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Connecting memories – Exchange and training on art and education methods in community and youth work
Start date: Jul 1, 2014, End date: Nov 30, 2014 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Connecting Memories (CM) is a co-training and networking program for European youth workers in the field of art-education. CM aims at increasing employability, fostering exchange of education good practices, and strengthening and unifying European artists-educators’ position in the professional field. Art-education is a powerful tool to improve common living, develop a sense of citizenship, personal skills, intergenerational connections, and reveal youngsters’ abilities giving them confidence and a sense of involvement. CM was elaborated based on its participants' needs as artists-educators. Between two separated fields, art and education, they are often isolated, underrated. Facing the never-ending evolution of society, they need to regularly adapt their methods and ways of connecting with youngsters. They also need to foster their creativity and ability to lead local community-based projects facing global issues. In a crisis context, the lack of recognition, visibility, training and networking makes occupational integration difficult for those art-educators; they need to strengthen their position in the professional field at a local and international scale. From 18/08 to 2/09/14, CM will gather youth workers in Medina de Rioseco (Spain) for a common work session on intergenerational communication, memory and transmission. This topic has been chosen in agreement with all the participants, taking into account the project local context and their own concerns in their country. The whole project is co-devised with the participants, coordinated and animated by the association ab ovo using peer-to-peer and learning by doing methods. During the first part of the training, 9 participants under 35, all working with youth, art and education, coming from France, Belgium, Spain, Holland and Hungary, will share their own educational tools and ideas about art-education according to a case study topic. They will be involved in collective observation and investigation processes, group-based creative workshops and critical discussion. These activities aim to create shareable methods and transferable tools to help other educators to work in cross-cultural contexts. A common protocol will be created and experienced with a community of people. Results presentations will be organized in Medin but also in Urones and Ciudad Rodrigo during theatre festivals participants will attend. They will also discover local theatre, education networks and youth workers in the region and in Madrid during two days of jobshadowing. In the end, participants will produce methodological notes that will be disseminated among artists, educators, academic researchers, cultural managers and politicians in the partners’ wider networks. For that purpose, an online professional platform will be created in order to foster development and sustainability of European cooperation in art-education. In the last days of CM, Turkish partners will join the group to consider the possibility of their hosting the 1st art-education biennial in Cannakale, Turkey in 2015. Due to their experience in organizing biennials, their expertise in youth and community work, they will help conceiving this event in a way that will allow partners to reach the following objectives: making this event as large and open to different cultures, practices and approaches as possible; associating local population and especially young people to the event (organization, theoretical and practical exchange of experience) – this because the partners believe that young people’s voices have to be heard when dealing with youth issues; and building a better international image and knowledge of informal education through arts. The online platform and the Biennial are mid- and long-term expected results of CM reinforcing the art-education field by giving visibility to projects and art-education benefits. Short-term outcomes are diverse. Concerning the participants, the project will increase their international professional integration, enrich and improve their practices, multiply the possibilities of funding their projects through new partnerships, and improve their intercultural skills, creativity and critical thinking. For the target audience of those youth workers, the project will increase the quality of their learning processes, the opportunities for international perspectives and mobility. The community directly involved in the CM project will benefit from the artists incentive on working on memories and intergenerational issues. Working closely with the city council, participants will propose a new way of using an old, historical building based on inhabitants needs. Every step of the project will be evaluate by the participants (questionnaires and discussions) but also thanks to an individual following and observation of the group's work lead by ab ovo. This will be compile in a critical report including a whole year of following participants’ professional trajectory after the project.

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