Art bridge between Tallinn and Lisbon Erasmus Project

Project Title

Art bridge between Tallinn and Lisbon

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Creativity and culture; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Art education plays a crucial role in 21st-Century education, as creativity is seen as one of the most relevant cognitive skills in future education. This competency is a big part of problem-solving skills, especially when having limited resources. We, as schools in general and teachers in particular, are doing a lot to inspire creativity in students, but we also need to make sure our students understand why it is important. Art can be a really powerful tool to help students express themselves freely and to visualize their concerns and ideas about our society, values, individuality, culture, etc.

The Partnership for 21st Century Learning states “Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as the skills that separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in the 21st century, and those who are not.” This project has focus not only on the art as a direct way to creative learning, but also on other 21st century competencies such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication and collaboration, innovation, digital literacy and use of digital tools, interdisciplinary teachings, intense language practice, international teamwork, leadership, tolerance and empathy towards other cultures. In addition to this, it also develops intrapersonal skills, for instance self-direction, motivation and visualization. These skills are an essential part of their experiences and knowledge the students can gain and reflect back on the future society. Activities will aim at strengthening intercultural dialogue and understanding as well as raising awareness among the youth of European values through different forms of art. The participants will benefit from the facilitated inter-cultural dialogue, various art workshops, masterclasses, and networking. Participants will demonstrate their creativity and initiative using various interactive methods of action (workshops, presentations, exhibitions, etc.).

During the project, the students from Tallinn and Lisbon will collaborate in different art projects and workshops. In two years approximately 60 students will participate in the mobilities and nearly 40 will travel. The students are at age 16-18 who are interested in art and design and considering receiving a higher arts education at art schools and universities as well as obtaining their future employment. Through the use of digital tools, they will experiment with different art forms. First, in Lisbon, they will try to create an exhibition and photos inspired by the famous Little People project by British street artist Slinkachu. This exhibition will consist of photographic images of small-scale people installations on the streets of Lisbon and Porto, which emphasize the concerns of modern life and society, the European values and connection between Estonia and Portugal. Next, in Tallinn, new students will be dealing with architecture and space. They will at first get to know the connection between architecture and virtual reality and then create a virtual tour of the newly renovated school building using their smartphones and different VR apps. Then in Lisbon, they will once again deal with space and architecture as they have the assignment to artistically represent the European values and the cultural connection with the help of tape art. The last mobility in Tallinn will be dealing with projection mapping when the students will create sound-animation installations. Again, they will try to represent the connection between cultures and people in an artistic way.

In the past, the responsibility for finding inspiration and designing work has fallen mostly on teachers. This project also allows shifting that role to students. After every mobility, the students who travelled will run similar workshops for the other students back home. That way the project allows to reach a broad audience at home and evoke interest in art and in Erasmus Plus project among the entire institution. Approximately 250-350 students at home are planned to get involved in workshops run by the students who have participated in the mobilities. Furthermore, teacher´s manuals will be designed after the mobilities to share the acquired knowledge, skills and competencies with a broad audience of teachers. These manuals will be uploaded to the webpage as open educational resources. That way we ensure the long-term effect of the project, as these manuals could be beneficial for lots of teachers and art schools years after.

Portugal and Lisbon will commit the vibrant culture and renowned street art scenes to this project, Estonia and Tallinn, in turn, new innovations and extensive use of digital tools in everyday life. This is the ideal combination to build an imaginary bridge of shared values, tolerance, innovation and creativity between the two. This connection will be visualized by means of art, which is a powerful, effective and creative way to describe and share our mutual values and understandings.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 57750 Eur

Project Coordinator

Tallinna Saksa Gümnaasium & Country: EE

Project Partners

• Deutsche Schule Lissabon – Escola Alemã de Lisboa