SAFEPLACE
The Cultural Associations, organising the so called “boutique” festivals, have raised the specific need of improvement of young workers and volunteers’ skills in the field of social inclusion in order to create Safe Places from any discrimination and exclusion.
The organization of a “Boutique” festival is generally promoted by local associations, which deploy a large number of enthusiastic volunteers willing to contribute with their own capabilities, natural talents or just with their own work force to the realization of an event bringing a new whirl of life in peripheral small towns, natural spots or unusual locations.
Volunteers, regularly involved in these organisations, are mainly committed to deal with several aspects and problems raising during the planning, communication, organisation and realisation phases. During their activity, volunteers, mainly young people (between 20 and 30-year-old students, unemployed or NEETs living in difficult socio-economic contexts) , acquire relevant competences and skills that can be deployed in different cultural sectors but that they are not aware of or they are unable to communicate and valorise them, therefore
it is necessary to foster the a methodology for recognition and validation of their skills acquired through informal and non formal ways.. Through a cross-sectoral partnership, the project is willing to upskill the young workers and volunteers in the field of Inclusion and to increase their employability, by promoting transnational mobility and facilitating the path towards the recognition of competencies and skills, so as to improve their entry into the European labour market.
The Covid Outbreak has strongly affected the music festival sector and in general cultural sector, and this situation will persist still for the coming years. The cultural sector is facing a severe crisis and therefore there is an urgent need to create and deliver artistic products in a different way. This situation is more critical for those events and cultural products strictly linked to peripheral areas since travel restriction and a general lack of confidence to travel is still strong.
In response to this critical scenario, the project aims at the enhancement and the development of skills and competence related to the organisation and delivery of musical and cultural events in such a critical time. Communication and Inclusiveness are key elements for the success of peripheral festivals. Inclusion will be tackled from different point of views:
• Gender inclusion: against gender discrimination and protection of gender minorities in the musical sector. Technical expertise is still conceived as typically male job such as light designer, or stage managers. There’s a need to increase equal opportunities in music industry;
• Ethnic Inclusion: discrimination on ethnic diversity is a phenomenon creeping in the society at multiple levels and it emerges in different seriousness levels: from language to violence. A SAFE PLACE from this kind of discrimination needs to develop communication skills that prevent any discomfort for all the people joining music events and festivals. Starting from a fair and inclusive communication it is possible to prevent any distress for artists, workers and the general public.
• Cultural inclusion: attending cultural events is an opportunity generally deemed for granted but it is not. Less advantaged condition and different abilities may affect a democratic access to culture of any kind. The Covid outbreak forced a complete stop in organising events in arts and music excluding even more disadvantaged people from fruition. In this landscape it is necessary to explore new tools and methodologies for ensuring inclusiveness in cultural events from different points of views: digital, technological and social, by collecting best practices for replication.
The specific objectives of the project are:
1. Empowerment
Promote empowerment and sense of initiative among young people in order to ease their integration into the labour market and increase their professionalism.
2. Transnationalism
Develop a transnational learning path focused on non-formal and informal learning aimed at increasing young people’s knowledge about several aspect of cultural sector by empowering creative attitude and transversal skills
3. Recognition
Develop an effective methodology for the recognition and validation of their competences and skills.
4. Cooperation
Share good practices at European level and strengthen transnational cooperation among partner organisations.
In order to achieve these objectives, the strategic partnership aims at leading to the following expected tangible results:
• Learning material and training resources for volunteers
• Joint Staff Training for Teachers, Educators and tutors.
• Blended mobility of learners to facilitate international experience
• Guidelines for the recognition and validation of learning outcomes
• Multiplier events to disseminate the project results and outcomes
Partners alongside Password in this project are:
Associazione Culturale Glenn Gould – Italy
NOUS – Italy
Music Estonia – Estonia
Vita Tiim – Estonia
Bjcem – Italy
Haldern Pop – Germany
