Paint The Change

The effectiveness of unconventional activities and in particular of activities related to free artistic and creative expression as therapy and rehabilitation tools is a staple in the treatment pathways for the most diverse physical and mental pathologies. In detail, the “concept” proposed in the project is ART BRUT invented in 1945 by Jean Dubuffet to indicate the artistic productions made by non-professionals or users of the psychiatric hospital, operating outside the conventional aesthetic standards, and valued in the experience of MAI – Museum of Irregular Art founded in 2013 which also hosts contemporary works by unpublished artists, active in health centers, psychiatric and neurological rehabilitation centers, ateliers in protected places and day centers or in atypical and original situations.

The IDEA underlying «PAINT THE CHANGE» project, therefore, arises from a shared need of the services for users suffering from psychiatric disorders (and / or persons with psychic disabilities who have committed offenses), to implement further on a transnational level, the experience that Phoenix cooperative has initiated as a pilot test at a local level, enhancing the potential of ART BRUT classrooms, not only therapeutic opportunities but also social inclusion opportunities for the mentally disabled, direct beneficiaries of the project activities.

In line with Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda to promote continuous learning opportunities for all and ensure equal access to all, including people with disabilities, the SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES of the project are:

Improve and extend the provision of high-quality learning opportunities tailored to the needs of low or unqualified adults with psychic and social disadvantage, training staff of social and health services about art-based learning and therapeutic activities (linked to Priority: ADU: Improving the competences of educators and other adult education staff).
Develop skills related to artistic production within the services for psychiatric patients, through the experimentation of the «artistic residences» model (linked to Priority ADU: Creating and promoting learning opportunities among all citizens and generations).
Promote lifelong learning for psychiatric patients (linked to Priority: HORIZONTAL Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sports).
Promote the social inclusion of psychiatric patients through the development of technical-artistic, social and transversal skills (linked to Priority: HORIZONTAL Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sports).
Enhance Art Brut and Outsider art, both through individual artists and through collective public art events, with the involvement of the Community to face the issue of «social danger» in an open way and to build and share relationships (linked to Priority: HORIZONTAL Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sports).

THE PAINT THE CHANGE PROJECT IS CO-FUNDED BY THE ERASMUS+ PROGRAM OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.