Socially Engaged Arts in the Mediterranean area

forthcoming

MedSEA is built around four objectives: -Empowering artists by international exchange and training -Enhancing greening efforts by building capacity for local production and digitisation -Fostering creativity and wellbeing in underserved communities -Inspiring the CCS by sharing knowledge and knowhow on Socially Engaged Arts The project (Objective 2) offers young artists from remote areas in the Mediterranean opportunities to build internationally embedded careers without creating a large ecological footprint. Twelve young creatives, underexposed to international exchange and underserved by a lack of a cultural infrastructure, take part in a four-week residency in either Cyprus or Tunisia, engaging in a co-creation process with a community in Larnaka or Sfax to produce an artwork and – as a group of 6 - a festival with and within the community. The artists will follow a curriculum providing them with a toolkit to create a sustainable career at home and to keep contributing to the cultural inclusion and wellbeing of socially and/ or geographically challenged communities. During the two festivals the artists come together and participate in two two-day workshops on management, fundraising and networking skills, and green practices. Five webinars are designed to prepare the participants, guide them through the process and give them tools for self-evaluation. Three out of five webinars and the two workshops in-situ are open for a wider group of participants MedSEA is led by four partners with a track record in community-based arts and capacity building and is supported by a digital platform offering networking opportunities, knowledge and know-how. An action-researcher will follow the process and produce publications to be distributed to cultural networks, institutions and arts academies: one documenting the process; one proposing new models of socially engaged art in the Med area.