Cosmina Goagea – representing Zeppelin Association – was one of three speakers (along with Merlijn Twaalfhoven – Netherlands and Michelle Browne – Ireland) who presented examples of participative practices at the European Academy of Participation International Conference, held on 27 and October 28, 2016 in Dublin.
The debate was moderated by Katherine Atkinson, from Create Irland (the national development agency for collaborative arts in social and community contexts).
European Academy of Participation – EAP is a partnership between 10 universities and centers of art and culture in Europe. National University of Arts Bucharest – UNArte is a strategic partner in this project.
UNArte was represented at the EAP conference by: Aurora Kiraly, Cristina Csapo Reka Dup, Irina Botea and Loredana Bardas. Irina Cios (director of Administration of National Cultural Fund – Romania) was one of the facilitators of Open Space creativity session of the conference. The project coordinator from UNArte Bucharest is Roxana Trestioreanu.
*Photos by Reka Csapo Dup și Aurora Kiraly
European Academy of Participation
Creative producers and the communities of tomorrow
A Strategic Partnership supported by the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Commission. September 2015 – August 2018
The European Academy of Participation (EAP) brings together 10 partners from all over Europe, including higher education institutions and arts and culture organisations. The project aims to make a contribution to a more inclusive Europe, in which people live together in mutual respect of their differences. The EAP partners consider participatory practice in art and culture as a central tool to involve communities in a positive process of constructing a shared cultural space. Participation is hot! A key priority for funders, fostering social cohesion and exposing ethical questions around responsibility and authorship, participatory practice can provide compelling means to communicate through art and culture. It also embraces the dissolving of boundaries between academic and artistic disciplines and those between the policymaker, the artist, the curator and the audience. This increasing flexibility brings about a new practice profile: the creative producer.
EAP wants to develop:
• A shared understanding of a graduate profile for practitioners working in participatory settings, based on the dialogue between higher education, lifelong learning and the creative field.
• A benchmark document that adopts the Tuning Educational Structures in Europe methodology that will be validated and published for the use of educators and practitioners. This includes a qualifications framework and acknowledges the already existing variety of participatory approaches in the humanities and the arts.
• An intensive 2 month, low-residency module/unit jointly offered by universities and cultural organisations. This post graduate lifelong learning education module/unit targets postgraduate students – from the arts, humanities and social sciences – as well as practitioners including artists, trainers, teachers, curators and others from third sector cultural organizations.
The ambition of EAP is to tap into the existing potential of higher education and the unique and hard won endeavours of creative projects and organizations scattered across Europe that are engaging the public as active agents in their work.
Through interaction both sectors impact on the diversifying societies of Europe, valuing participatory practice in the arts. EAP will organise 3 public conferences:
1) 2016, Dublin, Ireland: Towards a European Benchmark.
2) 2017, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Bringing education and practice together.
3) 2018, Lyon, France: New Communities, New Jobs, New Policies.
Partners: Goethe-Institut, Munich, Germany; Castrum Peregrini, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; ACERT, Tondela, Portugal; Avrupa Kultur Dernegi, Istanbul, Turkey; National University of the Arts Bucharest, Romania; Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, UK; University of Marseille, France; Universidad de la Iglesia de Deusto, Bilbao, Spain; ELIA The European League of Institutes of the Arts, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Create, Dublin, Ireland.
More info at www.academyofparticipation.org
