I_Improve (Innovative, Informal Methodologies for Practical, River-Oriented and Versatile Education) is a cooperative European project co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
The partnership consists of 6 members from the River//Cities platform: Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Poland and Lithuania. The common framework is promoting audience engagement through culture, especially in waterfront areas. Its priorities are social inclusion, open and innovative practices in the digital area, and adult education.
The Arts broaden perspectives and encourage mutual understanding. In other words, the Arts have the ability to engage with citizens, both established and newly arrived, through cultural and creative interventions. Therefore, there is a clear demand for new and innovative practices and formats, hence requiring different competences from the staff of cultural organisations.
Cultural organisations need to join forces when facing current social challenges. Being able to share and learn from peers in the same working field throughout Europe can strengthen the professionalism of its staff members. On a European and global level strong teamwork, connecting competences, and sharing responsibilities and workload are factors that contribute to citizen education and intercultural dialogue.
Project's timeline: 01 09.2018 - 31.08.2021 - 36 moths.
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"The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”
During one of I_Improve project's activities (C5), River//Cities Platform used the opportunity to co-create new organisational narrative.
In this webinar Dr t s Beall, presented her methodology of helping communities to regain a sense of belonging while challenging dominant narratives of place.
A short documentary will be show in the occasion, cureted by Sara Pitteri and Franco Rado (link).
Intercult invited four socially engaged and changemaking women artists and practitioners to present the frame of their community building methodology. Dina Abu Hamdan is an interdisciplinary artist, artistic director, producer. She believes that the important thing is to give voice to the people, give them joy and empowerment. This will create a new thinking of their place.
Intercult invited four socially engaged and changemaking women artists and practitioners to present the frame of their community building methodology. Gülbeden Kulbay is a multi-artist working with Performance and Community-Art. She introduced us her approach and her methodology using her personal story and experiences.
Belgium hosts Poland March 16th-20th 2019
Ostend Library visited Intercult in Stockholm from March 25th until March 29th. We like to share some inspirational thoughts about our visit.
C4 Lithuania is hosting Venice's partners A visit of our dear partners, Venti di Cultura, to Lithuania was a great chance to explore the games as a method in cultural development. Also, because Venti di Cultura holds expertise in implementing the principles of the Faro convention, we saw this visit as a chance to discuss the role of the communities in the protection and development of the cultural heritage and to strengthen the network of organisations, active in this field.
Changing the relationships among the stakeholders of the old Arsenale in Venice through a board game: a challenge for find a new comprehension and a common aim.
C1 Lithuanians in Austria (a collective diary) Three members from the Vilnius-based organization "Laimikis.lt" (Jekaterina, Julius, and Aistė) arrived in Vienna on 12th February 2019. During the visit, they wrote a collective diary. This is the collection of notes gathered during our 4-day visit.
A rich exchange of experiences and discoveries in Vilnius brought Venti di Cultura to develop the idea to move the board game in the Arsenale into an urban game.
Intercult from Stockholm, Sweden visited Venti di Cultura in Venice, Italy. Here is a summary of what what we did and learned!
REFLECTION OF RIVER//CITIES PLATFORM FOUNDATION UPON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF C5 ACTIVITY: VIENNA TO GDANSK
Life long learning - Marion Guerrero about the c1 meeting in Vienna
River//Cities Poland and Arteria Visit to Ostend during March 15-21 2019 Hosting organisation – City of Ostend, supporting organisation – Kris Lambert Library.
In August 2019 we had our C5 Meeting in the lovely city of Gdansk with a very nice and hospitable host.
We organised a meeting in Stockholm to summarise our learning, teaching and training activities within the framework of I_Improve.
The design of this report is a link in the innovation chain by shaping the ideas and concepts of the preceding activities into an attractive and practical set of recommendations for decision makers. The first section of the report will concentrate on radical innovation in the creation of cultural interventions, the second will focus on incremental innovation in cultural organisations. Laimikis/ Lithuania is the product owner nad coordinator of IO3, Venti di Cultura/Italy and SPÖ Wienerbildung/ Austria share their expertise on working with policymakers.
IO 1 is a digital platform bundling descriptive data of different formats and projects of engaging audiences on diverse urban waterfronts based in Europe. These local level cultural actions initiated by the ChangeMakers’ partner organisations apply participatory practices to an urban waterfront environment. River//Cities Poland is the product owner of IO1.
IO2 has two complementary aspects: it serves as a space to document the learning process of staff members participating in the learning activity. Through information across several accessible Web 2.0 platforms which support a variety of media formats, it creates a transmedia educational resource. IO2 is led by Ostend Municipality, Belgium with the support of Lithuania and the informal educator in its creation and coordination. All partner staff members participating in the learning activity will add content.