The OVERALL OBJECTIVE of ParticipArt is to enable young people with barriers related to education and training systems AND who live in disadvantaged areas to be active citizens in their local communities and to actively participate in democratic life through innovative art-focused methodologies. We have three specific objectives: SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 1: Promote alternative forms of local participatory democracy for young people in Europe, with particular attention to creativity and critical thinking. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 2: Improve the participation in democratic life of young people with fewer opportunities (disabilities/barriers related to education). This specific objective also contributes to the development of new methods of youth work in the non-formal education sector (youth camp). SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE 3: Strengthen the link between youth work and policy development, in particular to support marginalized young people. Specific objective 3 calls for building a body of knowledge about the obstacles young people face in participating in local democracy.
Compared to previous generations, today's young people show less interest in mainstream politics (Pattie et al., 2003) and experience historically low levels of voter turnout and involvement in party politics across Europe (International IDEA, 2008). According to Malafaia et al. (2021), political disengagement appears to be related to the opacity of the mechanisms of parliamentary and party politics, as well as the channels that connect local, everyday forms of engagement with the broader political sphere. An obstacle that further complicates this picture is represented by geographical limits, such as rural and remote areas, as well as difficult urban neighborhoods. Rural areas present complications because there is little evidence and current literature on the challenges of youth participation is often focused on the urban context (Trivelli, Morel; 2019). People from poorer neighborhoods are also less likely to vote than those from more affluent neighborhoods (Jöst, 2021). The project allowed the development of new practices to enable young people to take part in local democracy through non-formal learning.