Empowerment of the refugee migrant community through a cooperation project on art education in Greece

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to the inclusion of the refugee community located in Polykastro (Greece) through an art cooperation project between the University of Seville and the NGO Open Cultural Center. We suggest that art education promotes the full development of the individual and the community. This study examines the identification stage which took place in October 2019. Using a Logical Framework Analysis we explored agents involved, problems, objectives, and alternatives. We conducted interviews, participant observations, and SWOT analyses. The identified problems point to a lack of integration and an intervention strategy for an inclusive improvement is discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• forced displacement
• NGOs
• migration
• Southern Europe

Acknowledgements

This study results from the International Cooperation project Art, Culture, and Development Education. Education and culture for the personal and social empowerment of the migrant–refugee community of Polykastro (Greece). This project was approved in a competitive call of grants for activities and projects development cooperation 2017/2018 of the University of Seville. This study had the participation of the Research Group Education and Audiovisual Culture (HUM-401) and the Communiars Group. We are grateful to all members of the Open Cultural Center (Polykastro, Greece) for their involvement, effort, and experience, which were essential for the development of this study, with special thanks to the resident migrant volunteers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 http://www.openculturalcenter.org

2 An example of the full dynamic is shown in the website communiars.org at https://vimeo.com/370668331

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Universidad de Sevilla [grant number 2017/2018 Development Cooperation Projects].

Notes on contributors

Carlos Escaño

Carlos Escaño is an Associate Professor at the University of Seville, Spain. He completed a PhD in Fine Arts at the University of Seville in 1999 and a PhD from the National University of Distance Education UNED (Spain) in 2017 in the field of education and communication in digital environments. His principal teaching and research interests are in art education at the intersection of the arts and audiovisual and digital culture using a critical pedagogical approach oriented towards social transformation. He is Director of the Research Group Education and Audiovisual Culture (HUM401), and coordinator of international cooperation projects such as “Arts Education and Human Development” (2015–2018), developed in India. He is co-founder of Communiars group and Editor-in-Chief of Communiars Journal.

José María Mesías-Lema

José María Mesías-Lema is associate professor of Art Education at the University of A Coruna-UDC, Spain. He was Vice-Dean of International Relations, Deputy Vice-Rector, and Director of Art Cultural Center NORMAL (www.istoenormal.org) in the same University. He is also head of the research group Artefacto-UDC (www.arte-facto.org), which focuses on contemporary art processes in diverse educational contexts. He is an artivist educator and a promoter of sensitive learning for the defense of human rights, with a PhD in Visual Arts and Education from the University of Granada. His latest research generates projects on schools, where inhabitant artists build spaces as experimental laboratories in Art Education.

Julia Mañero

Julia Mañero is a PhD student at the University of Seville, Spain. Having graduated with a Bachelor of Marketing and holding a Master’s Degree in Education, she has collaborated as a teacher in Massive Open Online Courses and in the Master of Network Communication and Education at The National Distance Education University (UNED). She is a member of the Communiars collective and Associate Editor of Communiars Journal. Her current research interests include art education and digital education from a critical and social perspective. Her academic interests also include cooperation projects, having been part of projects and research in India and Greece. She is also an active member of the community of practice Critical Pedagogies and Arts Education of the University of Seville.