GIRES, the Global Institute for Research, Education and Scholarship is proud to announce its collaboration with the EUROPEAN COMMISSION and the Commissions’ CREATIVE EUROPE program.

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GIRES , in this multinational project represents the Netherlands and joins forces with The University of Málaga (Spain), the Centre for Cultural Activities – CKD (Croatia), Zavod Bob (Slovenia), Social Climate (Spain), and  Black Sea Global Art League (Georgia).

The CARAVANE- CLIMATE ART FUSION project, co-funded by the CREATIVE EUROPE programme, aims to elevate the transnational creation and dissemination of European art. In line with the objectives of “CREA CULT 2023-COOP,” it prioritizes eco-friendly practices and promotes sustainable development in the cultural sphere. The project fosters inclusivity by providing a collaborative environment for diverse artists, including those with disabilities and marginalized individuals, encouraging mutual learning and cooperation.

PILLARS
Centered on social inclusion, the CARAVANE project is committed to promoting societal resilience and enhancing social inclusion through culture, particularly for people with disabilities, minority groups, and socially marginalized individuals. It aims to foster intercultural dialogue by creating inclusive spaces for young artists from diverse backgrounds, with a focus on those who are physically or motor disabled or belong to minority groups. This approach is designed to ensure that the artistic co-creation laboratories across participating countries are vibrant with heterogeneous and diverse artist groups. This environment will facilitate dialogue, learning, and mutual enrichment among participants, with special emphasis on establishing a space of equality and social equity.

METHODOLOGY
The CARAVANE project is designed to foster growth and international collaboration through a series of strategic and methodological approaches:

1. Snowball Effect: By supporting and mentoring local young artists in co-creation labs, CARAVANE aims to start with small, local successes that are expected to grow and expand internationally. This growth is supported by continuous communication among the labs and a network of artists across the project’s multinational consortium.
2. Interactive and Participatory Approach: The project utilizes a participant-centered, bottom-up approach to boost local capacities for sustainable development. This involves interactive techniques like brainstorming, role plays, and group work, alongside methods for needs analysis and opportunity identification, to engage participants deeply in the collaborative process.
3. Experiential Learning: Young participants will “learn by doing,” gaining hands-on experience in areas such as arts-related entrepreneurship and eco-friendly creative practices. This method allows them to reflect on and learn from their experiences and those shared by peers in other labs.
4. Inclusion and Communication: Efforts to involve local youth include creating safe spaces for expression where every voice is heard and respected, fostering a unique perspective on their circumstances informed by both personal and shared experiences.

These methodologies will be applied across all aspects of the project, including training, co-creation, editing, and the distribution of artistic works, culminating in local and final festivals. The labs will operate with a mixed methodology, combining online and face-to-face interactions, with specifics tailored to each lab as detailed in the Work Package (WP) section.

OBJECTIVES
The CARAVANE project is designed with specific objectives to enhance the cultural and creative landscape across Europe. The primary objective of the CARAVANE project is to furnish artists with essential resources and spaces that catalyze career advancement while fostering a robust network of cultural exchanges and knowledge sharing with fellow European artists.
This aim will be realized through the establishment of co-creation laboratories and a suite of planned activities. Thus, the overarching goal of the CARAVANE project is intricately aligned with the call’s objective: to endorse projects that engage a diverse array of participants from various cultural and creative sectors, facilitating a wide range of activities and initiatives.

The objectives of the project are as follows:

1. To develop five (5) co-creation labs, focused on different art techniques and artistic fields, for young emerging artists in four European countries to create artworks through a co-creation and collaborative process.
2. To connect these labs through a European Network of Artists to share good practices and knowledge, as well as to generate synergies.
3. To work under the common topic of sustainability, increasing awareness and boosting climate action and sustainable initiatives, equity, social well-being, inclusion, and peace .
4. To develop exchange journeys between the labs to encourage artistic collaborations, new perspectives, and knowledge about other social realities, develop new capacities and skills, and foster integration with the local communities and the European Network of Artists.
5. To help young emerging artists to be more visible within the European artistic community.
6. To increase awareness about the importance and impact of art to raise climate action, sustainability, social inclusion, and equality.

The project’s duration is 24 months (January 2024-December 2025).