Participants
- La Panera Art Centre, Lleida.
- CDAN (Art and Nature Centre), Huesca.
- Es Baluard, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Palma.
- ARTIUM, the Basque Museum and Centre of Contemporary Art, Vitoria-Gasteiz.
- Picasso Museum, Barcelona.
Background
This research group grew out of the Network of Exchanges between Special Education Programmes Run by Contemporary Art Centres in the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, which operated in the years 2008 and 2009. This initiative was set in motion by the La Panera Art Centre and was run in conjunction with the CDAN (Art and Nature Centre) in Huesca, Es Baluard Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Palma and the Languedoc-Roussillon Regional Centre of Contemporary Art in Sète, France.
During this period, experiences were analysed, studied and shared, with advice from professionals working in the social realm and the field of health, with the intention of establishing a theoretical proposal common to the educational programmes offered by contemporary art centres and museums for people with learning disabilities, mental disorders or other diseases.
This collaborative work continued in 2010 thanks to a second round of financial support but without the Languedoc-Roussillon Regional Centre of Contemporary Art in Sète, which was replaced by the 3bisF centre in Montpellier. During this second period of subsidy, the area of work pursued was Art and Hospitals.
The excellent results of this networking, which made it possible for the art centres to launch new educational programmes, demonstrated the need for a permanent channel of collaboration between centres’ education services in the various areas in which they operate: formal education, informal education, the social realm, health and hospitals.
Early days
The group was launched on 17 September 2010 at its first meeting, held in the La Panera Art Centre, the driving force behind the initiative. ARTIUM was invited to join the group during this gathering, at which activities for special audiences were presented,. The Picasso Museum in Barcelona hosted the second meeting, at which the educational team of its Research Group joined the initiative. The chosen theme was “young people in museums”. At the present time, there are five member centres of the group and it is hoped that other centres will join the project in the future.
Aims of the group
- To establish areas of research related to the educational projects run by the various centres, to share and to incorporate new referents, initially at a national level but also internationally, which will contribute to improving our educational practices. This will be achieved through collaborative ventures.
- To promote the continuing training of the staff in the educational services in the member centres.
- To promote publications that reflect the group’s activity.
- To promote innovative projects related to artistic education, such projects to be co-produced by the member centres of this group. Examples of these projects include:
- training activities (courses and seminars) and touring artistic workshops or displays of educational projects organised at the various centres.
All of these projects will serve to aid the professional development of the teams in the member museums and centres.
Areas of research launched
- Artistic projects arising from collaboration between social bodies and museum institutions.
- The involvement of young people in the programming of art museums and centres.
- Profesional development for teachers.
- The school curriculum.
Links
La Panera Art Centre, Lleida
CDAN (Art and Nature Centre), Huesca
Es Baluard, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Palma
Picasso Museum, Barcelona