The main goal is to promote an inclusive culture by encouraging the feeling of belonging to cultural creation and offerings in the broad diversity of people at risk of exclusion in our city. To this end, we will promote a participatory process, by generating a permanent platform for information, relationships and exchange between cultural and social sectors. In addition to face-to-face meetings, we will create a web to share knowledge and to operate with specific cultural mediation services

CITY OF VALENCIA

Generally, and also after the Covid19, the cultural sector is prone to experience economic cuts, while social needs are accentuated. Thus, more than ever connections between culture and society need to be reinforced, resulting in a more resilient community. This project faces several challenges: A) Social exclusion becomes a barrier to cultural inclusion; B) In a diverse society, exclusion situations are likewise very diverse; C) Generally, creators and artistic spaces are distant and ignore the network of associations and groups with social risk; D) Current projects are limited, and they don’t fulfill requirements of time, scope and impact; E) There is lack of coordination between social and cultural entities, as well as between private and public institutions, involving inclusive culture

Relationships will be organized in three levels: 1) the political; 2) the technical, including professionals from the social and the performing arts fields (30 scenic spaces identified); 3) the citizen (20,3% of the Valencian population is in a situation of social exclusion). This will be achieved with an organized structure, in which all participants become aware of their own role in relation to cultural activity. The C+S team will facilitate the performance of all these actors, and channel the needs, demands and opportunities that arise from the sharing. We will create a strong information system that will assure a successful participation. We will also empower the participants by co-creating an annual event: an international forum about good practices on inclusive culture

1) Participatory process. We will follow the Marco Marchioni community work methodology. It includes the diagnosis, mapping and identification of the candidate groups in our territory. It also includes the analysis and generation of new and significant knowledge.
2) Information System and Communication Plan. To increase all the participant entities' engagement and participation we will make the relevant knowledge more accessible.
3) Activities and services. They will be organized depending on specific demands collected along the process. Additionally, an international event will be held once a year to share good practices of inclusive culture.
4) The open web will also hold a ticket reservation platform aimed specifically for associations that represent groups at risk of exclusion

1) A significant number of entities involved in the participatory process.
2) A development of a web with local relevant content, including a ticket reservation platform.
3) Create connections with other projects around Europe, through the annual event, and the Civic Europe programme.
4) Design a specific services in response to the demands observed (e.g. artistic mediation, supervision of professionals, accessibility plans for cultural facilities, advice on the design of artistic projects with social impact, etc.).
5) Dissemination of relevant reports on challenges and benefits of inclusive culture (advocacy, and recognition of best local practices).
6) Test and fine-tune the methodology to expand the project, opening it to other art fields.

The project is aimed to achieve a greater degree of diverse participation in culture. In order to guarantee the effectiveness, we start focusing on the performing arts. As we succeed, we will open to other art fields. We promote a participatory process to allow meetings between cultural entities with associations/groups that represent clusters who suffer social exclusion. Therefore, the essence of this project is to provide citizens with novel tools to enhance accessibility to culture. As a result we will look at: 1) novel measures, mechanisms and initiatives implemented by the performing arts in order to be more inclusive; 2) the participation ratio from specific social groups. By promoting a greater participation, we empower citizens to be more active, building more resilient communities

We have accompanied various artists, in collaboration with cultural facilities and associations, to work on social inclusion through art. This has led us to experience its transformative force first-hand. Moreover, it showed us the need for a higher coordination between the culture and social fields. This inspired us to design C+S, aiming to articulate what has been called the "4th sector": an "amphibious" structure, where the public, private, and 3rd sectors work together. As the current trends in social innovation point out, these alliances are key to achieving social innovation. And given our nature as a non-profit entity, we are guaranteeing continuity beyond political changes, and a balance of powers in the involvement of each actor. We are inspired by this challenge and potential

Percentage of the payroll of the project team / own staff: € 39100
Strategic consultant services: € 10,000
Contribution to headquarters and general expenses: € 900

Find out if similar experiences of participatory processes around inclusive culture are known in other regions, identify best practices, although in a small scale, about cultural initiatives with social impact, and any other suggestions