EU Horizon Europe funding to enhance the lives of disadvantaged children through art in education

An Open University (OU) academic has won EU funding for a research project which aims to enhance the lives of disadvantaged children through the active participation in art in education.

Sarah Crafter, OU Professor of Cultural-Developmental Psychology and Dr Nelli Stavropoulou, a visual anthropologist and participatory arts-based researcher, will play an important part in the new project titled ALPHABETICA: Activating Learning Paths: Holistic Arts-Based Education and Training for Inclusion and Cultural Awareness.

The overall project, which received just under €3,000,000 from the Horizon Europe fund is led by Professor Rachele Antonini at the University of Bologna and involves 14 institutions from nine different countries – one of which will be the OU.

Imagining new ways of caring through art

Professor Crafter has been awarded almost €400,000 and will work in collaboration with Professor Guida de Abreu at Oxford Brookes University. The team in the UK will focus on how participation in art has the potential to enable young people from disadvantaged communities to imagine new ways of caring for better futures. Art may feel inaccessible for some young people, so in this project the team will work with young people in participatory ways to co-create art that is meaningful to them. This intervention will take place in a formal setting (school) and out-of-school community setting (local library). It will involve working with 3-18 year olds, teachers, library staff members, and families.    

Caring for ourselves, others and the world

On receiving the funding, Professor Crafter said:

“We are really delighted to be working on this project with young people who are increasingly at risk of poverty and living in disadvantaged communities. As a team we are really conscious that children and young people may feel uncertain and troubled about what is happening in their lives. They might also be impacted by large events and changes, such as climate change or the introduction of Artificial Intelligence. Art and creative engagement can support a different way of engaging with the world by nurturing creativity, curiosity, critical thought, emotional expression, and imagination. Equally, young people can feel excluded from art. Or perhaps they don’t feel like their everyday activities are forms of art.

“This is something the UK team will explore through their participatory and co-creation activities in Our Caring World through Art. We argued that art in education has the power to foster love, care and solidarities and offers the power to imagine a different future. We will provide young people with an opportunity to explore human relationships and more-than-human relationships, such as nature and pets, through art in education."

Working with international partners

The team in the UK will also be leading on a package of work that supports five other pilot actions in other European countries.

At The Open University, the study will be based in the Open Psychology Research Centre (OPRC), in the School of Psychology & Counselling.

Other partners on this project are: Universita of Bologna, Italy; Universita Degli Studi di Torino, Italy; Synthesis, Cyprus; Interkulturalni PL, Poland; Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal; Elhuyar, Spain, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain; Kirlareli, Turky; União de Refugiados em Portugal, Portugal; Ministero Della Cultura, Italy; Save the Children Italia, Italy.