Art for Inclusion

Today we dedicated the morning to project creating. In order to do so we shared our background on Erasmus+ programme, going deep into the three different key actions and the different projects that can be applied for funding.   Later on we created two different mock projects, one key action 1 that combined a job shadowing experience and a training course and a transnational youth initiative (key action 2) that were later on presented. On the afternoon we had a theatre workshops with different activities as well and improvisations, which we could bring back to our country. To finish the day we went to Calahorra to see Arsido's "Gesticulate", an inclusive theatre show with actors with and without Down Syndrome, which was the good practice presented by the Spanish good practice shared on Day 2 of this project.

Our Culture Visit to Logroño This morning we got on a bus together to go to the capital of La Rioja and home of the Spanish teams organisations. On arrival, we made our way directly to IRJ to be introduced to the Riojana Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Social Services. After being so warmly welcomed to Logroño, by both the politicians and the weather, we had free time to explore the beautiful city of Logroño. The majority of the participants went to Calle Laurel, which is a famous tapa street for this region. When we returned to IRJ later that day, there was a short presentation of Asprodema, a local spanish organisation that specifically spoke about their integretional literuature group. Afterwards, they allowed us to evaluate/use board games that they use with their disabled groups. After a long day of learning and culture, we then returned back to Alfaro by 10 o clock.   

Today our seminar began with the Irish team (The County Limerick Youth Theatre). They shared with the group their experience from a theatre integretion aspect. The defining things that were discussed today was the importance of adaptability. The irish team brought a booklet of their workshops and modules to show their work and they highlighted the importance of adapting to the group. Additionally, they stressed the importance of a feeling of ownership from the members of their group. They use a code of conduct to initiate this. Their good practice involved the idea that the members create all the projects and ideas and they improve their skills in having initiative by working their way up into a role in the group with more responsibility. To ensure the functionality of this method they also use an evaluation system at the end of their projects. Afterwards, the bulgarian group Focus presented their organisation by starting open discussions about volunteering and societal views of disabi

We started the day by a presentation from the organisation ARSIDO. During this presentation, we began to share our good practices. Not only that, we started to share our countries personal relationship with disabled people. For example, one topic that was discussed was about the laws surrounding the employment of people with disabilities. We discovered that all the countries involved in this training course all have similar laws including benefits and funding. Additionally, we found differences in the laws surrounding education. In some countries the law is that all children go to the same school, except for in severe cases, meaning that the disabled people are integrated into mainstream schools. However, in other countries, there is both mainstream schools and special schools to cater for the specific needs of disabled people. However we found that in these countries the goal of the organisations here is to further integrate them into the schools but with a support system. Diferenca

Off to a good start, we started the project with a presentation of what to expect, and afterwards we evaluated our personal fears and expectations for the week. Afterwards, we got to know each other with some fun name games. On a more professional aspect, we also partnered up to discuss our experiences with inclusion through art. Later on, in the day, ON&OFF presented past projects of theirs that involved inclusion and, in order to get everyone involved with their ideas, we took part in some of the activities that they used in their past projects. Through this, the importance of each activity and the objectives to be achieved in doing these activities. One of these activities involved problem solving while another focused-on spontaneity and unity.

“Art for Inclusion” is a project of European dimension funded under the Key Action 1 of the European Commission’s programme Erasmus+. Its main objective is to join together different organisations focused on the use of non-formal and theatrical methodologies in order to provide a medium for the inclusion for everyone to develop their own artistic projects. The main activity implemented during the project will be a transnational seminar that will take place between the 2nd and 9th of April 2018 in Alfaro (Spain), where 23 professionals from seven different countries will take part.  Coordinated by Asociación Juvenil Teatral ON&OFF (Spain) with the cooperation of the ARSIDO (Spain), County Limerick Youth Theatre (Ireland), Focus (Bulgaria),Provasi (Cyprus),Uniamoci (Italy), Diferenca (Portugal) and Voarte (Portugal). This seminar will allow that representatives from these organisations and managers of their programmes can participate in a programme of work designed not only to