In the era of Covid-19 Health Crisis, we created an innovative open-air learning programme based on the principles and experience of Alma d’Arte Civic School that offers various cultural local activities to the community of Benevento. Our attempt for the integration of the young refugees who live both in the areas of Benevento and Lavrio, two cities that share common cultural and social characteristics, promotes liberal education using art as a tool for social engagement and networking.

Both Benevento in Campania and Lavrio in Attica have refugees that coexist with the local community.

Lavrio is a multicultural town near Athens that gathers people from the self-organised Kurdish camp, the local refugee camps and descendants of Pontiac and Anatolia refugees. Benevento is a town outside Naples with rich history and culture that also hosts refugees from Africa and the Middle East.Due to their strong cultural identities, we have identified the common need to get the above mentioned groups together along with the local residents, and encourage a larger and more diverse participation in the cultural events and initiatives through an international innovative project. Immaginaria Cooperativa has a solid experience in non-formal international projects and expertise in social arts and their members have created Alma D'Arte Civic School to offer learning opportunities to the locals

The training group of youth with fewer opportunities responsible for the co-creation of the workshops will include local artists and residents interested in social arts, and/or with experience in cultural/educational institutions/NGOs and people from the refugee communities. We anticipate that more people from the local societies of Benevento and Lavrio will be positively affected, since all activities will take place in public spaces welcoming the whole community to join them. We aspire to establish a more permanent partnership with a local cooperative/institution/school in Lavrio in order to provide a certain space - point of reference like Alma D'Arte's that will help to the continuation of similar cultural activities, and enhance local actors’ and residents’ engagement in the long term

In order to implement our idea we have planned a structured programme with concrete steps, activities and tools to be used. In more detail: Immaginaria & Ap'ousia teams' participants will benefit from: 3 administration and management online and in person meetings (kick-off, mid-term & final evaluation meetings); 1 multiplier event for project's dissemination results in Benevento &Lavrio.
The youth facilitators team will benefit from: 3 days intensive training course in social inclusion via arts where training courses dedicated to the development of inclusion techniques via performing arts.
The communities of Benevento and Lavrio will have the chance to participate in multiple non-formal workshops during the Spring and Summer period. The global society can benefit from 1 digital toolkit.

A youth network from different social backgrounds can be created with valuable experience in social arts while developing creativity and problem-solving skills. Social cohesion of the areas involved can be improved via community building, autonomy practicing and self-direction skills development, while young refugees can be better integrated in the local societies, gaining collaboration and confidence opportunities individually and inside the team. Moreover, the towns can be culturally upgraded, adding an extra value on their cultural life. The toolkit can assist the implementation of similar actions in other places, the Domino structure can inspire creativity and through social media we can start an open discussion on popular education and how it can change our international social web.

We aim to form a mixed, diverse youth group who will have the opportunity to learn how to work together nationally in order to co-create the cultural acts that will be implemented in both towns. Bringing together representatives from various different social groups in the project’s core teams, we will enhance the regions' social cohesion and citizens’ engagement in the towns' commons, while promoting democratic values, social inclusion, integration and the sense of a proactive European community via an Open Call addressed to the cultural and educational institutions, the refugee camps, the public schools and residents associations located both in Lavrio and Benevento. The local results of the project will be published in a digital toolkit for the integration of refugees via social arts.

Our joint initiative has been created after the collaboration of Apousia and Imaginaria under the Erasmus+ education umbrella. The common vision of both organisations is to provide opportunities for inclusion via social arts to all people of all ages and backgrounds. For all of us, popular education is our key to connect with the people and the public space. After noticing important social and cultural similarities between Benevento and Lavrio, we decided to create a common non-formal learning experience for better understanding the ways to promote social inclusion and youth refugees integration in the areas. In the era of Coronavirus, the idea to create an alternative open-air third space was a great challenge for us and the innovative construction of Domino is our creative alternative.

Personnel Costs:
Cultural Mediator Italy: 3000
Cultural Mediator Greece: 3000
1 employee from Imaginaria: 4800
3 members from Ap'ousia: 14400
5 Facilitators Greece: 5000
5 Facilitators Italy: 5000
TOTAL: 35200
Company Expenses : 3000
Travel Expenses:
Travel A - kick-off meeting in Italy: 700
Travel B - training course in Greece:1050
TOTAL: 1750
Accomodation Costs
Travel A: 600
Travel B: 900
TOTAL: 1500
Equipement: 2000
Graphic designer: 1000
Translator (toolkit): 300

In this global health crisis, we like to join a community that wishes to act effectively to the challenges of a post-Covid19 era. Alternative education is based on human, mental and corporal interactions and we like to exchange ideas on how we can adapt our tools to continue to inspire strong bonds.