The link between education, early learning and artistic practices is not always obvious for professionals of those various sectors and is not often highlighted during the stages of training in the professions of early childhood and education. Their training is still based on a traditional pedagogy that does not make art a tool, but another discipline that can be observed from the outside. We want to include artistic practice at the heart of the pedagogy of early childhood professionals by showing them that they can go hand in hand. We wish to include artistic practice at the heart of the pedagogy of early childhood professionals by emphasizing their complementarity. Introducing professionals to a quality artistic practice allows to inject new dynamics to promote the artistic and cultural awakening of children but also of their parents so that they become mediators between family culture and that of society. 2019 is a strong year in this sense: The report "A national strategy for cultural health - Promoting and perpetuating the cultural and artistic early-learning of children from birth to 3 years old in the bond with their parent" by psychoanalyst Sophie Marinopoulos is a big step in the policy in favor of the artistic and cultural awakening of toddlers, set up by Franck Riester. It is in this context today that four structures are working together to disseminate the observations and lessons learned from contemporary artistic practices for young children to professionals in early childhood. These structures are Starcatchers - Scotland (supervised by Rhona Matheson), LaSala - Spain (supervised by Isabel Urpi), ACTA - France (supervised by Laurent Dupont) and Stichting 2+ - Netherlands (supervised by Ingrid Wolff). They belong to the cultural sector and act for the creation of theater pieces for young children. They will work together, for two years, for the establishment of regular mobility (1 every three months, or 8 at the end of the project) of professionals in national education and early childhood in order to integrate the habit of artistic practice to their teaching methods. Three transnational meetings will bring together the organizers and their administrators, before, during and after the project. The direct targets of the project and participants will therefore be the directors of establishments and services for early childhood and youth, professionals in early childhood structures and teachers to reach more broadly the priority audiences including children and parents of neighborhoods benefiting from early childhood services concerned by the project. There are various goals: - Sensitize early childhood professionals to the impact of art and artistic practices on the early-learning of toddlers - Sensitize early childhood professionals to the importance of artistic early-learning in building the parent-child bond. -Support these professionals as best as possible for a better understanding of the diversity of inclusion, including cultural and linguistic depending on the diversity of the social and cultural contexts encountered. - Allow the confrontation and exchanges around the methods and strategies used from one country to another, from one structure to another. -Associate artists, involved for the quality of their research about this very young audience, through their shows and cultural and educational actions that they develop in collaboration with the various actors of early childhood. - Create a transnational network between teaching artists, early childhood professionals, learning socio-cultural educators and the various structures mobilized to maintain lasting exchanges and allow exchanges within a European audience. We expect many predetermined results from this project: - We hope to make professionals understand the necessity and the impact of art and artistic practices on the awakening of toddlers by observing these practices conducted by qualified artists in this very specific area. Through the explanation and clear and detailed presentation of these practices, professionals will gradually be provided with tools to ensure the setting up of an event or an artistic practice in their professional setting. Sharing these workshops with other European early childhood professionals involves sharing and confronting vision and working methods in the structures. A presentation of the functioning of the structures will therefore naturally take place in conjunction with the artistic workshops. Professionals will thus be called into question, or at least question the way in which their methodology and their teaching are conducted with toddlers.
We had defined several objectives when building the project: - Raising the awareness of and training early childhood professionals to set up an event or artistic practice within their professional framework, drawing on their skills and inspiration on a European scale. Linking the construction of the parent-child bond. -Helping these professionals to better understand the diversity of inclusion, including cultural and linguistic diversity, in the different social and cultural contexts they encounter. - Involve artists who are committed to the quality of their research into this very young audience, through their shows and the cultural and educational initiatives they develop in collaboration with the various players involved in early childhood. - To enable comparisons and exchanges on methods and strategies developed in different political and educational contexts - To create a transnational network between artists, teachers, early childhood professionals, social and cultural educators and the various organisations mobilised to maintain lasting exchanges and enable exchanges within a European audience.
As a logical and complementary continuation of the 2017-2019 Erasmus + project, "Artists in training; art and early childhood", the 2020-2023 project was born out of the desire to train early childhood and education professionals in the use of contemporary performance as a tool for the awakening of young and even very young audiences in disadvantaged European neighbourhoods. Together with three other partner countries, ACTA wanted to give professionals working with young children and young people the opportunity to receive training and spend time reflecting on the place of early childhood in arts and culture. With this transnational project, the associated organisations wanted to propose exchanges and reflections in these different communities, to present their specificities and to allow observations from one country to another. Such work would enrich practices and enhance technical skills through training in each of the partner countries. One of the biggest challenges we faced was ensuring that the early childhood professionals felt confident in their own understanding of the important role arts and creativity play, and that they acquired/had the skills to use arts and creativity effectively in their work with children.