Start: 2016
End: 2018
Partner: IZVORI DRUSTVO S OGRANICENOM ODGOVORNOSCU ZA NAKLADNICKU DIELATNOST (Croatia)
OSTERREICHISCHE GESELLSCHAFT FUR KINDERPHILOSOPHIE (Austria) Non-governmental organisation/association/social enterprise
KOROSKA GALERIJA LIKOVNIH UMETNOSTI (Slovenia) Museum
STUDIO GAUS GMBH (Germany)
INTER-KULTURO MEDNARODNI KULTURNO IZOBRAZEVALNI CENTER DOO (Slovenia)
Action: Creative Europe Refugee Integration Projects
Summary:
The project “Story time – Connecting People with the Power of Art” set itself the goal to create spaces where refugees and EU citizens can discover the culture of each other through literature and art. It was intended primarily for children and their parents, but also included activities for artists, educators and the general public.
The Story time project connects five European organizations that are active in various fields – a publishing house, an art gallery, two organizations active in the field of education and a media agency. Diversity of the partnership represents a platform for the implementation of activities aimed at establishing and consolidating intercultural dialogue. Within the project Story time, three of Europe’s favorite picture books for children were translated into Arabic and published in bilingual editions. Another picture book, Jasmine sneeze by the Syrian author Nadine Kaadan, was translated and published in bilingual Arabic-Croatian, Arabic-German and Arabic-Slovenian editions. Thus, six bilingual picture books now offer European children a look at the Syrian culture, and children from Arab-speaking countries are now able to learn more about the culture of the country they migrated to. Picture books were donated to public libraries, school libraries, refuge centers, NGOs working with refuges as well as to families. The books are also available for reading online on the project website.
Additionally, a handbook for educators was developed, which includes information about the method of philosophy with children (P4C) and concrete tips for a dialogue with children after reading the picture book Jasmin Sneeze. The handbook enables teachers who would like to introduce young children to topics of migration and seeking refuge to use the book as a starting point and guide them through engaged discussion of different relevant topics. This method does not offer ready-made answers to children’s questions but rather encourages critical thinking and finding answers together, in a community of inquiry. In the context of introducing the topic of migration to young children, a coloring book on the theme of migration was developed and published in in three language versions. It is also available for download on the project website. One of the main aims of the project was to create art together and all partner organized joint art workshops for local and refuge children in their towns. Partners were free to choose their approach and different art workshops took place: painting art workshops (Germany, Slovenia, Croatia), theater workshop (Austria) and an animated film workshop (Slovenia). The workshops lasted from several months (Slovenia) or weeks (Austria) to a number of one-day workshops. More than 80 events for different target groups took place in partner’s towns. We involved children, youth and adults from different social backgrounds. There were presentations, screenings, discussions, art workshops for children and adults, exhibitions of children’s art, exhibitions of books, culinary events, concerts, philosophical discussions, etc. involving several thousand persons. The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška (KGLU) organized art residencies, which took place in September 2017 in Slovenj Gradec, the result of which were 7 exhibitions in public space, titled In/On the way. During the period of the residence at the KGLU in Slovenj Gradec, artists created artworks in tandems (European – Syrian) and held workshops for visitors, where they developed new interpretations of traditional motifs in the light of the migrant crisis. 4 | Page The exhibition Story time was presented in 2018 in public spaces in the partner’s cities: in Slovenj Gradec, Graz, Maribor, Berlin and Osijek.
Results:
- A coloring book “Our colorful world” in many languages;
- a handbook for teachers;
- dissemination materials.