This project focuses on the co-design of education models in order to coach art and craft professionals to work with different target groups in Social and Health care. Craft teachers and arts and crafts professionals are employed increasingly in areas outside the traditional core and ability to work in cooperation with other experts in other fields is needed. Especially wellbeing and health-related services could offer new kinds of employment opportunities to craft culture experts. Due to this an international multi-disciplinary and multi-professional focus on research and development of creative wellbeing activities and services is needed. Art, crafts and design offer creative and empowering activities that should be provided in the future Well-being and Care Centres. The main tasks of the project are: • expanding professional competences and internationalization of craft sector • co-creation of novel educational models to learn cross-sectoral collaboration • developing creative wellbeing services (in particular based on crafts and visual arts) • changing good practices which encourage and promote co-creation of services • researching links between creative activity and physical and mental wellbeing • evaluation and investigations of impacts and effectiveness of creative wellbeing services • distribution of educational models, working methods and research results Together with European partners and their national networks (education units, craftsmen, designers and operators in Social and Health care), we study together novel wellbeing activities and services that will help craft teachers and craftsmen cross the border employment opportunities. We share our experiences and spread good practices to the stakeholders in both sectors in the European platform. Throughout the project, the dissemination of project information will be carried out via the project management platform, the existing websites, partner organisations, local authorities etc. The database of educational materials, useful literature, and recommendations are produced on the project management platform. Documentation material, reports and research results are published and sent to the stakeholders in participating countries and in European level. The stakeholders within both national and international culture and welfare sector will be kept informed. Research results are published also in an international scientific journals.
The aim of the Handmade Wellbeing project was to enhance and expand professional competences of arts and crafts professionals and to design and carry out creative activities in elderly care settings. Increasingly, the arts and crafts professionals are employed in challenging community engagement areas that are outside their traditional core skills and abilities.Evidently, arts and crafts offer creative and empowering activities that would be important to include in the activities of wellbeing and health-related services. The targets of the Handmade Wellbeing project were: • to expand professional competences of arts and crafts specialists to work in the elderly care sector • to co-create a novel educational model, in cross-sectoral collaboration both nationally and internationally, for working creatively with older people • to research the pedagogy suitable for working with older people • to research links between creative activity and overall wellbeing of older people • to distribute educational models, working methods and research results. The project was carried out by four European partners. The University of Helsinki was the coordinator of the project. The Department of Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki is one of the leading European units providing teacher education and engaging in education research. The department houses the Craft Teacher Education which was participating in the Handmade Wellbeing project. The British partner, Superact is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company that uses creative engagement and the arts to develop and deliver a wide range of social impact projects. Based in the UK but with an international reach, Superact delivers creative interventions that make a positive difference in key areas of community development, skills development, employability and health and wellbeing. The Austrian partner, KUNSTLABOR Graz is part of uniT-arts association at the Karl Franzens University Graz. It consists of a multidisciplinary team of artists from various disciplines (film, photography, fine arts, dance and theater), psychologists, education experts and scientists. KUNSTLABOR Graz addresses elderly people, youth and migrants. The Estonian partner, Viljandi Culture Academy, is one of the four colleges of the University of Tartu. The main partner of the Handmade Wellbeing project was the Department of Estonian Native Crafts. Their purpose is to use the cultural higher education potential to promote new working fields and opportunities, such as the care sector that their students were practising in during the Handmade Wellbeing project. Each partner arranged training for art and craft students and professionals to work and develop their professional competences in elderly care centres. Each partner arranged a learning and training week for the other partners. Through observations, visits and practical participatory activities, the partners got a good understanding of the practices that each partner were using. The reflection sessions during each training week formed the basis for developing the educational model together. Each partner arranged a seminar for the stakeholders, and an exhibition about the project activities. The project activities were shown on the website of the project, and they were presented in the international conferences and at local events, such as public lectures and interviews to the media. Throughout the project, research activities were carried out to collect the data. During the project, many arts and crafts students and teachers received training on working with older people in care settings. For many of them, this provided new employment possibilities; for example in the UK, some of them have since been employed to run monthly art activities in local care homes. All the learners were sent an anonymous questionnaire about how satisfied they were on the project, and how it has benefited their professional development. The responses reflect mainly positive learning experiences. The ongoing research was introduced in articles and conferences and thus reached a wider audience. The collaboratively produced handbook is published in the project website and in the websites and other media in each partner country, as well as EPALE. The handbook is available for everyone to access. The social and health care staff in the participating care centres learned new skills and methods to arrange creative activities for older people. The participating partners and their learners have broadened their understanding of the European approach to the topic. The produced Handmade Wellbeing Handbook is available online for all the interested stakeholders to utilize in their work. The research results will be published in the coming years to fulfill the need for evidence-based scientific basis about the required creative pedagogy for older people. The results will benefit the future work in the care settings, and the training to work in them.