by Marika

Babí Leto at Bohnice 17.9.2005 from 13.00

Once upon being in the care of a psychiatric facility and feeling like a completely mis-diagnosed outcast (I simply couldn't understand why piercing my body parts with safety pins might upset the staff) my father consoled me by saying, “you dance to the beat of a different drum dear”. Those basic metaphorical words of wisdom held me together throughout many other ominous government facilities to come. On hearing this years' Babí Leto (Indian Summer) catch phrase “Tančíme ve stejném rytmu : We dance to the same rhythm”, I became instantly intrigued, even annoyed. After finally resolving to own the albatross of having my own beat, rhythm, and frenzied chaotic dance steps being mine and mine alone- now they tell me that they're coping my style? I was jarred. Insulted. Confused.

The Fokus Praha art therapy group and Unijazz cultural association intend on breaking down the barriers that shroud the ability to understand mental illness through the “use of cultural actions to stimulate dialogue between the audience members and to break the stereotypes that exist around the mentally ill.” explains Čestmír Huňát, chairman of Unijazz who also produce among several other things, Alternativa “one of Europe’s most extensive and alternative music festivals”. Surreptitiously established in 1987, Unijazz operated without sanction for years publishing books under the nose of government censors and producing illegal musical events before coming out from the underground. In 1990 Unijazz along with Fokus (meaning “gathering around the fireplace”) finally acquired permission for their first festival at Bohnice.

“Before the Velvet Revolution there were no mentally ill according to the Communist government.” Beate Albrich, Director of Fokus Praha recalls sardonically. It was literally five people who initiated this somewhat radical approach to mental health care among them: a nurse, a psychiatrist, a social worker and a cleaning woman working in the Bohnice facility who could no longer take the governmental and thus societal ignorance as to the existence of their wards. “We just couldn't let them rot in their beds.”
Inspired by the methods of Western art therapy Fokus Praha was formed basing their work upon the premise that “everybody has inner creative potential available for therapeutic purposes, education and personal growth.”

Originating with one office in Prague 8, Fokus Praha now have satellite offices in most sections of Prague and several outlying towns in The Czech Republic.Receiving financial support from MZâR (the Czech Ministry of Health) they are still having to scrounge the private sector for funding therefore the festivals serve a dual purpose of exposure and fund raiser, “we are governmentally funded and sanctioned but every year it is becoming more difficult to survive”, complains Albrich.

On being queried about the level of sensitivity regarding having mentally ill people performing on stage for the entertainment of mentally “stable” people, the festival organizers became uneasy. The seemingly unflappable Albrich replied anxiously, “Other countries have more rules about public actions...but we are behind and must hurry to catch up to the other countries [levels of care and therapeutic practices]”, however experimentally.

Babí Leto does not have the quantity of psychotic in-patients that Mezi Ploty does (a psychiatric theatrical and musical production with similar educational / therapeutic intent, now in it's thirteenth year) it does allow for the organization to have their out patient community mingle with the general public whilst simultaneously showcasing their musical and theatrical talents, organizers also hope to inform and recruit those that might not even know they need such assistance.

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