November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO ART WORK(S): ARTISTS IMPROVE BASIC WORKING SKILLS OF 4 DISADVANTAGED GROUPS ESF-Equal Kunstenaars&CO (Artists & Cultural Entrepreneurship) Amsterdam, the Netherlands Joost Heinsius, manager Knowledge& Innovation

November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO ESF-Equal Goal: reducing distance to labour market Central idea of Art Work(s) project: Artists are able to reach participants on a different level than most training programs (emotions, body-awareness, other ways of communicating) Disadvantaged groups often lack basic working skills: self confidence, self esteem, communication skills Artists are able to improve these skills through artistic methods: acting, singing, making theatre Working with four groups: prisoners, youth at risk, people with a handicap, illiterate migrant women

November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO Project 1: Working with prisoners Main artistic method: singing in a choir Skills involved: listening to each other, working together, being able to follow instructions, performing, improvising Partners: 4 prisons, 45 participants, artists Unique event: male prisoners and female prisoners rehearsed separately, performed together at Art Work(s) conference inside prison. Some already released prisoners came back for performance. None of them had ever received applause before.

November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO Project 2: A theatre performance made by youth at risk Main artistic method: making and performing a theatre play Skills involved: showing yourself, discipline, working together, being sensitive to each other, resolving conlicts in positive way Partners: 9 young people (15-20 yrs), did not finish education, in touch with police, etc., theatre director and stage crew, re- integration service 34 performances on festivals and in theatres in Netherlands, 2 participants went on in acting

November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO Project 3: People with handicap perform better in restaurant Main artistic method: use theatre training techniques to help handicapped people perform better in restaurant Skills involved: improvisation, listening to needs of others, flexibility, concentration Partners: restaurant, 11 participants (mental or psychiatric handicap), theatre director, musicians Significant improvement in working skills and working pleasure

November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO Project 4: teaching Dutch language to illiterate migrant women Main artistic method: using theatre training methods (body awareness, pronunciation, sound, role playing) Skills involved: learning more words, better pronunciation, experience talking Dutch in real life situations Partners: Education center, 2 actresses, 11 participants. Actresses worked complementary to obligatory language training course for immigrants Method now commissioned by other city

November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO Research into effects of projects Educational institute of University of Amsterdam Collection of data at start and end of each project Data consist of questionnaires, interviews, structured assessments by researcher, artist and mentor Research problems: small groups, changing population (f.e. prisoners leaving prison), questionnaires did not show much result

November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO Results of research In all 4 projects most participants showed progress according to artists and mentors In 2 projects assessments showed statistically sound improvement: working with people with handicaps in restaurant and working on language with illiterate migrant women Improvement in social skills and self confidence in both pilots, ‘speech’ in language project and improvisation in restaurant project

November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO Conclusions Projects which focussed more on product (performance for both youth and prisoners) and artistic result could not show scientific proven result Projects which focussed more on learning process and less on ‘art’ showed clear improvement for participants. When asked large majority of participants say their self confidence has grown. Art Work(s) has proven that artists are capable of improving competencies of disadvantaged groups. Art really Works!!

November Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO Kunstenaars&CO Mission: economic independance for artists through 1. Competence building 2. Developing new markets Joost Heinsius