Art Clicks- Project

The ART CLICKS project was born with the intention of exploring and building intercultural skills and practices on the Italian territory, in particular in Rome, where different ethnic groups and cultures meet (and confront each other) with increasing intensity, following the intense, recent flows migratory. The demographic and socio-cultural characteristics of our communities are in transformation, in search of new balances and relationships of coexistence. Europe has a historical habit with multicultural societies, but today's demand for interculture plans to go further, to create new social arrangements in which exchange and mutual enrichment are the key to balance, growth, justice social and sustainability. Cultural operators of any district, discipline, level, must accept the challenges and the invitations to work to acquire or increase knowledge, visions, skills, intercultural attitudes, for, between and with old and new citizens and between "professionals" . In recent years, our country has welcomed a large number of women, men and children fleeing war, denial of civil rights and poverty. Our cities and our arrival territories (Rome in particular) have shown an extraordinary ability to manage the emergency, with a response, not only from the health authorities, the police, the local administrations, but also from the world of associations, communities and individual citizens. The biggest challenge is to integrate foreigners, and Italian cultural institutions, large and small, from schools to libraries, from theaters to museums, have long been at the forefront to ensure this patient and widespread work throughout the territory, often with difficulties and great sacrifices. ECCOM, in collaboration with the MAXXI Foundation and with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, conceived and created in 2019 ART CLICKS, a training and participatory planning workshop aimed at professionals in the cultural sector (in particular museums, theaters and libraries) on the theme of intercultural dialogue. The project aimed to promote: • the exchange and creation of good practices to combat discrimination and promote diversity in Rome, a highly multicultural European city, at the crucial point of the emergence of migration; • the ability of cultural institutions to promote inter / multicultural dialogue by strengthening their intercultural competences and co-planning capacities; • the active cultural participation of different communities, to encourage respect between majorities and minorities and an understanding of the value of a renewed Europe of diversity. ART CLICKS was the context where 25 people from different backgrounds and cultures, skills and professionalism from the world of culture, education and the social world met to meet, learn from each other, design and experiment with intercultural practices. Participants were selected through a public call. The activities - a training / refresher course of 200 hours and the shared planning of practical experiences - were put at the service of objectives such as strengthening the intercultural skills of individuals and their institutions or associations and their policy of inclusion of migrants; promoting the active participation of migrants and refugees in the country's cultural life; dialogue, exchange and respect between diversity and their enhancement. The methodology used in ART CLICKS was based on participatory meetings, exchanges of good practices, relational experiences and participatory planning activities: - 200-hour in-person training course held between March and July 2018; - Two-day residence for all participants in Acquapendente (VT) in April 2018; - Co-design workshops (July / September 2018) - Pilot projects carried out by the participants in collaboration with ECCOM and the MAXXI Foundation (October 2018-April 2019) It is a methodology that can be easily transferred to other contexts and activate the conditions for the reproducibility of cultural processes that can lead, in a dynamic and cyclical way, to the recognition and generation of a new cultural heritage. The results of the project were presented at a conference that was held at the MAXXI Auditorium on 16 and 17 May 2019. ART CLICKS was sponsored by: MiBACT-Progetto MigrArti; of the Lazio Region and of Rome Capital- (Assessorato alla Crescita Culturale dei Cittadini). It was also awarded the European Year of Cultural Heritage mark.