GALA is a project based on social inclusion, mutual respect, human dignity, equal opportunities and empowerment through social enterprise and community action. It is delivered by a diverse partnership of NGOs from 5 different EU member states who use Art and Creative Design as the key to exclusion. The project runs from September 2017 to the end of August 2019. Participant learners include staff, clients and volunteers who collectively create a travelling art exhibition which they stage in non-traditional galleries in each country alongside the work of professional artists. The theme of the exhibition (minimum 100 art works at final event) is "One World". Most participant learners (clients) are highly disadvantaged and are in residential care settings and their fellow participants are drawn from the staff team. Together they teach and learn to jointly achieve the Gentle Art, Living Art (GALA) Certificate awarded to all partipants at the end of the project. Social Inclusion and Empowerment is the common theme throughout the project, focussed on skills for overcoming barriers to employability, using art and creative design as the basic toolkit for achieving results. The objectives include: 1. Work with partners to raise awareness of and overcome problems faced by participants in overcoming social exclusion and discrimination. 2. Share innovation and methodologies to develop staff competences and to raise standards in residential care settings 3. Raise skills, build confidence and recognise artist talent in client participants 4. Work with partners to create the GALA Certificate to recognise new skills and empowerment 5. Create a Network for the promotion of Community Inclusion through Art. Each partner leads on the issues relating to one specific client group and each brings innovation from their local practice to share with all other partners. The partners are led by Diagrama Foundation UK (focus all client groups); working closely with Groep Ubuntu Belgium (focus client group people with disabilities); ProVita Romania (focus client group disadvantaged women); L'Art et la Maniere France (focus client group older people); and Fundacion Diagrama Spain (focus client group young people in the juvenile justice system). Using the Gentle Learning method of teaching, staff and volunteers from each organisation take part in initial training in Belgium. This is followed by workshops in each partner country, each specalising in one important aspect of art and design supervised by experts. Each workshop also follows the Gentle Learning methodology to enhance skills in communication and empowerment as well as art-based learning. In-between transnational events all partners work directly with their own clients alongside volunteers and professional artists to continue to learn by on-line training sessions led by each partner . A common theme of arts and craft is followed in each country which results in a large-scale art exhibition held in Rochester Cathedral in June 2019 by invitation of the Diocese of Rochester. Results include: - 1 New Methodology (GALA) developed by the partners based on the Gentle Learning framework - GALA Certificate to all participants - EuroPass Certificate to 10 participant staff - 5 new art exhibitions (one in each country), - 10 newly trained art tutors (existing staff with supplementary project training), - 20 participant learners (clients) trained, - 20 volunteers trained and all recognised by the GALA Certificate. - Network for Community Inclusion through Art
The GALA project was developed and delivered by a group of 5 European partners, led by Diagrama Foundation UK working closely with Groep Ubuntu Belgium, Asociata ProVita Romania, L'Art et La Maniere France and Fundacion Diagrama Spain. The project was based on empowerment and social inclusion and it created a new participatory teaching and learning arts-based training course, "Gentle Art, Living Art" with joint training workshops in each country on Artistic Mentoring using Groep Ubuntu's Gentle Teaching programme as a foundation. There was a travelling art exhibition staged in non-traditional venues. GALA was a project based on social inclusion, mutual respect, human dignity, equal opportunities and empowerment through social enterprise and community action. It was delivered by a diverse partnership of NGOs from 5 different EU member states who use Art and Creative Design as the key to inclusion. The project ran from September 2017 to the end of August 2019. Participant learners include staff in each partner organisation. Clients and volunteers collectively created a travelling art exhibition which they staged in non-traditional galleries in each country alongside the work of professional artists. The theme of the exhibition was "Inside Out". Most learner participant (clients) were highly disadvantaged and are in residential care or day care. Their fellow participants are drawn from the staff and volunteer team who act as Mentors to the learner group whilst also undertaking practial training themselves. Together they developed and achieved the Gentle Art, Living Art (GALA) Certificate which was awarded at the end of the project. Social Inclusion and Empowerment was the common theme throughout the project, focussed on skills for overcoming barriers to employability and social inclusion, using art and creative design as the basic toolkit for achieving results. The objectives included: 1. Work with partners to raise awareness of and overcome problems faced by participants in overcoming social exclusion and discrimination. 2. Share innovation and methodologies to develop staff competences and to raise standards in residential care settings 3. Develop an Artistic Mentoring course to raise skills, build confidence in staff working with disadvantaged clients. 4. Recognise and celebrate artist talent in client participants and in staff Mentors 4. Work with partners to create the GALA Certificate to recognise new skills and empowerment and to build on to the Gentle Teacher programme. 5. Create a Network for the promotion of Community Inclusion through Art. Each partner was responsible for one main issues relating to one specific client group and each brought innovation from their local practice to share with all other partners. The partners were led by Diagrama Foundation UK (focus all client groups); working closely with Groep Ubuntu Belgium (focus client group people with disabilities); ProVita Romania (focus client group disadvantaged women); L'Art et la Maniere France (focus client group older people); and Fundacion Diagrama Spain (focus client group young people in the juvenile justice system). Using the Gentle Teaching method of communication and tutoring, staff and volunteers from each organisation took part in initial training in Belgium. This was followed by workshops in each partner country. Each partner specalised in one important aspect of art and design and practical workshops were supervised by experts. Each workshop also followed the Gentle Learning methodology to enhance skills in communication and empowerment as well as art-based learning to create the GALA Artistic Mentoring module. In-between transnational events all partners worked directly with their own clients alongside volunteers and professional artists to continue to learn by on-line training sessions led by each partner . A common theme of arts and craft was followed in each country which resulted in a large-scale art exhibition held in Rochester Cathedral in June 2019 by invitation of the Diocese of Rochester. Results included: - 1 New Methodology (GALA) Artistic Mentoring based on the Gentle Learning framework - 1 new training and learning course for workers in the Care Sector - GALA Certificate to all participants - 35 Europass Mobility Awards achieved by participants - 5 new art exhibitions; Romania, Belgium, France, Spain and Rochester Cathedral, UK with a total 1000+ public viewing - 18 newly trained art tutors were created (existing staff with supplementary training through following the GALA course, receiving the GALA Certificate), - 75 participants were trained - Network for Community Inclusion through Art comprising 55 members.