Compass Support is leading an exciting project, with a number of European partners, developing learning materials to improve communities access and engagement with culture.
As part of this, we will feature some of the best practice undertaken by the Compass team including Early Help, Neighbourhood Network Scheme, Youth services, and more.
Below is the official press release announcement from the Active Citizens Exploring Culture Project on the initiative.
Active Citizens Exploring Culture Project
Active Citizens Exploring Culture Project (ACE Culture) aims to enhance the competencies of educators and cultural practitioners to support adult education in community learning environments and foster inclusion in targeted local communities. İt does so by turning on its head the theory and practice of culture as an activity produced and accessed by a limited sub-section of society to one that is open to all.
The project makes use of traditional and digital learning methods as a tool for effective civic engagement and cultural participation. The project will include a variety of applications, programmes, and toolkits. Adults will be trained as “Cultural Mediators” to recognize, discover, document, exhibit the local art and cultural assets. Furthermore, ACE Culture will support educators, consultants, coaches, decision-makers, and stakeholders to devolop new thinking, teaching and possibilities in cultural pratice and acess.
The project methodology has the following outputs:
- Methodology Handbook and Implementation Plan aimed at decision makers, educators and pracitioners.
- Curriculum and Training Material targted at adult educators and learners.
- Two online Tool Kits aimed at front-line workers and cultural mediators, respectively.
- Community Curation OER platform where cultural mediators can share rich-media artifacts and stories created and curated by members of the local community.
The first of the intellectual outputs called (the “Methodology Handbook and Implementation Plan”) has been completed with the contributions of all partners. This helps define some of the key issues through articles and best practice features that informs the range of intellectual outputs in the project.
All ACE Culture materials are developed by experienced project partners who have an excellent knowledge of the implementation of transnational projects:
- Compass Support Services Ltd – UK
- Cooperativa Operária Portalegrense – Portugal
- Sustainable Development Association (SDA) – Turkey
- SYMPLEXIS – Greece
- GRID LTD – UK
- ELDERBERRY AB – Sweden
Dissemination activity is carried out by actively using the project’s Facebook page. A transnational meeting is expected to be held in Greece in March.
The project partners hold monthly Zoom meetings alongside formal Transnational Meetings with the first of these taking place in Athens in May to allow partners to exchange their knowledge and revise and finalise the other expected intellectual outputs on time. For more information, you can visit the website “www.aceculture.eu”.