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AGORA : Foster social inclusion and intercultural ..
AGORA : Foster social inclusion and intercultural dialogue by joining arts, non-formal education and social work
Start date: Sep 1, 2016,
End date: May 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
Beyond the economic and environmental challenges which it is necessary to answer, the European Union faces significant social and identity stakes, edged by the current migrant crisis.Youth and social workers, trainers and artists play a central role in easing these tensions and finding long-lasting solutions to these complex problems. Given the scale of these challenges, a growing number of them wishes to join their strengths and act together to promote intercultural dialogue and social inclusion but such cooperation is not easy to implement.The AGORA seminar therefore proposes to bring together 30 artists, youth and social workers from Greece, Italy, France and Germany so that they can share their experience, confront their approaches, identify synergies and develop efficient methods and tools in order to design and implement projects which combine their different disciplines for the purpose of promoting social and intercultural dialogue and tackling exclusion and discrimination.The meeting will take place in Gaillac in France from November the 26th to December the 2nd, 2016. Participants will draw an overview of the situation in their communities and will identify social projects using art as a tool for social dialogue and inclusion. They will highlight their complementarities and jointly seek ways to overcome the obstacles to cooperation. They will critically analyze success-stories from Germany, Italy, Finland and France and will join their skills to develop future projects.They will benefit from the conceptual and methodological contributions of skilled field actors and will highlight stumbling blocks (to avoid) and good practices (to spread). Given the current situation in Europe, a particular attention will be paid to integration projects for migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.The participants will be encouraged to express their creativity, to take responsibilities and to show initiative during the meeting. They will also be responsible for the scattering of the seminar’s results when they get back.The seminar will enable them to enhance their professional skills, to stimulate their initiative and increase efficiency and creativity in their work. They will implement their learning in the projects, the organizations and the networks to which they belong and will share the acquired knowledge with others through the broadcasting of syntheses, the organization of trainings and their active participation in public and/or inter-professional meetings on the local, regional, national or European scale.The seminar will contribute ultimately to the development of innovative projects involving art, social work and non-formal education in Europe. It will open new areas of expression, dialogue and encounter between people from different backgrounds, to soothe certain social tensions and facilitate the integration of newcomers in the EU (migrants, asylum seekers, refugees). It will thus contribute to fight against discrimination and to promote the values of freedom, tolerance and respect for human rights, in an inclusive, dynamic and creative Europe.