CULTURAVIRUS - the art of new communities The partnership project "Culturavirus - the art of new communities” created by three organizations: Bemowskie Centrum Kultury (Poland), Associacao Renovar A Mouraria (Portugal), Pogon - Zagrebački centar za nezavisnu culu i mlade (Croatia), is a response to the challenges and needs related with the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of the implementation of program activities of cultural institutions and social integration. Its purpose is the exchange of practices and the selection of methods and tools in the field of “community arts” that are included in the daily work of employees and associates of partner organizations in times the social crisis. The 16-month project will involve a total of 36 participants - employees, volunteers, community leaders and artists associated with the organizations. The main goal of the project "Culturavirus - the art of new communities" is to work towards the bottom-up involvement of the recipients of institutions - strengthening their sense of agency and increasing participation in activities. The indirect goal - the development of project participants, substantive leaders of partner organizations, who are initiators, activists and educators of these activities, addressed to adult members of local communities. The project will include 3 training programs lasting 5 days, in each of the partner organizations' countries, focusing on the strengths of the host organizations: - Working with the ABCD method - community development based on resources (thanks to the resources of the Bemowo Cultural Center) - Digital forms of activation of local communities (thanks to the resources of Bemowo Centrum Kultury and Associacao Renovar a Mouraria) - Working with a multicultural community, taking into account the refugee and migrant background (thanks to the resources of Associacao Renovar a Mouraria) - Working on the basis of local tangible and intangible cultural heritage (thanks to the resources of Associacao Renovar a Mouraria) - Organization and running of artistic residencies (thanks to the resources of Pogon - Zagrebački centar za nezavisnu Kultu i mlade) - Building a system of comprehensive support for residents active in the field of culture and art (thanks to the resources of Pogon - Zagrebački centar za nezavisnu Kultu i mlade) Project participants will learn a variety of approaches to activities in the field of „community arts” and will understand the strategies and the environmental context of each organization, along with learning about the operational methods in implementing selected projects and jointly coming up with ways to introduce new ideas in their local communities. In order to use the extraordinary potential of international cooperation, the training schedule will be varied with numerous local cultural events. Thanks to the participation in the project, organizations will strengthen local partnerships, create a transnational network of support and develop their program activities based on local resources and the "community arts" method. With the security of this support, along with a stable organizational structure, the assumption of a long-term plan of the impact of the project on participants, organizations and local communities will be possible, regardless of external circumstances. The course of the project implementation and its effects will be disseminated on the EPALE platform, as well as on social media and the organizations' websites. All results will be available free of charge to disseminate the developed tools and common practices related to the project.
Through the implemented mobilities, we wanted to integrate community arts methods and tools into the daily work of educators and employees of our organizations. The project was designed to: - develop knowledge and skills in public participation and tools used in engaging adults, and transfer them to local communities, - equip teams with digital skills, but also cultural and language skills, - develop skills to work with other cultures, in a diverse work environment, - build the capacity of organizations and individuals to manage international cooperation projects and at the same time support the local community, including the arts, - integrate artists, leaders and volunteers around an organization, so that they can better plan their development and identify needs, learn from experience, - support the creative and organizational competencies of local artists, activists, so that they are able to work effectively with adults and build lasting relationships, - learn examples of grassroots cultural initiatives, as well as the specifics of how local communities function, - disseminate the ABCD model - to work within the community more on resources and less on needs.
The project was intended to support the three partner organizations, as well as local communities, to function in times of crisis (caused mainly by the pandemic) using community arts methods and new technologies. The pandemic made access to the community difficult, the acquisition of knowledge and skills among staff was limited - hence responding to difficult situations - previously unheard of and unknown, and working with the community became a challenge itself. In our organizations, we saw how strongly isolation, fear and uncertainty, less activity among residents, but also volunteers, affected us. We knew that it was culture, especially the community arts track, that would be able to help us rebuild communities. The project was to bring together three cultural organizations, their strengths and advantages - not in the spirit of complaining about the situation, but rather sharing best solutions in the area of cooperation and adult learning. We wanted to inspire the project participants to develop, test and experiment in the area of their organizations and culture. The need for this project that Coronavirus outlined was supplemented by new conditions - the war in Ukraine and migration.