Project Madagascar

So, why Madagascar?

Join us for an adventure, as Elsa enthusiastically sings in Frozen II, into the unknown! We are partnering with two UK-based NGOs, Money For Madagascar and Feedback Madagascar. Their staff will bring us to various rural schools, children’s shelters, and community centres. There, we will share an original performance of music and theatre with many young and enthusiastic children! Madagascar is the tenth poorest country in the world. Child labour is rife, and educational and cultural activities are sadly very much lacking.

Photos from our previous project in Tanzania

The project…

Team members: Five people, either acting or music students. We’re very keen on having a mixture of musicians and actors, as the show will be devised mixing physical theatre and musical instrument playing. Leading the team is our Emperor Penguin, Elisabeth Swedlund!

Dates of the project: From 5th April - 20th April

Where in Madagascar? We will be working both in Antananarivo, the capital city, and in the Fianarantsoa region, ten hours away from the capital.

Performances: We will be going inside orphanages, slums, rural schools, and NGO premises to perform our show and workshop twice a day. It’s all a very thrilling and a humbling human experience.

What language will we speak? The performances and workshops are wordless, as the children do not speak English. We will use French to get around – Elisabeth speaks French. You’re all encouraged to learn a few words of Malagasy!

Will I get to see the country? Yup! Time will be set aside after performances to stroll around – and yes, say hi to the lemurs. Visiting and interacting with local communities is a very authentic way to discover and understand the true Malagasy life: you’ll get to see much more of the country than on a tourist vacation!

Safety: Madagascar is very poor but conflict-free. Always keeping as a team, staying with our NGO guides, and acting responsibly as a group makes our Wind-Up Penguin trip safer than a regular backpacking trip. And UK foreign advice says backpacking in Madagascar is safe.

A few words about how we operate…

We’re a grassroots group of students and graduates, who produce these tours abroad on our free time. We choose to commit to this cause because we strongly believe in the transformative power of Penguin experiences, for children and training performers alike. Basically, we absolutely love it. As of now, since we're all volunteers, we don't have the time resources to apply for funding, so we ask the participants to fundraise the costs of the trips themselves. This model is very much suited and designed for musicians and actors who are currently training - but we accept applications from everyone! So here’s the deal:

The project costs £1450 per person. This covers absolutely everything: Flights to and from London, travel to and from performances, travel between cities, all accommodation and food during the project, and a £200 development fee to cover production costs and to keep these projects running.

  • Each member will pay £150 as an inscription cost by 1st December,

  • A second payment of £600 will be paid by 10th January to allow us to book flights,

  • And the team will communally fundraise the rest, i.e. £700 per person, through a fundraising campaign with many activities.

How this Fundraising campaign works:

  • We start now;

  • Each member of this project agrees to take part in the activities we’ll be doing (concerts, cake sales, charity concerts, internet crowdfunding page… whatever comes to your brilliant creative minds). The profits are then split equally between all team members;

  • For the past two years, all our projects have raised over £500 per person. Considering the fact that we’re a growing organisation and that each new project always raises more funding than the previous one, we’re pretty confident that the team will reach its goal;

  • If we don’t reach our goal of raising £700 per person (as mentioned – this goal is highly achievable), each member of the team is still liable to pay for the missing amount for his trip (as Wind-Up Penguin doesn’t actually have the extra funding), so it’s all about whether you’re up for a fundraising challenge!

  • Exceeding this fundraising goal means each member could even get up to £500 back from the £700 initial payment;

  • Fundraising will take up a little of your time, but it’s great team bonding, and all of our members have always enjoyed taking part in these activities;

  • We can chat at your interview more in detail about this and show you our detailed strategy of how we’ll achieve our goal.