In a Global Village, due to the progressive trend towards differentiating possibilities and pluralistic values and norms, daily life gradually becomes a form of art. Therefore the current challenges of the COVID19 crisis are representative of the challenges of our changing society and emphasize the relevance of informal education, the acquisition of skills, and the need for virtual meetings, teaching, and learning spaces. For this reason, organizations from Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal have joined forces in the project "Embodiment Digital: Mind the Gap - Art as a Sealant in Times of Social Distancing." The common goal is to establish a cross-disciplinary platform for co-production, exchange, and discourse within the framework of a virtual and physical "creative residence." By interlinking stakeholders in the field of socio-culture with professional grassroots organizations in the cultural and creative industries, new approaches will give rise to creative solutions in regards of current and future challenges. The wording "Mind the Gap" chosen in the project title reflects the project's claim to build on the gaps in current state aid measures as an alternative supplement based on the principle of "helping people to help themselves". Besides, by investigating the crisis's potential opportunities, the project initiates a paradigm shift by opening up the supposedly paradoxical question of how the lockdown opened up the possibilities. The projects is based on a holistic understanding of cultural education as an umbrella term, in particular concerning the social and political dimensions of an expanded, multidimensional concept of culture, In addition to the transnational project meetings for administrative purposes, the project contains six blended mobilities, where virtual and physical activities are combined. Each activity has a specific thematic focus and allows the host organisation to present their uniqie approaches and perspectives. Within a framework of online training courses and so-called "virtual campfire events", each activity contains a wide range of theoretical and practical learning opporunities towards during the physical mobility. In addition to embodiesd practices, such as intercultural dance and circus pedagogy, participation art, media aesthetics, digital art, media design, upcycling, and professional event management. Methodologically, the activities are based on a pillar-phase model that promotes both horizontal and vertical coherence. The project aims to of the different backgrounds, profiles, specific knowledge, and skills, as well as individual solution strategies in connection with the current crisis, should enable help for self-help as well as contribute to a stronger European awareness and serve as a source of inspiration about innovations in your local environment. Through jointly developed solution strategies in the form of media, effective spaces and flexible pop-up formats, The project aims to sustainably increase the resilience of the cultural and creative sectors by enabling organizations to react flexibly to unexpected chances and adapt their events through Digital solutions and flexible Pop-up Event Formats when physical encounters are limited. Furthermore a second main goal of the project is to strengthen the digital skills of all organizations involved. Thus, by building on the momentum of the last few months, the proposal aligns with the EU Commissions action plan for digital education and therefore provides a practical answer. is practically complied with and digital inequality is counteracted. Besides, the interdisciplinary approach enables amateur actors to perform in professional contexts by utilizing media aesthetic methods and provides access to professional, artistic education to marginalized populations. In return, the socio-cultural component broadens the action field of professional art industries and to raises awareness towards the social, political, and educational dimensions of their work.
The goal of the participating organizations was to jointly establish a cross-disciplinary platform for co-production, exchange and discourse within the framework of a virtual and physical "creative residence", which corresponds to the theoretical considerations regarding a holistic understanding of cultural education as an umbrella concept. In the course of this, the transnational interlocking of stakeholders in the field of socio-culture with professional organizations of the cultural and creative industries should produce innovative approaches and creative ways to meet the present and future challenges of our society as a European community. Special emphasis was placed on the lifeworld of marginalized people affected by disadvantage, in order to include them as a direct target group equally in all levels of the project, and to make a contribution to social justice and participation with regard to the indirect target groups by means of medianesthetic practice. In the course of this, the project's claim was to start in particular where factual disadvantage exists, which is currently not covered by the welfare state safety net.
The presented project aims to address the various challenges posed by the postmodern risk society. The phenomenon of globalization and digitization has given rise to a "global village," which comes with both a multitude of opportunities, but also complex challenges. As a result, living in a community has become an art requiring great skill and expertise. This "art of living" is associated with an increasing demand for the relevance of informal education, the acquisition of skills, and virtual meeting, teaching, and learning spaces, which the project was designed to meet. The synergy that arises from the collaboration of varying backgrounds, skills, and methodologies in the project´s context facilitates self-reliance, promote European awareness and has the potential to stimulate local ingenuity and innocation throught the organizations involved. On an individual level and with regard to the indirect target group, the overall project also contributes to social justice by giving all people equal access to art and culture on the part of both recipients and producers.