Arts Now and Before Erasmus Project

Project Title

Arts Now and Before

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Social dialogue; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

Today, Arts in different manifestations is underrepresented at school. Creativity is, however, highly demanded in working life, which is why creative thinking ought to be taught more.
This project focuses on many different fields of art : music, visual arts, drama, photography, literature etc. So students get familiar with them and in the same time they learn about other countries and their culture.
School days are often long and filled up with hard theory of subjects . Arts could give a break to routines and help the students find a moment to breathe.
This project with its various subtopics aims to encourage the students to employ their creativity in various fields and give them a chance to find new interests in life. In the same time they can practise their foreign language and IT skills , for.ex. Also they learn about history of arts and the present situation in participating countries.
We have partner schools in six different countries around Europe. Which gives us geographical variation and with their different background also social and cultural variation. The main focus in this project is on students work. The age range is between 14 – 19 years among students.
Art is an essential part of the human being. There are several areas of the brain that interact during the artistic experience. First, when an image is observed or a song is heard, a sensory and motor response is produced. The process also involves knowledge and meaning, which depend on the experience, context and culture of each individual. Finally, emotion and appreciation come into play, subject to the reward system that involves pleasure.
Some studies link artistic practice to the development of greater brain plasticity, as well as psychological benefits. For those reasons, art is used as a therapeutic complement in many diseases. Given the complex brain mechanisms that come into play during creative processes, encouraging participation in the development of these processes facilitates better brain function and better development of connectivity between the different brain areas and functions involved.
Functions such as attention, memory, visuospatial skill, etc., are directly associated with the processes of artistic creation. Artistic experimental activities create a bond between students and art that endures over time, thanks to intense aesthetic experiences. It is a matter of working a different language that allows them to express themselves without reducing it to sentimentality.
Young people develop their aesthetic sensibility and this activates a different way of looking at life, putting themselves in the shoes of others and opening themselves to places, individuals and cultures, which generates critical and socially committed people.
By enhancing the taste for the arts and providing a diverse range of artistic and performing experiences, partner schools stimulate the development of creativity as an ability to innovatively respond to different stimuli ranging from the artistic and cultural to scientific and communication. Art education, the main focus of this project, therefore enables the involved European schools to contribute more consistently to the improvement of the institutions’ social outcomes by more fully preparing their young people for the challenges of the European Union in the 21st century.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 192390 Eur

Project Coordinator

Vihdin lukio & Country: FI

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas Camilo Castelo Branco
• Umjetnička škola Luke Sorkočevića
• TECHNICZNE ZAKLADY NAUKOWE
• Stanislava Broka Daugavpils Muzikas vidusskola
• Neumühler Schule Schwerin