Across Europe we have in recent years witnessed a rise in populism, accompanied by exclusive nationalisms and concepts of identities that are developed by othering migrants and those with migrant roots in particular. At the same time, the European cultural and education sectors have remained committed to practices that promote social inclusion and intercultural dialogue. This raises questions about where and how these practices should be strengthened to provide a counter-weight to populist concepts and social divisions. Over the last three years, the concept of Third Space has gained traction in the European cultural sector. On a physical level, Third Space is understood as a space arranged and furnished so as to invite diverse groups to use it as they see fit. On a practical level, Third Space is understood as a practice which actively creates an environment that levels inequalities and enables equal and full participation by diverse groups, especially those in the minority. The Third Space format in both its physical and practical applications is therefore aimed at strengthening social inclusion and intercultural dialogue. The key objective of this project is thus to explore the potential and usefulness of the Third Space format for social inclusion and intercultural dialogue. Four of the partners will develop specific activities using Third Space methods during the duration of the project. These Third Space activities will be evaluated by the academic partner. The theories and methodologies of Third Space, partners' experiences with their Third Space activities against their particular social and political context, and the activities' evaluation will be shared and taught in four staff training workshops. The target group for staff training workshops are (cultural) educators working with diverse groups with the aim of strengthening social inclusion through different practices. There will be a total of 20 educators participating in the staff training workshops. Target groups for partners' Third Space activities will be 'old' and 'new' citizens, that is so-called 'natives' and those who have migrant roots. These groups will be brought together in and through the Third Space to review their respective cultural practices, heritages, stories and identities, and to create new practices, new heritages and thus new identities in the groups' shared societies. In this, we are particularly interested in the potential of the European identity as a supranational identity that may overcome divisions where national identities may prove too rigid. We aim to involve a total of 200 participants in these activities. The project will produce an in-depth evaluation report providing much-needed empirical data on the application of Third Space methods in the education and cultural sectors. It will also produce four detailled case studies of Third Space activiites, providing outlines that will enable others to replicate the approach and/or adapt it to their own circumstances. The project will also produce an outline for training on Third Space, which will be delivered to a group of 15 educators as part of the project. All materials produced as part of the project will be disseminated through partners' websites, the project blog, as well as partners' networks and through use in partners' subsequent presentations at conferences and publications in academic and professional journals. It is envisaged that a total of 250 individual participants will participate in the project directly. The desired impact of the project is a better understanding of Third Space as a format and method to improve the effectiveness of educational practices aimed at social inclusion and intercultural dialogue. The project also hopes to provide a space for 'old' and 'new' citizens to come to a shared understanding of their identity and thus to contribute to a counter-narrative to populism, particularly on a European level.
We specifically wanted to evaluate our work with Third Space. We wanted to find out how a Third Space can emerge and what requirements there are for it to happen. We were also interested in how Third Space might change our own approaches in our respective contexts. We were most interested in finding out how we might further open our programmes to co-creation by members of our communities. At the same time, questions of identity continue to emerge in our respective contexts, which led us to also focus on the question how Third Space might be a worthwhile method in this regard.
We set out to jointly apply Third Space as a method within education and culture, while evaluating it scientifically at the same time. From these experiences we intended to use this method, which is aimed at inclusion of and participation by diverse groups, more extensively in our own work, to increase participation therein. Simultaneously, we were intrigued by the question of European identities, particularly in the face of increasing radicalisation amongst some groups within our countries and a rejection of others. In this context we were interested in exploring how Third Space might work in our contexts for negotiating identities.