The project builds upon this crucial aim by incorporating to its core the European cultural heritage to stimulate European awareness and values and making it accessible to less privileged communities. The project’s general objectives were to: • Support the social inclusion of adult immigrants considering the underlying European values; • Stimulate their participation in civic and social life; • Encourage intercultural dialogue and build mutual understanding between new arrivals and receiving communities; • Promote tolerance, mutual understanding, social cohesion, and support the fight against racism and xenophobia by cultivating critical thinking • Develop transversal skills and competences in order to support the socio-educational and personal development of immigrants and locals, particularly young adults. The project’s specific objectives were to: • Help adult immigrants learn about and make European values their own; • Provide adult educators with tools in order to raise awareness on the importance of Europe’s cultural heritage, and values; • Develop (young) adults’ creativity skills through video recordings of cultural heritage products; • Organise National and European events to spread the project’s products and results.
COVID-19 pandemic had a sudden and substantial impact on the arts and cultural heritage sector. By March 2020, most cultural institutions across the world were indefinitely closed. One of the key aims of the European Agenda for Adult Learning (renewed in 2015) is the social inclusion and active participation in the community and society of all adults, including those with a migrant background. The project builds upon this crucial aim by incorporating to its core the European cultural heritage, and values. Its aim is to support the social integration of immigrants, and to equip educators and/or non-formal trainers who support adult learners with tools for raising awareness of the European cultural heritage, and values which are considered universal. As pointed out in the “Settling In 2018: Indicators if Immigrant Integration” Report (EC & OECD, December 2018), immigrants and ethnic minorities are among the most vulnerable groups to poverty and social exclusion. Promoting adult learning as a means of fostering solidarity between cultures and people of all backgrounds is becoming more urgent than ever and creative non-formal and informal learning environments could play a crucial role.