The RISK CHANGE research aims to support the development of useful, practical and exemplary approaches and implementation processes towards migration related topics in the respective local communities across the EU. The project will implement a series of activities (art residencies, small and large scale exhibitions, touring residencies, lectures, symposiums, conferences, educational modules, ambassador of culture training programme, communication actions, stakeholders involvement) related to migration topics and develop supporting materials and tools for innovative approaches towards art production and creative educational modules targeted at migrants and integration activities.

KEYWORDS

Migration, research, human rights

RC confronts contemporary migrations from North Africa, Ukraine, Pakistan, China, the Middle East into the EU. Some of these are new phenomena, caused by wars. RC did several desktop researches: the 2011 “Arab Spring” revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East dramatically increased trans-Mediterranean migration, leading to record numbers of deaths of migrants at sea and heightened fears across Europe about irregular migrants and asylum seekers. There are several immigrant routes: African, Mediterranean and Balkan. None are easy. More than 1,500 people drowned crossing the Mediterranean Sea in 2011. From 2011 to 2015 the number of immigrants grew exponentially.

In the last year the most crowded route is the Balkan one: Syria-Turkey-Greece-Macedonia-Serbia-Hungary, directed to Germany, Sweden and Austria. Beside young, mostly educated, people, there are even more children, women and elderly people. In 2015 EU is expecting 800.000 immigrants, seeking asylum, a basic human right.

To stimulate cultural, social, human rights policy and raise implementation possibilities, we’ll collaborate with stakeholders on national, local, and EU levels.

Multicultural society, integration, interdisciplinarity

RC will highlight the importance of connectivity and interdisciplinary culture for multicultural integration in EU, in particular for immigrants and new EU members. This will lead to new interdisciplinary practices intended to help migrants integrate into communities and to be actively involved into interdisciplinary co-working processes, having access to multicultural community benefits.

Audience development, informal educaton, lifelong learning, intangible cultural heritage

Implementation of new skills, knowledge and experiences through RC educational activities and audience development methods has an important role in RC, with the intention of confronting intolerance, stereotypes, prejudices and social fear. This will be achieved through on-going sharing with audiences throughout and after the project, active involvement of target groups and civil society, participatory art and integration of intangible cultural heritage.

Creativity, innovative environment and tools, new creative models

RC will develop and upgrade innovative cultural strongly connected to the innovative environment of a post-industrial society where creativity becomes a driving force and added value and artistic creativity and cultural production have an active role in civic aspects of migration and integration issues. Mobile app as extensive innovation tool will provide free access to updates.

The main research objectives  are:

  • To reach target groups in communities with strong dissemination of project activities
  • New knowledge and expertise in the feld of migration for partners and associated partners, and capacity building
  • Involvement of new audiences with special emphasis on multicultural communities and migration centers
  • New opportunities for cultural workers
  • Connecting defned groups to work together in interdisciplinary touring teams, open labs, o n creative idea sessions, co-workings and other forms, connected to different local multicultural communities
  • Reports on migration issues in EU today with emphasis on the use of artistic material in representation of border-related technologies
  • Comparative reports on study visits in local, regional and national multicultural communities, families and refugees centres, migrant associations, asylum houses, detention camps, correction homes, prisons; communicating with activated migrants contributing to the project
  • Creation of sustainable co-working model
  • Enabling a new human right: to re-invent contemporary myths and artifcially/politically constructed mass media public opinion by new forms and identities in a creative manner to engineer the future
  • Researching, developing, creating, connecting, communicating, disseminating all tangible results