Art as a mean of social cohesion in the digital era – Arts4all Erasmus Project

Project Title

Art as a mean of social cohesion in the digital era – Arts4all

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 : Partnerships for Creativity

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Access for disadvantaged; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy)

Project Summary

The COVID pandemic has brought about dramatic changes. The restrictions in social events and activities have created a need for alternative ways of “doing things” accelerating the use of new technologies in everyday activities. This new situation brought many changes to the arts and creativity sectors who were among those mostly affected.

Additionally education, has been affected by the pandemic, as educators have been asked to rapidly adjust their whole educational methodology utilizing exclusively digital means and tools, while at the same time students had to learn through this new way. This was even more difficult for students with fewer opportunities who did not have the means (laptop/tablet etc.) to attend these online lessons.

As it is well known the acquisition of skills, knowledge and understanding in digital literacy and arts have beneficial effects on children’s education and on their social integration. Additionally, existing studies note, that the arts provide immigrants a creative space for exploration and expression of identities, for challenging discrimination and social exclusion.

Having in mind the above, the Arts4All project, will combine creative arts learning with distant learning, to promote social inclusion and integration, through an innovative mobile application. At the same time educators, art teachers, youth trainers will be trained on the application and the produced educational material so they will use them in their activities utilizing new technologies and innovative practices and methodologies in the educational process.

The Arts4All project will adopt an integrated art pedagogical approach to enhancing the use of arts for social inclusion, using digital means.

The main target groups of the project will be at least 60 young people, especially with migrant background and/or with fewer opportunities, educators, youth workers, organizations and individuals in the field of migration, social inclusion and the arts and the public.

The project’s objectives are to examine needs and best practices in the partner countries on using arts as a tool for inclusion while developing synergies between organizations focused on social inclusion and organizations in the culture and creative sector of the partner countries to develop new tools and methodologies in the education of arts. It also aims to provide a digital tool for learning through entertainment and to promote social inclusion on which the interested parties will be trained. Finally, it aims to promote the effectiveness and importance of arts to support the recovery of the cultural and creative sectors while promoting the idea of social cohesion.

The Arts4All project will present the following results:
• Arts4All Handbook: Report on needs and good practices
• Arts4All Curriculum and Manual useful for educators, youth workers and other stakeholders related with adolescents, especially adolescents with fewer opportunities and/ migration background.
• Arts4All Methodological Guide information regarding the project, the use of the arts as a tool for social inclusion and social integration, the methods used, and the expected results. The Methodological Guide will also include the Manual on the use of the Arts4All Curriculum and App.
• Arts4All Mobile Application
• Arts4All trainings targeting educators, youth workers, artists, and teachers.
• Arts4All Open Badges
• Project’ s website which will be developed to present the project aims and objectives and to provide easy access to the tools and resources have been developed
• Project’s visual identity such as logo, banner, posters.
• Project’s social media pages: Instagram/ Facebook
• A dedicated YouTube channel
• 1000 Project leaflets including the project overview, objectives, partners, and funding agency
• 3 Press Releases at milestones of the project and 4 Newsletters, translated in all partners’ languages distributed to 20000 contacts around Europe. Those will also be disseminated through project’s website and social media pages.
• 3 face to face transnational meetings
• 1 transnational conference

Arts4all will further promote the transnational cooperation on social inclusion practices, while at the same time it will enhance the skills of children from migrant background and/or fewer opportunities at the area of arts and creativity and provide a new methodology for the teaching of arts, based on digital tools to educators, teachers and youth workers around Europe. It is also expected to have a long-term impact on all the participants, target groups and the general public as it will promote the common values of equality, respect of diversity and cooperation to the European society. At the same time the project will promote the arts, culture, and creativity as an important part of our society and everyday life, as a way to empower the artists and people in the cultural and creative sectors who are currently facing big challenges.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 136194 Eur

Project Coordinator

Sozialwerk Dürener Christen & Country: DE

Project Partners

• CSI CENTER FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION LTD
• Sistema Cyprus
• ASTIKI MH KERDOSKOPIKI ETAIREIA HELPING HAND
• ADVISORY CENTER FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE FAMILY-SYKESO
• VAZMOZHNOSTI BEZ GRANITSI