
Kick-Off Meeting of the Erasmus+ project POIESIS: Expressive Arts for Youths 2024-2026
Between 18th and 19th of November 2024, the Alba Eglesia Foundation participated at the Kick-Off Meeting of the Erasmus+ project POIESIS: Expressive Arts for Youths. The kick-off meeting was our first international meeting with the project coordinator from Austria, IRARU – IG zur Förderung von Kultur, Integration und soziokulturellen Initiativen and the project partner, Creative Art Farm in Italy APS.
The meeting took place in Chianciano Terme, located in the region of Val D’Orcia, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, known for its rural and agricultural landscapes and their Renaissance layout.
Day 1
The first day of the meeting was designated for the presentation of each partnering organisation and discussions on the activities that need to be implemented in the next 2 years.
Here are details about the 3 organisations that will implement the project.
Creative Art Farm
Creative Art Farm in Italy APS (CAFI) is an organisation that focuses on arts, culture and technology and that aims to create, based on them, growth and inclusive communities for people from all backgrounds. The organisation was initially established under the name of “Arts in Rome” in 2015 and successfully integrated into the artistic community of the capital city.
After the Covid-19 pandemic and the systemic shifts in the society, the organisation moved to rural Italy, in Tuscany, in order to regain the harmony between nature and humanity and to become an important hub of arts in rural areas.
Today, Creative Art Farm wishes to empower and educate people with fewer opportunities with the support of arts, culture and technology, to create bridges between the cultural and creative industries across Europe, to promote European values, the need for sustainability and non-formal education. The NGO has 2 branches, one in Italy and one in Estonia.
IRARU
IRARU is an organisation that aims to empower people with fewer resources and opportunities through arts and culture, to promote social integration and cultural diversity, and to create inclusive communities at both local and European levels. The organisation was founded by a group of migrant artists who believe that all people are artists and that the desire to create is found in all of the people.
The name of the organisation, IRARU means “people that comes and goes”, a reference to the mobility of people in the current times, the movement of ideas and the transient side of life.
IRARU creates, co-produces and organises workshops, training and events, within the fields of music, theatre, art, design, literature, etc. and implements projects especially for youth coming from poor backgrounds, migrant communities and vulnerable groups. At an European level, IRARU implements projects with multiple other organisations, mainly in the field of arts, culture and youth. The NGO has 2 branches, one in Austria and one in Spain.
Alba Eglesia
Alba Eglesia Foundation was established in 1996 in the village of Viscri, with the aim of promoting sustainable development in the villages of Transylvania, Romania. The foundation works in the UNESCO village of Viscri and surrounding communities through educational projects, community development, and the preservation and promotion of local cultural and natural heritage.
The organisation is involved in 4 priority areas: education and youth, cultural and natural heritage, sustainability and community development. The target groups of the organisation are: children (who come from vulnerable and marginalised families, including those of Roma ethnicity), young people (youths with fewer opportunities, young people interested in education, young volunteers, etc.), people from vulnerable groups, especially living in the rural areas of the Bunești commune, people in the fields of arts and culture (local community of artists in Viscri, artists in general, and craftsmen).
The NGO participated in its first Erasmus+ project in June 2024, entitled “Youth Exchange RUBY: Rural-UrBan Youth Connection” and in November started its second Erasmus + project, “POIESIS: Expressive Arts for Youths”.
After the presentation of each partnering organisation, the participants discussed the project activities and the requirements to complete the project in time and on budget.
POIESIS is divided into 4 work packages, each work package having one or more activities as follows:
WP1 Project management
- Kick-off meeting in Italy
WP2 Methodology
- Research for the creation of the methodology
- Expressive Arts framework
- Facilitator’s guide
- Transnational meeting in Romania to discuss the overall methodology to be applied in the pilot workshops
WP3 Pilot workshops
- Open call for participants
- Online training sessions
- Implementation of the pilot workshops at the local level
- Replication toolkit
WP4 Final event and dissemination
- Final event in Vienna
- Multiplier event in Italy with local partners/ guest organisations from Italy
- Multiplier event in in Romania with local partners/ guest organisations from Romania
- Practical activity in Vienna.
The target group of this project consists of young people with fewer opportunities from Austria, Italy and Romania and that lack access to social, educational and cultural activities and projects.
The partnering organisations will publish an open call for the participants at the pilot workshops and the selected candidates will take part in the workshops.
After the discussions related to the project activities, the participants did a tour of the Chianciano Terme locality, took photos of the splendid historic centre and enjoyed the breathtaking scenery.
Day 2
The second day of the meeting was designated for 2 workshops conducted by 2 artists that collaborate with the partnering organisations. The workshops were held at the CAFI Lab, located in Montepulciano. The 2 artists conducted an expressive arts workshop and a photography workshop with the purpose of providing some insights on how they work, methods of interaction with the potential beneficiaries and their views on arts in general.
In addition to these 2 workshops, the host of the meeting, Creative Art Farm, proposed a special workshop on learning the basics of drawing with charcoal and gesso, in which the participants had to draw their previous works, thus combining the classical drawing with charcoal and printed photographs. At the end of the workshops, all of the participants presented their creations, provided feedback and composed a short poetry based on the feedback received.
Conclusion
The kick-off meeting was the perfect opportunity to learn more about the consortium of the project, the methods and art forms used by each partnering organisation and to discover the wonders of this rural part of Italy. Please check our website for more updates on the project in the following months and follow our social media pages, https://www.facebook.com/albaeglesia and https://www.instagram.com/albaeglesia/ to know more about the open call for the Romanian participants!
DISCLAIMER
“Poiesis: Expressive Arts for Youths” will take place from 2024 to 2026 and is funded through the Erasmus+ programme.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.