Nurturing Expression, Worldbuilding and Self-discovery Through Participatory Art for Diasporic Communities in Europe: NEWSPACE

Programme(s): Creative Europe Programme (CREA)

Project ID: 101173739

Topic(s): CREA-CULT-2024-COOP-1

Type of action: CREA Lump Sum Grants

Objective:
Building on several years of experience in participatory art processes with heterogeneous communities, the project aims at involving young refugees, with a special focus on Ukrainian teenagers who were forced to relocate in Kyiv, Bologna and Warsaw, in the collective creation of artworks in order to foster self- awareness, community participation and recognition, transfer artistic skills. In a context of displacement, permanent stress and abrupt changes, NEWSPACE adopts participatory art and action research approaches of the partner organizations to create a new space of empowerment, where members of diasporic communities can find again their voice. Through artistic creation led by professionals, they will be able to have time and space to express themselves and to develop their talents and needs. The main activities of the project will include: - 3 Pilot Residencies, one in each city, where an international team of artists and mediators will be working with groups of teenagers on different media, with the aim to identify the most effective set of activities and themes to implement and develop in the following phase; - 3 Workshop Programmes, one in each city, for a total of 100 hours each, according to the specific contextual needs of the target community and capabilities of the partner organizations; - 3 Multidisciplinary Public Installations to present the artworks created by the participants; - Modelization and Impact analysis to create a replicable and scalable model. The main goals are 1) promote self-expression and trauma processing through collective artistic creation 2) initiate the participants to the artistic languages and modes of expression of the adopted media 3) to codify an innovative model for participatory art projects that address the mental health of teenagers from diasporic communities.