DEPART Design online Educative Products and ART Creation through Exchange in Adult Learning DEPART The word ‘départ’ signifies ‘start’ in French. - START providing learning opportunities for adults through online education! - START tying together education, creativity and culture in the digital world! - START using educational theatre in our organizations, face to face! - START with our offer and services, the full immersion for newcomers in the language, culture and communities of their arrival cities! Due to Corona, the most fragile among us, are hit the hardest in our societies. We notice fear, anxiety and risk of exclusion for the people from the target groups. We are aware that, regardless of the social and economic situation, most of the people do have access to the internet, especially the younger generations. We are doing this project because we want to reach as many people as possible. The internet allows us to keep the people from our target group informed and motivated. With continuous learning, they will have a better chance to address challenges and improve each of their unique situations. DEPART will create courses with content ‘on-demand’ from our target groups. We will be using techniques of educational theatre with the purpose to empower the people who are living in a vulnerable situation. With video, images and texts for educational and artistic purpose, we contribute in adult learning with tools that the partners of DEPART will use in their offer. The results of DEPART will be a way to help to integrate our target groups into society: adults, newcomers, people who want to learn the local language. DEPART is exchanging, learning by doing and finding out how to optimize the internet and its possibilities. Throughout the two years of DEPART, we will learn and facilitate the exchange of artistic and cultural work. In this rich learning environment, we will use educative performing arts (theatre) for the use of social improvement and well-being. We will have a close look at how audiences experience and learn from the educational theatre, in order to design and develop a digital approach of courses and training. The participants of DEPART, educators and artists, have the goal to inspire each other in designing astonishing educative material. DEPART - will provide value: courses, information and learning material online - will boost educators in creative learning methods - will set up 'up-skilling pathways' for artists in theatre - will deliver results and disseminate them Six organizations of the DEPART partnership are centres for adult learning, theatre companies, cultural / community centres and one over-arching organization. They vary in size, structure and experience, though the common principles of innovation and creativity tie them together. The lead partner is ‘Theatre from A to Z’, based in Antwerp, Belgium, while the other partners are based in the Czech Republic, Turkey, Italy, North Macedonia and Poland. All organizations will develop their approach to the idea of using theatre techniques in making courses and workshops online. The partners will invite a number of artists and educators attending to five intensive learning and training sessions, hosted by the different partners. During these sessions, they will have the opportunity to work with their peers from abroad and create together. The partnership will result in the website ‘DEPART – Design online Educative Products and ART’. The website will provide value: creative pedagogical material, information, tips and advice, experiences in adult learning. The website will ensure the sustainability of our objectives and actions. Partners Theatre / Adult Education - Theatre from A to Z, Antwerp, Belgium - Teatralie, Prague, Czech Republic Adult Education - CPIA Palermo 1 Nelson Mandela - Adult Education Center, Palermo, Italy Culture and Community Centres - Aydin Egitim ve Genclik Dernegi, Community Center, Aydin, Turkey - Poleski Ośrodek Sztuki, Łodz, Poland Over-arching organization - National Council for Gender Equality, Skopje, North Macedonia
The main goal of DEPART was: skills development and inclusion through creativity and the arts. Through this project, we have stimulated the development of educators/teachers in acquiring skills, in online educative learning product making, as well as using creative techniques (theatre, drama, visual, animation, …) as an informal teaching method. All this resulted in educational materials (video, stop-motion, a storytelling manual, personal reflections, …) The partners in this project achieved the following objectives: - The participants acquired the skills to provide value: they created online learning materials and information for their target groups. - The participants have grown in creating digital learning materials, using creative techniques. - They reflected upon and tried to improve communication with their target groups. - They have built lasting trust and have found opportunities for future cooperation between the partnering organizations, building a network of artists and educational organizations. - They have created social awareness, and have convinced their peers (educators and artists) that they are crucial players in developing a more inclusive society.
Through other European projects, we have met partners with the same attitude: working hard at improving the lives of vulnerable target groups. We really wanted to try something that would benefit us all, both the partners and the target groups: combine arts and social work in a digital environment. Our target groups are 'vulnerable target groups', and no matter how diverse they are, they share the same needs (self-confidence and personal development, emotional awareness, understanding other people and connecting to other people, cooperation, and communication). The DEPART project decided to concentrate on the enhancement of these skills by creating useful educative online materials, by organizing meetings, discussions, workshops, and exchange of practices. Hence the choice of using creative (drama and visual) techniques in order to build an informal and safe place for people to learn to: - express emotions more easily - become more confident - reduce stress and self-awareness - use their imagination - focus and be more concentrated - make a message more entertaining, and thus enhance motivation