booklet: training course "art for community development"

ART FORCOMMUNITYDEVELOPMENT

B O O K L E T - I N S I G H T I N T O T H E T R A I N I N G C O U R S E

„The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement ofthe contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsiblefor anyuse which may be made of the information contained therein.“


A B O U T

Training course ‘Art for Community Development’ was realized from 25.04. - 02.05. 2015 by group of people active in youth work who came back to Prerov (the project venue) afterseveral years of living and living abroad with aim to provide especially young people fromPrerov an opportunity to meet, discover and learn. Training course ‘Art for Community Development’ aimed to increase the competenciesof 28 participants to use different arts based activities such as drawing, painting,storytelling, theatre improvisation and photography for their self-development atone side and for development of their communities on the other side. By this projectwe are addressing the need of the participants (youth workers, leaders and projectmanagers – generally these who are actively working with young people) for selfandprofessional development and the interest to work on improvement of the qualityof the learning youth services using art as the main tool of learning.

AIMS of training course:• To deepen participants knowledge of the concept of arts-based training, itsmethods, techniques and tools;• To increase participants understanding of arts-based training through sharingpractical examples of applying this concept at various settings - youth work, business,social enterprise etc.• To develop participants competencies to apply arts-based training in their practiceand work with young people including young people with fewer opportunities;• To develop participants creativity, communication, problem solving, presentation,teamwork, leadership competencies through arts-based activities;• To increase the quality of activities targeting young people and reflecting on newways of delivering activities aiming at the personal and professional development ofyoung people;• To provide the participants an opportunity to share good working practices fromtheir organizations, reflect on common challenges and create new networks andcontacts;• To strengthen participants‘ understanding of Erasmus+ Programme and its KeyActions and provide the participants an opportunity to develop ideas for futurecooperation.

A P P L I C A N / H O S T :

N E F O R M Á L N Í S K U P I N AR E : C O N N E C T

P A R T N E R S :

A S O C I A C I O N C U L T U R A L S E N D E( S P A I N )

P I E P I L D I T O S A P N U I S T A B A( L A T V I A )

A . C . T . O . R .

( R O M A N I A )

R O T A J O V E M( P O R T U G A L )

C E M E A F R A N C H E C O M T É( F R A N C E )

S T O W A R Z Y S Z E N I E M I A( P O L A N D )

I M P A K T S K O P J E( M A C E D O N I A )

E R A S M U S + P R O G R A M M EK E Y A C T I O N 1I M P L E M E N T E D W I T H S U P P P O R TO F D U M Z A H R A N I C N I C H S L U Z E B( H T T P : / / W W W . D Z S . C Z / ) .

P R E R O VC Z E C H R E P U B L I C


A C T I V I T I E S

Training course ‘Art for Community Development’ was based on non-formal education and included various non-formal based activities. The first part of the training course included especially name games, ice-breakers andteambuilders that were implemented with aim to break the barriers among the participants and create safe andopen environment. Among others following activities were implemented in this part of the program:

Name Games: Story of the Name: the participants are asked to write down their name and say a story connectedwith their names. Name and Move: the participants are asked to say their name and make a move. The otherperson need to repeat previous moves and add own one.30 seconds of fame: each participant has for 30 second an space to stand up in front of the others and use thetime that is measure to make others remember their names as well as to share anything what he/she abouthimself/herself.Team building activity – Mission (IM)possible?: the participants are working as one team, they receive list of tasksthat they are asked to full field them in certain amount the time. Among other the participants are e.g. asked tomake a poem and write down in all languages that they are speaking, write down all reasons why they decided totake part in the training course etc.

Besides getting to know each other activities the focus of the first day was also put on reviewing the program andproject flow and reflecting on the participants expectations towards the project e.g. through following activitybased on visual inputs. Around the room are spread various pictures/photo the participants are asked to minglearound and choose these photos and pictures that they relate to their fears and expectations. At the momentwhen everyone has chosen his/her pictures. The participants are sharing their fears and expectation in the circle.After all participants share the expectations and fears are reviewed by the experts and sum up.

After reviewing the needs and expectations the participants also discuss the key elements of non-formaleducation and got familiar with Youth Pass and key learning competencies.

