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ABOUT THE PROJECT

For thoma ITALES .jpg
The “ Integration Through Arts Learning to Enhance Society” project (acronym I-TALES) is a European Erasmus + project / Key Action 2 / Adult education. The projects funded under this action are aimed at cooperation for innovation, development and the transfer of innovative practices in education, training and the provision of young people among the participating countries. Key Action 2 aims to increase the positive impact of European activities at all levels to ensure benefits for people, organizations, and countries involved in projects.
The needs
1.Urgency of building a cohesive community based on mutual respect, collaboration, dialogue, appreciation of cultural diversity
2. Urgency of education to history and critical thinking
The objectives
1. Promote lasting interaction between local communities and people / groups of different origins whose aspects are equal dignity of cultures, mutual acceptance, equal exchange, open dialogue
2. Develop student critical thinking, creative thinking and new behavior patterns to counter intolerance and discrimination
3. Spread the use of creative methods in adult education and develop educators' awareness of their importance in building intercultural dialogue
 The main activities
The I-TALES project is focused on "The Arrival", a graphic novel that tells the story of a family's journey to the "golden land". The planned activities are laboratories in which the students will explore the family history step by step, from departure to arrival in the new country. Through it other TALES will be narrated by migrants participating in the project and also by the natives who will look for old stories of migration from their territory to other countries. Each of the six long-term laboratories that will be activated during the 2 years of the project's life is closely connected, both in the theme and in the organization of the activities, to the so-called blended mobilities that will follow. Blended mobility consists of a virtual activity through web applications to make music in a cooperative way and live streaming to prepare a performance (dance, street art, theatre ...) to be held together during physical mobility.A 6-day physical mobility will be held in every country where laboratories and events open to the community will be held.

Virtual mobilities: following the expert input on the topic of each panel of the story, participants will produce a work of Art (visual, performing, music) in work-group or individually to be shared with partners online; feedback to the whole group and discussion. 

Physical mobilities: participants will collectively create artistic/musical products on the topic of the panel already explored during the virtual mobility; will be involved in the organization of public presentations, shows, exhibitions

Sociality activities: activities dealing with the everyday life, e.g.: eating together, celebrating festivities together, sharing hobbies, spending free time together, spending some time in families, helping with everyday life problems or in doing practical things. Activities with linguistic and cultural mediators for host country language learning if some of the learners are out of the Education system or they need a further course. It also means some basic English to communicate with partners

The “ learning in the arts/culture” approach will contribute to engender understanding of the importance of cultural diversity and reinforce behavior patterns paving the way to social cohesion. Learners, migrants and locals, will be involved in a number of different arts and/or crafts-based- activities that are the medium to express feelings, communicate and interact each other. Reciprocal knowledge and knowledge of the facts will permit to refuse fakes and prejudices in favor of respect and appreciation. Other activities will support their process of integration (language support, intercultural mediation support, sociality support) also with the collaboration of the community through a net each partner will build with some stakeholders active in the social field. Interest, gradual attitude in being involved in the activities, improvement in the use of the language of the hosting country by one side and of English by the other one, will help to build closer relationships among them beyond the project activities. Migrants will be able to overcome distrust and suspicion towards local people. Local people will be able to  change their attitude made of prejudices and lack of real knowledge of them. Learners will become a group, a community that spend some time together, chat on social media. Fostering sociality, migrants will have the possibility to process the painful experiences suffered while leaving their home country, succeeding in “speaking” of them for the first time. At the same time also local learners, by experiencing directly the migrants’ stories, will realize how much hearsay, how many fakes are in their opinions. This way they will develop the skills of thinking critically about mass communication: asking questions, taking information from a variety of sources,   verifying hypotheses. During the workshops, by starting from a strong input anyone will be given the chance of offer his/her personal contribution to building up the Art products planned. This way communication, mutual listening and respect for the others’ ideas, everyone's feeling of ownership of the product, sense of belonging to a group will be so strong to unite the participants. Concerning the educators' competences, our pedagogical-didactic model will improve the chances of innovation in the lifelong learning. The training material we'll produce will facilitate the work undertaken by professionals, while having the opportunity to interact in a multi-skills group (artists, social operators, schools) and in a multinational environment, exchanging ideas and experiences on this issue  impacting in their skills in using more attractive and efficient methods in the adult education, including the use of ICTs, learning in groups and use of open educational resources. They will increase awareness and prospects of international action, knowledge of issues affecting refugees and migrants, promotion of social inclusion and intercultural exchange among the other target groups they work with and a general  facilitation of teaching as well as of  their relationship with learners. 
 The expected results
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