Books of Babel (Training Course)

About the project
The proposed project will bring together a group of twenty people which work daily focus on education through non-formal methods; multilingualism; groups at risk of social exclusion and visual arts as tool to bring people together. They will discuss their personal and professional experiences of the influence of visual arts on education. All activities will be participative and creative, based on non-formal and informal learning. All partners will take part in the program design and each workshop will be led by the participants for the participants, according to each person's taste and expertise. Throughout the activities, the group will invent and implement tools and exercises using visual arts to address issues of education, social inclusion, cultural heritage and multilingualism. The activity will lead to the creation of multilingual art books: educational and activist objects made of stories and images.

Training in Portugal, 5-19 July 2017
To reach a bigger socio-cultural impact we plan a first training in a rural area of Portugal. During this activity, the participants will have the unique opportunity to experience and explore methods of using alphabets in visual arts and creative writing as a tool that they can later on use with youth.

Training in Turkey, 20-30 November 2017
A second training in Turkey will give them a chance to try out these tools with youth at risk, by working with young Turkish and Kurdish locals as well as Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Their experience with this target group will help them understand better the perception of life experience of these youngsters through their representation of cultural inheritance and multilingualism. Create and explore their imaginary through art books will probably open the way to diverse learning opportunities, for the youth as well as the participants.

Partner's tasks
As a partner, we will need you to firstly apply by sending us an email with the PIF; secondly, once selected, by signing and stamping the mandate; then, if the project is approve, by joining us to develop and design the program and a dissemination plan; finally, by selecting participants to be part of the aforementioned project.

Project background and outcome
Books of Babel wants to provoke a productive dialogue between youth workers, artists, writers, pedagogues from Europe on educational methods while using a visual art and creative writing to explore the cultural diversity beneath the six different alphabets present in the European society. Our main objective is to develop educational tools for young people to think about educational and learning methods issues through visual arts. The debate on education, social inclusion, multilingualism and cultural diversity in its complex historical and cultural formation and their impact on our societies now occupy a prominent place in political discourse, media coverage and artistic expression in Europe and the world. We chose to address this questions by using images as visual representations correspond to an international mean of communication increasingly used to inform and educate and can serve both as tools for reflection and as mean of action.

Creating cross-sectoral educational tools will enable participants to improve their personal and professional skills. Working with other professionals from Europe will give them the opportunity to build their international networks and develop their sense of European citizenship and identity. The production of an educational booklet presenting the tools developed during the training, the creation of multilingual art books is the possible result that will participate in raising awareness amongst young people, about their civic role and citizen power educational issues.

All project results will then be used by partners to multiply the activities impact through communication and the organization of dissemination events at the local, regional, national, European and international level. In the longer term, the partnership aims at extending the project influence to a wider audience and new target groups.

If you would like to apply, send an email to miguel@nomadways.eu adding the name of the project as a subject.