JobAct Europe – social inclusion by social arts Erasmus Project

Project Title

JobAct Europe – social inclusion by social arts

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 : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

One of the central current European challenges is the education and integration of people in society and the labour market who are disadvantaged due to unequal biographical opportunities. This requires innovative approaches and forms of cooperation between different actors. One socially innovative approach that aims to contribute to this is that of social art. In this approach, hierarchies are dissolved and art becomes an integrative process of cooperation, which in many ways creates space for experiencing success, mutual understanding and personal development and contributes to the empowerment of disadvantaged groups. On this basis, forms of combining theatre work and social work have already become established in Germany, that show far superior results than the traditional methods of integrating disadvantaged people into the labour market and society.

The project JobAct Europe followed the aim to collaboratively develop this general approach towards the social inclusion of different target groups in need based on the combined experiences of partners from 4 different countries (IT, HU, FR, GE). Target groups differed between the countries, because of the different approaches of the participating institutions and the most pressing national problems. So in the end we focused on: youth unemployment (IT), young people without perspective (NEETs) (GE, IT), former drug addicts (IT), migrant single parents (FR), School drop outs (FR), orphans (HU). The overall aim of the project was to realize pilot theatre projects in every country using social art for social integration. The practical implementation in the pilot projects consisted of two phases: a 3-6-month theatre training course followed by a 2-4-month internship. In the first phase, the participants receive acting training 3 days a week, during which a play that will later be ready for the stage is rehearsed. They design sets, props and costumes one day a week and receive individual application coaching one day a week, during which an individualised career plan is drawn up for each participant after carrying out potential analyses to identify individual strengths and problems. At the end of the training phase, the play is presented to a broad public. Here, the aim is to achieve a twofold effect, (1) the supplementation of the participants’ self-perception, which has already changed in the course of the training phase, by the sense of achievement of the performances and (2) the change in the perception of others in the social environment of the participants, the job centre supervisors and, if necessary, company representatives. After the presentation of the play, the participants directly begin the work internship, with the high and self-esteem that comes with the successful premiere.

To make this possible, we took the following actions: We met very regularly and set up transnational work groups, in which the concepts were developed and experiences exchanged. We helped each other with selecting participants, getting funding, finding suitable plays or rooms, answering questions about the right settings or frame conditions and helped solving any problems that occurred in the process. In every meeting, we had sessions of practical exercises that could be used in the daily work with the participants. We had a row of 4 train-the trainer events, where the approaches and strategies from every country were taught to the trainers from the other institutions. On top, we used the transnational meetings to visit the ongoing pilot projects in the other countries to learn from their experience and use it to realize more pilot projects. All in all, by this course of action, we managed to realize 13 pilot theatre projects with 224 participants in total during the EU-project, two of which just started. In the finished projects, most of the participants could successfully be empowered to find employment, self-employment or take up a qualification or education.

The second big aim was to disseminate the approach beyond the partnership. As this can best be done by telling success stories, the realization of the pilot projects was already the first step. We had Multiplier events in each country, 8 in total, where the pilot projects could be presented, theatre methods were shown in practice and stakeholders could be convinced of the approach. The created Tool Set enables a broad dissemination and adaption of the approach.

Lastly, the aim was to enable continuous work with the method. For this, getting pilot projects funded on a national level, was an important part of the work in the project. The pilot projects show that this could be achieved in all the partner countries. So one of the best results of the project is that the work with Social Art methods in projects with target groups in need will be continued in all the partner organisations.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 259133 Eur

Project Coordinator

Projektfabrik gGmbH & Country: DE

Project Partners

• La tête de l’emploi
• Patchanka Società Cooperativa Sociale
• FAKTOR TERMINÁL EGYESÜLET
• SZUBJEKTIV ERTEKEK ALAPITVANY
• CUTS Cabinet Ursula Teubert Solutions
• VIVAIO PER L’INTRAPRENDENZA Associazione Promozione Sociale
• TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT DORTMUND