Social inclusion and Well-being through the Arts and Interdisciplinary Practices (SWAIP)

This project aims at the modernisation of learning environments in the arts, through an interdisciplinary dialogue between higher educations and associated partners from the field.
The objective is to develop curricula for a study programme, which will train artists and health workers with an arts background to work with social inclusion in their artistic projects. The goal is to introduce them to art’s abilities to make connections, facilitate well-being, empowerment and strengthen self-confidence. Emphasises will be on training flexible and sensitive artists, capable of relating to advanced ideas and finding new roles in the constant changing society.
The project consists of several activities over a two-year period, offering a collaborative learning community for all art disciplines, with active participation of academics and students in the field of arts and therapy, and healthcare specialists. Enhancement of personal skills, self-confidence, community engagement, collaboration skills and reflective practice will be central elements of all activities. These will be in the form of two intensive programmes and a staff development seminar, focusing on reaching out to people suffering the Alzheimer disease and youth at risk of dropping out of school.
The project activities will serve as a venue for exploring learning approaches developed by an interdisciplinary group of specialists, which have the common ambition of using art as a tool for social inclusion. The group’s development work will result in curricula for a study programme that provides artists and health workers with an arts background, with opportunities to train and work in a professional environment, presenting creative interdisciplinary learning approaches.
This project will utilize the positive aspects of working cross-arts and cross-disciplinary, serving as an effective model of how transnational collaboration can function as a tool for curricular innovation. The project's progress and results will be widely disseminated, thereby making a significant impact on higher education in the fields of arts, social inclusion and well-being in Europe and beyond.