Supporting Improved Learning Opportunities for Hard to Reach Groups through the use of Participatory Arts Erasmus Project

Project Title

Supporting Improved Learning Opportunities for Hard to Reach Groups through the use of Participatory 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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Access for disadvantaged; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

The SILO project was supported by the Erasmus + funding programme, under the Vocational Education and Training scheme: Key Action 2, Cooperation and Innovation for Good Practice, working in accordance with the European Agenda for Adult Learning with an aim to ‘enhance the creativity and innovation of adults and their learning environments.’
10% of the active population in the EU is currently unemployed & 24.2% at risk of poverty or social exclusion.The aim of SILO was to address issues of adult social exclusion, expounded by lack of basic competencies and lifelong learning opportunities. SILO addressed these issues by designing & developing pedagogy for artists/creative practitioners when engaging beneficiaries in non-formal learning via the delivery of participatory arts projects. By developing and testing a framework supported by distance travelled methodology, SILO enables practitioners to support their beneficiaries to achieve validated adult competences and employability skills through participatory arts.
The SILO partnership consisted of 6 organisations formed to create a collective group with complimentary skills and experiences, working with practitioners and beneficiaries across different fields within the private and public sectors, as well as both adult and higher education institutions.
The partnership offers robust coverage in terms of sector, geography, culture and expertise and is also well balanced economically, representing countries with both high and low levels of adult long-term unemployment. They are:-
SAFE – ‘Supporting Activities for Everyone’ – the lead partner based in Bootle, UK, who have specialised in working with disadvantaged communities to create more than 90 public art works through participatory creative projects.
ICC- The Institute of Cultural Capital is a collaboration between Liverpool John Moore’s University (LJMU) and Liverpool University in Liverpool, England and conducts collaborative and interdisciplinary research that critically examines the role and value of cultural interventions in urban environments, from grassroots initiatives to large-scale cultural events and festivals.
ABD – Asociacion Bienestar y Desarrollo is based in Barcelona, Spain, working mainly with drug users. They offer a range of recovery/training /employment programmes with particular experience in supporting social Integration via diverse creative programmes.
EST is educational centre, based in Wadowice, Poland. They bring experience of running competency-based programmes and experience of art for social change utilising digital arts and theatre.
IASIS have extensive experience within the field of mental health, covering engagement and rehabilitation; providing therapeutic, counselling services and psychosocial support.Their beneficiary groups are varied and include people with mental health issues, asylum seekers,immigrants & young offenders.
APW – Association to Preserve the Woman are based in Varna, Bulgaria, providing services primarily for women,tackling gender inequality, social exclusion & violence via support programmes covering training, education and integration including art therapy motivational activities.
The SILO framework was developed in consultation with circa 100 artist/practitioners across 5 partner countries, in a series of arts tests/beneficiary & practitioner focus groups with differing beneficiaries/art forms, to appraise its feasibility as a tool, and to explore options for improvement.
SILO has produced 4 Key intellectual outputs, supported by a range of management and administration tasks covering dissemination, management of risk, quality, monitoring and evaluation:
IO1 Research paper – participatory arts, validation of non-formal learning, distance travelled, funding for participatory arts, EU policy, literature/academic review.
IO2 Manual/Toolkit – approaches and techniques to develop and run a participatory arts project
IO3 Supporting film providing practical illustration and best practice examples
IO4 Policy recommendation and guidelines paper – collation and interpretation of information gathered throughout the project.
All partners are committed to continue to use and evolve the framework within their organisations and to share with wider groups.Safe leads a consortium of artists/practitioners who are currently using the framework to track the development of 100 young people 16-29 with SEND, through the delivery of work training placements. They are also in consultation with a national non-arts based charity who are interested in using the toolkit in their national impact framework. In addition, SAFE is leading on the creation of an innovative arts-based social prescribing offer, as part of the Well North regional health initiative, the board of which have shown a keen interest in SILO as part of a robust and tangible evaluation system.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 236631,41 Eur

Project Coordinator

SAFE Regeneration Ltd. & Country: UK

Project Partners

• LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY
• IASIS
• Association “To Preserve The Woman”
• ABD ASOCIACIÓN BIENESTAR Y DESARROLLO
• Placowka Ksztalcenia Ustawicznego EST