnerships

If you try to do something alone it will be very difficult but when you partner with someone you will do most of the work and share the credit with your partners… Be wise and work for the benefit of the art of mime and being a part of our art you will personally benefit too.

 DON'T ASK FOR MONEY ASK FOR SUPPORT!

Who can have an interest in mime?

• Mime artists, mime educators, mime theaters, festivals and schools - partner with them. They have professional or amateur commitment to mime.
• Performing and other related arts like acting, dance, film, theatre (…) - partner with them.
• Institutions and experts in the fields that relate to non-verbal communication (psychiatrist, psychologist, communicologist, defectologists…)
• Educational institutions from kindergartens to universities - partner with them. Mime is an excellent educational tool.
• Public and non-governmental institutions and organizations for children and people with special needs - partner with them. Mime is an excellent tool for social inclusion.
• Associations and schools for hearing impaired - partner with them. Mime is an excellent tool for social reintegration of the deaf and hard hearing. Mime is a natural artistic form of expression but a potential profession for hearing impaired persons.
• Public sector, governmental institutions and companies as there are always some elections coming and they need quality events in their CV's and portfolios  - partner with them.
• Private sector, companies, banks, insurance, car and oil industry, clothing producers, telecommunication, juice, coffee, chocolate (and many more). They can always use a good public promotional event - partner with them.
• National Olympic Committee and/or Academy (if there is one). Mime and sports go hand in hand since the ancient times. Panhellenic games with Olympic Games as one of four parts had artistic programs involved and mime was popular at that time. Every year is an Olympic year whether you have summer or winter Olympic Games or summer/winter Youth Olympic Games or in Europe summer/winter European Youth Olympic Festival - partner with them. Sports are very inspirational for mime.
• Think and you will find a way to develop interest in mime with everybody.

DON'T WORK ALONE - FINDE PARTNERS IN YOUR FRIENDS AND IN THE INSTITUTIONS!

Promoter

Try to find a person that is known in your community or nationally, a local or national celebrity that would be willing to help you as a promoter of the WMD. They should only help you with media and public appearances. Don't ask to much, just some of their time and influence. They can be artists, actors, singers, sports personalities, journalists, anchors, doctors, scientists, marketing experts….

This is hard to find but not impossible.

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH FELLOW MIME ARTISTS!

This document is only a basis from my 20+ years of professional experience as an actor, mime artists and charity worker. So it is not finished and never will be. I just hope it will help you and be inspirational for you so that you would write to WMO sharing your experience that can help others.

Thank you,

Marko Stojanović

WMO Co-Founder

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.