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Diversity through pop-culture

2020-1-HR01-KA105-0775842020Youth mobilityfinalized
Countries: HR|PL|ES|EL|MK|SK · Grant: €17,040
Creativity and cultureEU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Objectives

As the part of the national project "Pop culture - a new subject in the national curriculum of the Croatia", an international symposium, the youth exchange project "Diversity Through Pop Culture", is being held in Croatia from October 20th to 28th current year. Through the model of active workshops, presentations, and intercultural cooperation representatives of the countries worked in the fields of several pop cultural areas – from the film, music, literature, media, social networking and other parts of the Pop culture of 21st Century. It is about spreading the idea of implementing the subject "Pop culture" from national to international foundations and educational institutions, and using practical examples to get acquainted with the model of introducing a new subject in schools. Along with lectures by guest lecturers, top experts from the sphere of film, music, literature, active creative workshops, "Diversity Through Pop Culture" will be part of a project in which intergenerational and interstate borders will be erased and the idea of international youth cooperation will be spread through all segments of popular culture. The Pop Culture project in Croatia started in 2015. and sparkled as the reaction on the death of David Bowie as one of the major pop cultural icons and important figures of the last and current Century. It is introduced as the part of the national curriculum for preliminary schools, highschools and universities, and international symposium "Diversity Through Pop Culture" brings together members and participants all around the Europe is the important international part of making it happen adn empowering international value of the project. We gave lectures in more than 50 schools and other educational institutions across Croatia in the last couple of years before corona period and the results were fantastic. More than 90% of young people and pupils wished to have and learn a subject of this type at their schools as the part of the regular education. During the coronavirus period the implementation of the idea was delayed and prolongued, but now, we are at the last quarter of the whole proces and hopefully it is idea to bring project to life next school year 2023/2024. Writing of the book, a textbook „Pop Culture“ is in the process also and is planned to be released during next school year. Popular culture is the name for the sum of certain cultural practices, products and phenomenon whose common meaning is constituted in principled opposition to high culture. Therefore Pop Culture of the 21st Century is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images and other phenomena that are mainstream in a certain culture which started in the early years of the 20th century, been spread in the middle of the 20th century, becoming part of the global mainstream at the end of the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st century. Under the strong influence of mass media, this collection of ideas permeates all parts of everyday life in society, but the most commonly generalized categories of pop culture are all forms of entertainment (films, music, TV), sports, news, politics, religion, fashion, technology, social networking ... Pop culture as a self-defined term is an unavoidable integral part of the 21st century, both through the systematic placement of content in the media and through the speed of life, technology, accessibility and other variables that influenced the consumerism of pop culture among children and high school students and later youth in their formative years. Mentioning Pop Culture through a few lessons in Sociology, through Civic Education and Media Culture lessons in the Croatian language is not enough considering the galloping pace of life in the 21st century. For this purpose, the idea of new subject in the scholar system is to animate the target group and children with practical examples and lectures and different didactical approach so that they show more interest in pop culture in all its comprehensive elements. The essence of the lectures is to have a pedagogical effect through the popular music, film, literature and other areas of pop culture, to communicate with kids several types of consumption of popular culture, music, film, literature in all its styles, and to interest and intrigue them through live the word for consuming such content. And indirectly to talk in general about tolerance for differences in tastes, respect for other people's opposing opinion, education on the dissemination of information from general culture beyond the subject expansion of civic education, trying to develop one's own critical thinking and attitudes.

Project partners (7)