On September 24th and 25th the final meeting of the Euro Arco project took place in Rome, hosted by Italian partner Mulab. The Euro-Arco Transfer of Innovation Project aims to transfer and adapt innovative vocational practice in the teaching of transferable skills for employment. Euro-arco is a partnership collaboration involving organisations in the UK (WAC Arts and Rinova), Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Portugal.
The project shared and tested the ‘Transferable Skills Toolkit for Trainers’ that was developed by Rinova and WAC Arts and originally funded by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service. The approach involves supporting tutors to identify and capture the key skills for employability that young people, particularly those not in education, employment or trainig, develop through creative and artistic practice.
During this final meeting Dissemination was the key focus with Trainers from each of the Partner countries coming together to host a ‘Masterclass’ for practitioners from formal and non formal training institutions in Rome. This workshop was a great success and participants picked up quickly on the energy and enthusiasm of all those trainers involved in testing and honing the Toolkit, an energy which has been infectious throughout the project.
Partners working together at the final meeting of the Euro-Arco partnership in Rome.
A public event on the second day for key stakeholders from the City of Rome, and the provice of Lazio was well attended despite the unfortunate weather. Speakers were interesting and the variety of styles and content kept the presentations as fresh and interesting as the project itself. The feedback received as a result was been excellent and bodes well for the future in terms of follow-up in Italy. You can view a video presentation of the final event here. A video presentation from the external evaluation of the project, which was conducted by the consultancy Perfect Moment, is available here.
On the first day of the meeting, Rinova hosted a session looking into the legacy of Euro Arco and possibly to it’s future development. WAC and some of the other partners are able to claim a 15 year history of working together on non-formal learning in the creative industries and on fostering social inclusion for young people through the arts.
With youth unemployment levels across Europe remaining stubbornly high, there was a strong sense amongst the partners that the issues addressed by the project remain as important as ever, as they reviewed what they can achieve next. Although it was the last meeting for Euro-Arco, we left the meeting with a very real sense that there is definitely more to come.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
