P016 → Common Ground, training in socially engaged art
Common Ground, was a training in socially engaged art tools, a 1-year long part-time programme taking place in Cork, Ireland, and Budapest, Hungary initiated by the Firestarter Network and developed by Makeshift Ensemble (IRL), Artemisszió Alapítvány (HUN) and Postmodernsquare (FIN) together with Motus Terrae (GR), REACH (SRB), and REDE (PT)WHAT WAS IT ABOUT?
Common Ground was a training and research project focussing on approaches to working and engaging meaningfully with local communities of place within the scope of both international youth work and the arts.
The project “twinned” two multicultural, inner city streets and communities in Cork and Budapest that served as the location and subject of the training allowing to explore, through artistic tools, the questions:
Who are your neighbours?
Whose street is this anyway?
How can you leave again?
Bringing together participants from different backgrounds, the aim was to develop strategies and explore methodologies within the broader frame of socially engaged art with a specific focus on “parachute strategies” to engage with local communities.
By “parachute strategies” we meant methods and practices that do not require long-term engagement with communities but work on the basis of interventions, one off events or remote practices that nonetheless could provide meaningful connections and a real exchange.
This training joined trainers and participants coming from different backgrounds to allow Common Ground to act as a platform for peer-learning, sharing of international practice and collaboration which had multiple outcomes in methodology, projects and the professional development of the participants.
>>> to read more about the book we wrote CLICK
WHAT TO EXPECT?
The aim was to equip the participants with a broad understanding of tools and practices, develop their skills and awareness and allow them to learn by doing while also providing support, mentorship as well as skills-based workshops. Having the experience of working in two different countries on similar streets gave the participants the opportunity to understand the international dimension of working locally.
We firmly believe in peer learning and the power of joint thinking across sectors and disciplines. The participants were invited to contribute their knowledge and expertise as well as receiving inputs from trainers, peers and invited guests.
It was this learning and the questions raised, as well as the methods developed, that formed the backbone of the second half of the project and will culminate in the international seminar in Cork entitled How to finish? focussing on dissemination and knowledge sharing practices within the context of short-term international projects with young people taking placewithin local communities.
The training had 4 segments:
1. Common Ground: Cork 30th Jan – 4th Feb 2018 a 4-day study visit in the context of the Quarter
Block Party festival in Cork, Ireland, focussing on performative strategies and anthropological
approach to public space.
2. An online part-time training conducted via www.artescommunity.eu, a web-portal for community
and social engaged arts projects in Europe that will take place in April/May 2018.
3. Common Ground: Budapest 10 - 18th August is an 8-day residential training in Budapest, Hungary
taking place at Aurora and other locations along Nepszinhaz utca in Budapest. This training will have
a specific focus on exploring video methods.
4. Common Ground: How to finish? (Cork) 1st Feb – 5th Feb 2019 a return to disseminating the
results and learning of the project in the form of presentations, performances and talks in collaboration
with Quarter Block Party festival. This will also include the launch of the book.
Artistic Coordinator: Eszter Némethi
Pedgagogical Team: Anna Végh, Daria Akimenko, Nuno Escudeiro, Eszter Némethi
Participants: Orlaith Treacy, Catarina Rebelo, Moira Douranou, Catarina Barata Mota, Outi Elena Valanto, Flóra Eszter Sarlós, Bojana Lukic, Nuno Vasconcelos, Spyros Tsiknas, Leah Corbett, Helen O’Keeffe, Viola Kallós, Tijana Tanaskovic, Monika Necpalova, Mark Durkan, Gergo Lukács, Bárbara Xavier, Emoke Sipos, Colm Clarke, Xaidi Tsirogianni, Rosie Howlett Southgate, Niovi Stavropoulou, Miguel Canaverde, Mirjam Yeboah, Elli Vassalou
Partners: Motus Terrae (GR), Artemisszio Alapitvany (HU), REACH (SRB), REDE (PT), PostmodernSquare (FI), Makeshift Ensemble (HU), Firkin Crane and Quarter Block Party
The project was funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission and the Arts Council of Ireland