What isYouthpass?

What are key learningcompetencies?


P H O T O S


A C T I V I T I E S

Do community-based arts projectsresult in social gains?

The key topic of the training course was arts-based approach in relation to community development. If you areasking an question: “Do community-based arts projects result in social gains?“ We recommend to check outfollowing links: http://www.barnardos.org.uk/commarts.pdf andhttp://www.lacountyarts.org/UserFiles/File/CivicArt/Civic%20Engagment%20Arts%20Based%20Community%20Develop%20BCleveland%20Paper1%20Key.pdf.

During the sessions focused on arts-based approach the participants were reflecting on this question as well whilethey were gaining deeper insight in to arts-based approach and were getting familiar with the roots and experiencesdifferent uses of arts-based approach in practice especially in relation with youth work and personal development.Through the discussion the participants e.g. reflected on questions such as “What are “arts-based teaching andlearning” practices? How are arts-based teaching and learning practices implemented? What are the effects ofarts-based teaching and learning practices?”

Moreover they were also improving their abilities to apply arts-based approach at their daily work with young peoplewith aim to address their needs and interests and support their personal and professional development. One of theactivities implemented during this part of the session was Empathy Map. The activity was individual one. At the startof the activity the participants were asked to create empathy map of young people. It means to write down or drawthe answers on following questions: “What the young people feel, what the young person need?” After creating thisempathy map the participants were divided in several intercultural teams and created the Map of Needs andInterests of Young People. The next step was again take place in the setting of small groups. Each group wasrepresenting NGO working with specific group of young people and their task was to brainstorm ideas for arts-based activities that would respond on the needs of young people, reflected local conditions and specifics andcontributed to their development.


P H O T O S


A C T I V I T I E S

Together with exploring arts-based approach the participants reflected on various aspects of their communities.One of the activity gave them also an opportunity to think about their dream communities. During this activity theparticipants were asked to write down a speech in which they would share with others their ‘dream’, the changethat they would like to see in long-term perspective happening in their communities. They were asked to beconcrete as much possible in their speeches and also to share concrete steps leading to their vision e.g. I wouldlike that more young people finish high school at my city. After sharing their speeches with others the participantswere asked to make a list of the obstacles preventing them to reach their dreams. After several mix-interculturalgroups were created. Each group received one of these obstacles and the task was to brainstorm and come upwith ideas for overcoming these challenges by using various techniques with which the participants becamefamiliar with reverse brainstorming, LOTUS or 5 Why? exercise that is based on asking questions going deeperand deeper into the issues and after on looking on new connections among elements that look at the first momentimpossible to connect. Final step of the activity was sharing and discussing the proposed suggestions with aim toempower the participants to make everything possible to make their dream come true.

What would your dreamcommunity look like?

In your dream community,who would you be?


P H O T O S


A C T I V I T I E S

TImportant part of the training course were activities focus on strengthening the participants understanding ofErasmus + Programme. During one of the session the participants were divided in several multicultural groups.Each group received question and was asked to share their experiences and prepare presentation for others. Thegroups were e.g. asked “What is important to consider in case of EVS from the side of hosting organization,sending organization and the volunteer? What is the difference between youth exchange and training course?How to effectively disseminate the project results? How to make project visible and motivate especially youngpeople to become part of it?” After sharing their presentations the participants discussed their experiences in areaof Erasmus +/Youth in Action Programme. The participants talked about the structure of the programme and therole of EACEA, National Agencies or SALTOs, the division of the programme into Key Action and their specifics.One of the most appealing question that appeared during the discussion was question: “How to include youngpeople with fewer opportunities into the programme? or How to increase the quality of the activities that are beingimplemented under Erasmus +?”.

Would like to more about Erasmus+? Check out following links:

Erasmus + Programme HomePagehttp://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/index_en.htm

Contact List of National Agencieshttp://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/tools/national-agencies/index_en.htm

Dům zahraničních služeb (Czech National Agency)www.dzs.cz

SALTO youth website (training calender, toolbox, OTLAS – tool for finding new partners and much more)www.salto-youth.net/

What you would like to experience -youth exchange, EVS or training course?

What isErasmus +Programme?


