So far…so near- Inclusive arts Erasmus Project

Project Title

So far…so near- Inclusive 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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Creativity and culture; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

This project that now ends its cycle, had its genesis in another project of national dimension, conceived and put into practice in Portugal in 2014, financed by INR (National Rehabilitation Institute), with the designation TAS – Teatro das Associações, being a consortium of various organizations in the field of rehabilitation, had two major objectives, to train technicians and trainees using artistic techniques, based on tales from José Gomes Ferreira’s book, “Adventures with João Sem Medo” and build a show with the and worked techniques, with the same name.
The training practices included staging work, representation techniques with this audience, construction of a dramatic text, realization and production of a show with people with disabilities, intervention methodologies with people with disabilities and inter-organization work.
The results of this project and of all this methodology, were a greater endowment of knowledge and methodologies on the part of the technicians involved, which led them to individually create higher quality artistic achievements in each institution, providing the target audience with greater training and knowledge in their artistic activities, giving a greater reach to their personal and artistic development.
Based on this process, its effectiveness and results was our resolution to continue it in a transnational dimension, encompassing other artistic areas such as dance and music, in an interdisciplinary perspective The partners of this project were already known and peers in several international achievements which streamlined the process of joint construction of the project. Thus was born the project “So Far So Near”, whose name is a metaphor taken from the stories that served as the basis, “The Adventures of John without fear”, which illustrates in an exemplary way our purpose – So far in distance, but… so close to our joint designs. This being a storybook, with the same theme, each country was assigned a story, to be worked on in each organization, using the lessons learned during the project.
In the design of the project, related to the methodology and starting from a diagnosis of the state of the art in terms of inclusion, we defined as objectives: Develop skills and knowledge; Train technicians and learners in the artistic areas of theater, music and dance; Promote social inclusion; Sharing knowledge and good practices; Institutional empowerment; Empowerment of technicians and trainees.
This being an arts and inclusion project, we involve technicians and learners with disabilities in its execution, for a joint growth and evolution, with respect for individuality, the times and characteristics of each participant. Due to the particularities of the work, our philosophy of inclusion, the characteristics of our practice, it didn’t make us… it doesn’t make sense to work in isolation with each audience, which we think is deeply wrong in this context and with these objectives. So we opted for a project that involved joint growth and achievements, artistic professionals working in the area of inclusion and learners with disabilities. There were 16 participants with disabilities and multi-disabilities, selected in each country for their training and relevant practice in the artistic field, and 14 technicians, also selected based on the same criteria, to emphasize that this number exceeded what was initially expected.
Four Learning Teaching Train Activities mobilities were carried out, the last one for reasons resulting from the pandemic, being mandatorily performed in a virtual way. In each one, systematic artistic methodologies were worked on and deepened, in the areas of theater, dance and music, based on the book “Adventures of João sem Medo”; Sessions were held in each country of the partnership in order to continue and detail the techniques worked; A performance show was produced based on learning, with national presentations in each country of the partnership; The image and texts were collected for the future edition of a good practice guide in the form of an audio-book, which for reasons related to the pandemic, will only be available free of charge, already beyond the end of the project, at following addresses: Project website: https://sofarsonear.weebly.com/; Coordinating organization website: https://www.glocalmusic.org/;Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sofarsonearinclusivearts.
Various events were held in terms of dissemination, namely dissemination seminars, for technicians, institutions and stakeholders; training workshops for technicians and people with disabilities; Performative work was presented in several places for a wide audience, with a great impact and notoriety for the project and organizations.
All of these activities and achievements were extremely impactful in their reach, at the various levels of coverage, local, regional and national, as a result of the dissemination actions, workshops, performance presentations and presentations in organizations, motivated new partnerships with research institutions. various types, artistic, cultural, social, rehabilitation and university; With regard to the coordinating organization – Glocalmusic boosted its growth in terms of greater training of employees, of organizational structure and in the creation of an inclusive artistic company, financed and supported by several entities and provided the extension of its scope of operation, reaching a larger national and international audience. In transnational terms, the project led to greater training and growth for partner entities and their target audience; A new organization emerged from this project with defined objectives and audiences; various dissemination events, such as seminars and workshops, were held for specific audiences and stakeholders in the area of rehabilitation.
All this activity resulted in a new Erasmus project, which intends to deepen and take this process further, maintaining the partnership and extending it to other countries and organizations that now reach this formal consortium, but with many informal participations of international scope, causing of great impact in the European area.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 89358,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

Glocalmusic, grémio para o desenvolvimento da música criativa, CRL & Country: PT

Project Partners

• Esenler Ortopedik Engelliler Dernegi
• Magyar Specialis Muveszeti Muhely Egyesulet
• Teatterimuseo