Location: Verbania - Piemonte, North Italy
Dates: 15-23 August 2021
Participants: 6 young persons with less opportunities profile with a background in SPORTS and ARTS. There is the chance to participate youth with special communication needs as deafness, asperger syndrome o familiar.
Participants must be greek residents and between 18-25 years old.
Application for Participation: https://forms.gle/grW9SRAKA7WyrVMZ7
The exchange will enable an international team of young people form 4 countries interested in street arts and street sports to make the urban space their own canvas for bringing social issues to the foreground, with special regard to the issue of inclusion of disability. With this project we want to enligh the topic of inclusion of disability starting from the fact that disability is more spread than we think, if we consider that european statistic show that by the end of the 2020, one fifth of the EU population is expected to experience some form of disability. The EU and its Member States are committed to improving the socio-economic situation of people with disabilities, based on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. As the population of young people with disabilities grows, so should the diversity and inclusiveness of recreation activities, schools and other aspects of daily life. Even if inclusion is a priority in the European agenda there is still a lack of inclusive culture. We want to activate and empower young people, including young people with disability, to contribute to promote a different approach to disability, where the disabled people is perceived for his own potential and not only according to the barriers he face. Starting from the personal experiences of disabled and non disable participants and using graffiti & performative sports, the participants will develop new methods to connect public art, social communication on disability, active citizenship, and the revitalization of public spaces. The project will allow us to educate young people and the community about different disabilities, the disability rights movement, and strategies for inclusion as all great ways each community member can become a part of the disability rights movement and advocate for peer condition and friends. We want to provide the young peole with the chance to experience the contact with disability and social issue even find themselves interested in disability-related careers like special education, advocacy, physical or occupational therapy, or adapted recreation.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
During the project the variety of the methods will be used in order to stimula
Sessions on understanding cultural peculiarities, seeking for similarities, simulations followed by the practical sessions of “sport and art together” (music, image, theatre) will create a framework for the young people to get into the direct contact with youngsters of the same interests but from different countries, to create friendships which in the long term contributes to their awareness, creation of the dialogue based on getting to know different cultures, understanding and tolerance. In addition direct contact among youngsters from different cultures, direct encounters with local community (see the part of the involvement of the local community of part of impacts) allows to get to know better the different culture, break the stereotypes about the others and form the positive attitudes.
Participants will have the chance to experience, through the practice of adapted sports for the disabled people together with urban sports, the value of sharing, so
lidarity and personal commitment in society. The cooperation with the local Association Gsh Sempione dealing with paralimpic athlets will allow us to offer to the participants some meetings with adults with disabilities who will be role models for youth with disabilities, encourage and empower them, provide counseling, and share experiences. By becoming in contact with case histories disabled and non disabled young people will feel confident in their abilities and supported in taking risks. Some debates will also support the exchange of opinions so to learn from the new ideas of their peer condition or age. Some photo workshops, games, performative sessions will allow to use Sport and art as a tool for social inclusion and a way to combat discrimination. As a result of
the project young participants will realize some graffiti on walls of the town stadium to spread message of life as a challenge to overcome personal limits (phisichal barriers and any sort of personal difficulties). The grafitti and murales as well as some urban art e sport performance created by the participants will be presented in the frame of a public "Inclusive Festival" organized in the hosting town sport stadium with the aim of raising awareness
of public authorities and local community about the importance of inclusion of diversity and personal commitment in life challenges, not only for people with disabilities, but for all citizens. The production of a calendar with pictures taken by participants will contribute to valorising all the work that was done in the project. It will also allow everyone to reflect on the topic of inclusion of diversity/disability in the society.
The involvement of the local community is of big importance for this exchange therefore the final presentation will as a tool for public interaction, and to spread some messages about social issues related to inclusion of disability by presenting the results of the exchange thus allowing wider impact of the exchange is previewed.
The target group among the partners of the exchange is defined as following: 1. Young people aged between 18 to 25 years old; 2. Minimum knowledge of English is preferred;
3. Interested in street arts and sports; 4. Interested in the topic of the exchange related to disability. Therefore by targeting this group of young people and aiming to create a space for the young people from 4 different countries to meet and exchange their ways of cultural expression.
PARTNERS
Vedogiovane Società Cooperativa Sociale E10202041 - Italy
Teempus - Estonia
Esai en Roi- Greece
Engelsiz ve Mutlu Yasam Dernegi-Turkey