P H O T O S


A C T I V I T I E S

In second half of the training course the participants had an opportunity to increase their creative skills and try outvarious activities in following areas: creative writing, visualization and performing art. Besides improving owncompetencies the participants were also reflecting how they can include these activities at their work with youngpeople and local communities.

In case of performing art day the participants took part in workshops lead by performing artist Mischa Badasyan(www.mischabadasyan.com) currently living and working in Berlin. During the performing art day the participantscreated several activities based on interaction with local community and they had an opportunity to implementthese activities in the project venue, Prerov, and reflect on the way how local community reacted on theirperformances and how these activities can be transfer in their communities to support interaction with thecommunity, exchanging ideas and learn from each other.

Besides improving their competencies in the area of performing art the participants took part in several exercisesaiming to strength the participants understanding what’s creativity, how to deal with creative blocks or how to usevarious objects of daily use to support creative process.One of the activities was e.g. activity ‘Unordinary use of Ordinary Object’. The participants were divided intoseveral working groups. Each groups received an object of daily use e.g. a pot and was asked to brainstorm howmany new uses of this object how possible. After the groups were sharing their results and reflecting on followingquestions: When you feel creative? When you do not feel creative? What you can do to support young people tofeel creative and take part in creative activities? How we can break the blocks that prevents us to be creative?

Are youcreative?

What iscreativityto you?

Were you ever discouraged?If so, how did it it affect yourcreativity?


P H O T O S


A C T I V I T I E S

How to Work with ‘Stories’ and ‘Storytelling’ at Youth Work that was the key question of the sessions focused on exploring storytelling and the ways howstorytelling can be used at work with young people including young people with fewer opportunities. Firstly, the participants had an opportunity to exploreseveral creative writing prompts (short creative writing exercises): “If you only had 24 hours to live, how would you spend your day?, If you had to be any ofthese things, which would you like to be? a) a member of the opposite sex, b) a clock, c) a pair of shoes, d) a duck.“ After sharing the short storiesparticipants took part in activities focused on awaking senses and intercultural learning activities implemented with aim to provide the participants anopportunity to reflect on the ways how creative writing can be used in the process of intercultural learning.

The Danger of the Single Story Activity.Specific Learning Objective of the activity are to increase participant’s understanding how stereotypes and prejudices are being created, what are theorigins of discrimination and through discussion and sharing participants’ life stories to increase participants’ intercultural understanding. The activity can beopened by explanation of the words stereotype, prejudices and discrimination and the process how they are being created. After discussing these terms theparticipants watch the TED speech of novelist Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story available online, link:http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en.After listening the talk the facilitator make sure that the participants understand the concept of the single story and the participants are asked to write downtheir own single stories and share them with others. After reading their texts following questions can be discussed: “Do you think that we can bestereotyped, prejudices free? How we can fight discrimination?”

Awaking HEARING Activity Participant are asked to close their eyes, find comfortable position and listen instrumental song. After the song finish the participants are asked to writedown a text reflecting their feelings/associations that the song bring to them. Time for writing can be limited to 20 - 30 minutes. After participants areencouraged to share their texts. Last step of the activity is to reveal the name of the song.

Song suggestions:Max Richter: Sarajevo

How to work with stories and storytelling at youth work ?


P H O T O S


C L O S I N G U P

Last part of the training course was focused on developing new ideas for future projects that the participantscould implemented at local or international level. During the work on new project ideas the participants weresupported by the project team that also provided feedback on presented idea and share practical tips for itsimplementation. Final step of the training course ‘Art for community development’ was final evaluation sessionduring which the participants had an opportunity to express their feedback by filling in final evaluation form aswell as the participants gave feedback to each other by writing personal messages to each other.

And what happened after everyone left home? Based on the feedback we know that several ideas developedduring the training course became real and we were more than happy to hear that. Some of the ideas were alsoapplied under Key Action 1 on October deadline 2015 so let’s see if the projects will be approved and provideother youth workers and leaders an opportunity to develop their competencies in area of art.

PS: If you are wondering about Erasmus + Programme. We can just say: “Just do It!” And explore, learn andtransfer new things to your community!

booklet: training course "art for community development"

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