The main aim of the project was to prevent radicalisation in marginalised youth through arts and culture. The objectives of the project were to: - Enhance civic engagement and address the risk of radicalisation among marginalised youth through application of European arts and cultural practices. - Increase cross sectoral and transnational cooperation for knowledge exchange and peer mentoring on youth civic engagement and prevention of radicalisation between youth practitioners and professionals in the arts and culture sector. - Adopt a youth-led participatory approach through co-creation methods.
According to the 2020 Fundamental Rights study, young people do not participate in politics, which is alarming because civic engagement among young people is essential to a resilient society. The growth in radicalization and marginalization throughout the EU (Golubeva, 2018; Kitanova, 2020), as well as the rise in divisive discourses and racist dogmas (Tallapessy, 2019), are all consequences of poor young civic engagement. Furthermore, COVID-19 has caused terrorist organizations to spread violent beliefs throughout the EU, further polarizing and disengaging the populace (Europol, 2021). In order to democratize the co-creation of new knowledge related to civic engagement and the prevention of radicalization, the CULTURAD project sought to: (a) foster cross-sectoral and cross-border collaborations between youth practitioners and professionals working in the cultural and creative sector (CCS); (b) develop engagement, participation, and inclusion among marginalized young people using European arts and cultural practices; and (c) implement a participatory action research methodology by focusing on the needs of youth professionals and marginalized young people and actively involving them in the project's activities.