“Art4Act. Art in Action for an Inclusive Society” foresees to design, implement and test in the 7 partner countries, one of which coming from the Arab world, innovative non-formal educational practices and methodologies in the field of youth work, aimed at taking action against the dramatic increases in hate speech and xenophobic political discourse, and more specifically the exponential growth of Islamophobia.Art4Act intends to counter these tendencies by engaging culture and education to promote freedom of thought and expression, intercultural dialogue and understanding, social inclusion and respect for others, as well as to challenge discrimination against diversity in all its forms.Aims:• To enhance exchange of good practices between European and extra-European organisations active in youth work, arts and culture, in issues related to the migration crisis.• To build narratives that give voice also to those at the edge of our societies.• To regain the public space as a place of shared encounter of “old” and “new” citizens, different genders, majorities and minorities, where interpersonal connections are fostered to overcome stereotypes, conventions, and fear.Participants / target groups:• staff of the 8 partner organisations (40 managers, researchers, trainers, technician, administrative)• 40 young artists collaborating with the 8 partner organisations, operating in cross-disciplinary participatory arts practice, education and social engagement.Furthermore, Art4Act will involve in a direct way ca.670 participants:• Youth workers and educators actively engaged in society.• Citizens of the local communities in all project partners’ contexts, including 2nd and 3rd generation migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.Art4Act’s two Intellectual Outputs are implemented in a number of activities (context research, participatory art experiences, meetings and capacity building workshops). They focus on the development of:1) a compendium of shared pedagogical materials intertwining the methodologies elaborated and tested in the various local experiences within the framework of the project;2) a video documentary (long version) and trailer (short version) documenting the process and results of the innovative methodologies, applied in all partner countries, for countering stereotype-based discrimination, racism and Islamophobia through the use of performing and visual arts. The IOs will be presented in all partner countries in interactive Multiplier Events involving at least 28-30 participants. In order to create effective and high quality-learning tools, an experimental training programme will involve both youth workers, and old and new members of the local communities: an average of 50 citizens, and 4 to 6 external participants (public authorities and other relevant local stakeholders) by each of the 8 partners. These pilot workshops will be run by young artists and senior trainers based on the shared methodological work of the consortium. The Art4Act working methodology, flexible and open-minded, is based on the exchange of expertise between partners. It will be implemented with the active contribution of all interlocutors in 4 transnational project meetings and 2 short-term joint staff training events. In all training activities the partners will apply a mutual learning approach based on a peer-to-peer relationship.The pedagogical materials and video documentation will be used and applied in the work contexts of all partners. The IOs will be freely accessible to registered users on the website of ROOTS & ROUTES International, a network with a growing and constantly changing community of young artists and cultural workers all over Europe, thus ensuring constant further dissemination and sustainability.The number of persons that will benefit indirectly from the project activities will be potentially innumerable if we consider those who will be reached through online dissemination of the IOs through the websites and social networks of all partners and of their local, national and international networks.Short-term impact:• on participating trainers and youth workers who will acquire new knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to provide on a regular basis creative workshops against negative stereotypes • on groups of end users (refugees-migrants) who will be stimulated to develop their competences.Long-term impact:• on stakeholder organisations, public bodies, and associations for the reception of migrants and refugees at local and regional level• on Creative Economy and Educational sectors because of the potential of innovation of the project results and the attractiveness of the methodologyon all sectors, for the implementation of similar experiences in other regional, national, European and international contexts (Mediterranean area).
European countries face a major challenge. They must maintain an inclusive society and ensure unity and cohesion among the EU member countries in a context of high political, societal, economic and social tensions and inequalities. The intention of the project "Art4Act - Art in Action for an Inclusive Society" is to experiment with the practices and tools of art and non-formal education to promote freedom of expression, intercultural social inclusion and respect for others. We believe that a large part of the objectives set during the writing of the project have been achieved, we now form a perennial network of organizations active with young people, in the arts and culture sector in Europe and the Mediterranean, who promotes diversity and fights racism; we support the exchange of good practice between European and non-European operators on the refugee crisis; we have involved local communities in building narratives that give them the floor. The last objective was achieved in part because we managed to create an open confrontation between the project partners about the need to reinvest the public space as a meeting space, but only one performance took place in the public space (performance achieved following the pilot). Art4Act brings together eight structures, seven of which are based in the European Union and one in Tunisia. Six organizations are members of the Roots and Routes International network, which promotes cultural and social diversity in the performing arts and contemporary media. Since 2001, the network has organized trainings, shows and events, exchanges and mobility programs for young talents in dance, music and media in 10 European countries. During 2 years, the main activities were: 4 transnational meetings, 2 seminars (capacity buiding workshop), 1 pilot activity / partners led by youth workers and artists with young people from local communities who gave rise to public restitution / countries, public events, 1 event / partner, which allowed us to share the results and lessons learned from the project with a wider specialized audience. At the end of our collaboration, we published an "educational kit" (artistic practices developed during the seminars and implemented at the local level during the pilots, 3 essays, bibliography) on the theme of the project and a series of videos reporting activities for youth workers and young people carried out by each partner at the local level.