Cultural education is a powerful stimulus for the beneficiaries through contact with original objects, meetings with artists, writers, etc. It allows an interdisciplinary approach and, last but not least, generates collaboration between cultural institutions, organisations active in the field of education (educational institutions, NGOs) and various cultural operators.
When representing a cultural organisation wishing to build an educational offer, it is advisable to formulate an educational mission, to ensure a link between the proposed activities and the profile of the organisation, and last but not least to ensure that we have sufficient resources (human, material, financial ressources) to fulfil our mission. In addition, the mission must be formulated attractively, convincingly and transparently so that it can attract both beneficiaries and potential collaborators. It is necessary to bear in mind that successful activities can generate relatively high demand compared to the capacity of most cultural organisations (as in the case with the Școala Altfel (Another Kind of School) programme when it had fixed dates, when educational institutions had not been given the liberty to choose the dates freely).
And from this perspective it is good to design several options of educational services, adapted to the target audiences we want to address.
In general, the following types of educational services are discussed:
– Providing information (directly, e.g. to teachers, students or parents, but also indirectly, by electronic means or through printed material – leaflets, brochures).
– Direct educational services (presentations, practical activities, teacher training sessions, summer schools, etc.)
– Indirect educational services (printed materials such as cultural trails, electronic materials such as worksheets, etc.)
In order to have an organisation that is open to changes in society and to the needs of the beneficiaries, it is recommended that we also consider proposing innovative and responsible large-scale projects, to be carried out in partnership, involving both direct and indirect educational services. These projects carried out over a fixed period of time,?
can enrich the educational offer of all partners, to the benefit of the target groups involved. It should also be borne in mind that some funding programmes encourage such approaches and collaboration. In such a context, in addition to the activities carried out, we consider it extremely important to be able to produce various materials with educational content, as these can be used after the end of the respective projects.
ENDLESS PRESENT | LIMITED FUTURE is a case study illustrating such an approach focusing on collaborative projects between the public and private sectors, with non-reimbursable financial support, bringing together cultural actors and organisations with educational institutions. This non-formal education project targeted children aged 10 to 17 from Alexandria, Slobozia, Turnu Măgurele, Oltenița, Urziceni and Mizil, ran from May 2021 to October 2022, with funding from EEA Grants 2014-2021 under the RO-CULTURA Programme. The project was carried out by Volum Art Association in partnership with NORSENSUS Mediaforum Norway and the Museum of Bucharest. Through comics, storytelling and animation, coordinated by a multidisciplinary team, children from the six communities visually transposed solutions to combat plastic pollution, developing their critical thinking.
Looking at the project from the perspective of educational services, it can be seen that detailed information was provided to teachers in the ten schools in the communities involved in the project, as well as direct educational services, i.e. workshops for children, the results of which are presented on the dedicated website.