June Bianchi, ArtsTogether UK coordinator and Work Package 2 ArtsTogether Curriculum leader visited Mexico in July 2019 to disseminate the ArtsTogether project and share experiences with comparative Mexican inclusive arts educational projects.
June attended the Common Ground international conference ‘Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Global Flows Diversified Realities’ (https://thesocialsciences.com/about/history/2019-conference) on 10-12 July in Universidad Autonoma Metroplitana Unidad, Mexico City. She presented a research paper, to the international delegates, entitled ‘ArtsTogether Inclusive Curriculum: Promoting Integration within European Migrant Communities’ which disseminated the development of the two-year ArtsTogether project, funded by the European Commission’s Asylum Migration and Integration Fund. June’s presentation outlined the ArtsTogether Curriculum’s fostering of diversity, mutual understanding, and development of migrant students’ self-esteem, literacy and creativity, alongside enhancing the experience of local communities. ArtsTogether’s partnership of five European countries, promotes societal integration through innovative, expressive arts education, challenging discrimination, and increasing third country nationals’ participation in educational, cultural and social engagement.
June then attended a symposium to build interdisciplinary links and share the ethos and outcomes of ArtsTogether’s inclusive Curriculum at Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC), Ciudad de Mexico Campus (https://tec.mx/en) where she met with Julio Rubio, Regional Dean TEC, Humanities and Education and Ana Esther Gutierrez, TEC International Programs. The advancement of social engagement and action, citizenship qualities, and sustainability are shared features in both ArtsTogether and TEC’s innovative academic and voluntary programmes. TEC delegates were impressed with ArtsTogether’s rationale and outcomes and its current status, being piloted within migrant centres and camps, schools, nurseries, and community settings in Sicily and Greece, were discussed. This focus had resonance with TEC’s Chiapas semester programme, fostering participation and building social, economic and environmental value within marginalised communities (http://www.chs.itesm.mx/experiencia-i/pdf/TecSemester.pdf ).
During her tour of Mexico June was able to share ArtsTogether Project philosophy and curriculum with a number of international participants. She visited Calle 19, a community art program in the local community area of Playa del Carmen, where volunteers from the local and international community developed a restaurant El Hongo and arts centre complex to revitalize the neighbourhood and inspire youth to take part in programs to develop their skills and give them confidence for a brighter future. Programmes include art and cooking lessons, tailored to youth ages 6-15 years in Playa, fostering creativity and supporting sustainability and development in their neighbourhoods (https://planeterra.org/what-we-do/our-projects/el-hongo/). These values and strategies shared close links with ArtsTogether’s rationale and outcomes.