Introducing a collaborative scheme between artists & community members fostering life skills development and resilience through creative placemaking Erasmus Project

Project Title

Introducing a collaborative scheme between artists & community members fostering life skills development and resilience through creative placemaking

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: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

CONTEXT
At EU level, 7.3 million cultural and creative jobs will be affected from COVID-19 (Culture Action Europe, 2020). This downsizing, will have significantly negative economic and social impact, taking into consideration the role of arts in community’s wellbeing. Thus, artists role should be re-invented, exploiting new opportunities, including digitally mediated forms for content production, and collaboration with citizens in content creation (OECD, 2020). Simultaneously, COVID-19 forces individuals to acquire life skills (flexibility, critical and creative thinking skills (JRC, LifeComp 2020) to become more resilient and creative, as crisis periods proliferate.
Based on the above, it is a critical moment to build creative resilience at community level across Europe, by establishing a collaborative scheme between artists / cultural workers currently in limbo and community members promoting life skills development through arts and using creative placemaking as a canvas for pilot testing the acquired skills through an inclusive approach, promoting active citizenship.
OBJECTIVES
1. Engage, train and mobilise artists/cultural workers currently in limbo, undertaking an active and leading role as enablers of creative resilience at local level.
2. Provide life skills to members of local communities through artistic expression, approaching creativity as a resource for building resilience.
3. Connect local artists, community organisations and citizens through inclusive co-creativity hubs, to practically apply life skills through creative placemaking efforts, promoting active citizenship.
THE PARTNERSHIP
COME2ART Partnership comprises 7 key players from 4 EU countries namely: ActionAid Hellas, with strong experience in community resilience building; the Faculty of Fine Arts of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Culture Action Europe, a major European network of cultural organisations; MeP, an Italian VET provider in the field of arts; Clube an active organization in creative placemaking; IoDeposito, an active CSO working with local communities in enhancing cultural well-being; and CP, a grassroot creativity platform.
METHODOLOGY
Placing local artists currently in limbo at the center of collective planning and implementation of creative placemaking projects, such as mural arts, public art sculptures, COME2ART will respond to artists’ need for alternative ways of cultural production and consumption, and will satisfy citizens’ need for alternative ways of expression and social connection. Artists will find a leading social role in building community resilience through arts, and involved citizens will acquire life skills, such as self-regulation of emotions, flexibility, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, critical and creative thinking, in line with the new LifeComp and DigComp.
ACTIVITIES & RESULTS
1. An interventional framework for promoting life skills development and application through creative placemaking (O1), based on primary (focus groups, online survey) and secondary research.
2. A life skills curriculum (including trainer’s and trainee’s toolkit) through arts in the context of creative placemaking (O2), following an arts-based, learning-by doing, blended pedagogic approach.
3. Co-creativity hubs connecting community members and artists / cultural workers for life skills application, boosting creative resilience (O3), including delivery of training and mini-artistic collective projects.
4. Creativity placemaking projects at local level inspired by COVID-19 experiences (O4), based on the acquired life skills of community members, and leading social role of artists.
5. Policy recommendations on life skills development through arts and the emerging role of artists in community resilience (O5), based on national and a EU policy roundtables.

IMPACT & LONG-TERM BENEFITS
– Tested & assessed intervention framework in 3 EU countries related to the enhancement of life skills of community members through arts, and the emerging roles of artists currently in limbo within communities (200 CSOs, 60 formal and non-formal training providers, 800 professionals in civic engagement reached).
– Enhanced life skills of community members acquired through an arts-based curriculum (75 community members trained, 1200 reached).
– Enhanced competences of artists / cultural workers in limbo, undertaking emerging roles in communities (15 trained artists, 300 cultural organisations & 900 artists reached)
– An established European working group of trained artists / cultural workers, enriched by communities of practice, who will continue exchanging good practices and lessons learnt (15 artists & 60 community members involved).
– Increased awareness of policy makers regarding the effectiveness of creating structured interactions among artists and community members, in enhancing community resilience (60 key persons involved).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 227151 Eur

Project Coordinator

ACTIONAID HELLAS ASTIKI MI KERDOSKOPIKI ETAIRIA & Country: EL

Project Partners

• ARISTOTELIO PANEPISTIMIO THESSALONIKIS
• CLUBE INTERCULTURAL EUROPEU
• CULTURE ACTION EUROPE AISBL
• Creativity Platform
• IO DEPOSITO
• MELTING PRO LEARNING SOCIETA COOPERATIVA