How to Achieve Sustainable Interest in Culture

A new action guideline for artists in the schools

Until today, we have still not succeeded in realising the 1970s slogan “culture for all”. The constitution of audiences at theatres, opera houses and museums has hardly changed at all.

The maxim still holds that “the cultural public is an educated public”¹ , and socially disadvantaged people rarely participate in the cultural life of society. It is an indisputable fact that the oft-quoted “access for all” is not easy to achieve. However, great efforts are being made in many European countries as well as at EU level to facilitate participation in culture and society.
For over 30 years, project work at the interface of culture and education, often in cooperation with artists, has been actively pursued in Austrian schools – with proven success² . Recently, a European project was initiated with the objective of investigating the positive effects of cultural education – effects which include the development and enhancement of the much-cited key competences. In line with the “European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion 2010”, the project focuses on primary schools in socially deprived areas, that is, schools which are attended mainly by children belonging to socially disadvantaged groups of the population.
The questions to which this project, entitled “Artists in Creative Education”, is seeking answers are many and varied, for example: Which competences and which kinds of training do artists need in order to work in schools? What approaches will motivate socially disadvantaged children to become interested and involved in contemporary art and culture? How can we ensure that these children will make use of their newly discovered access to art and culture after a project is over?
The 25 participating artists from Great Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden and South Eastern Europe are exchanging and combining their various methods and working techniques, and learning the different approaches used in each country. They plan to summarise their experiences in an action guideline, to be presented to the European Parliament at a final conference in Brussels in the autumn of 2011.
In future years, the new model for the further education and work of artists in schools will be continued in the partner countries and will be brought by participating artists from South Eastern Europe to this region as well – because artists who work with children and young people on projects with an artistic approach serve as catalysts for cultural education. /KKA Editorial Staff

Artists in Creative Education

The project is taking place within the framework of the “EU Culture Programme 2007-2013”. The partner organisations are KulturKontakt Austria (AT); Creativity, Culture and Education (GB); Kunstenaars&CO (NL) and Drömmarnas Hus (SE).
http://www.creativitycultureeducation.org/
http://www.drommarnashus.se/
http://www.kunstenaarsenco.nl/

Evaluations

NPO Institut (Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Nonprofit Organisations) at the Vienna University of Economics and Business:
“Evaluation über die Förderungstätigkeit von KulturKontakt Austria im Rahmen der ‘Dialogveranstaltungen’ ” [Evaluation of the Support Activities of KulturKontakt Austria in the Context of the ‘Dialogue Events’]. Vienna 2007. Download (in German) at www.kulturkontakt.or.at/dva

Creativity, Culture and Education (ed.): Creative Partnerships: changing young lives. 2009. Download at http://www.creativitycultureeducation.org/

¹ Norbert Sievers, Reinhold Knopp, Jochen Molck: „Kultur nicht für alle? Kulturpolitik und gesellschaftliche Teilhabe“; in Kulturpolitische Mitteilungen, No. 126, III/2009
² Cf. model evaluations see below.