Building the foundations of the ICARE approach

Before adults with migrant backgrounds begin creating participatory artistic and cultural projects across Europe, we first need to understand what makes such collaboration meaningful, inclusive and educational. That is the focus of the current phase of the ICARE project.

The most visible parts of the project are still ahead: an international “Art Camp” training programme, participatory cultural projects in the partner countries with accompanying programmes, and a practical manual for educators and practitioners. Their success depends on the work taking place now. During the current first stage, the consortium is developing the educational approach that will guide all later phases.

The ICARE team brings together perspectives from intercultural education, participatory learning and cultural mediation, complemented by approaches such as translanguaging, social and emotional learning, resilience, and creative project-based learning. Together, these form a practical framework for learning that values participants’ diverse linguistic, cultural and personal experiences.

One principle underpins the whole approach: adults with migrant backgrounds are not passive recipients of educational or cultural programmes. They are active partners and creative co-authors who reinterpret cultural heritage through their own perspectives, experiences and stories. The approach therefore focuses not only on learning outcomes, but mainly on participation, dialogue and shared creative process.

ICARE does not start from scratch. The project builds on valuable experience gained through previous initiatives, including the Erasmus+ project PILLOT, the research of Katarzyna Žák-Caplot (Museum of Warsaw) on teaching Polish as a foreign language in museum spaces, and the educational experiments “Moje muzeum, moja opowieść” and “Wsłuchaj się w muzeum”. It also draws inspiration from other partners’ practice, such as the AMIR project by Stazione Utopia, where people with migrant experience work as cultural mediators in cultural institutions. ICARE draws these experiences together to develop an approach that can be applied in different educational and cultural contexts across Europe.

Research in ICARE is not limited to academic sources. In each partner country, we are conducting interviews and group discussions with educators, cultural professionals, and adults with migrant backgrounds. Their experiences, expectations and ideas are an essential part of the process. By listening to those who will eventually work with the approach, we aim to ensure that it responds to real needs rather than theoretical assumptions alone.

The result of this phase will be a participatory framework that combines language learning, key competences, cultural mediation and creative project work. It is designed for a wide range of settings, from cultural and art spaces and community centres to libraries, museums and adult education programmes, and flexible enough to support adults with different cultural backgrounds, educational experiences and levels of language proficiency.

Before moving into practice, the approach will be reviewed by external experts in adult education, language education, cultural mediation and psychological support for people with migrant and refugee backgrounds. Their feedback will help us strengthen it before it is tested in the next stages of the project.

The coming phase will bring the approach to life through an international “Art Camp” training activity and four participatory cultural projects developed together with adults with migrant backgrounds in the partner countries. These activities will allow the consortium to test, refine and further develop it in real educational settings. The experience gained throughout the process will then be captured in a practical manual that will remain openly available for educators and cultural institutions across Europe.

Reinterpreting cultural heritage begins with rethinking how we learn together, whose voices are included, and who has the opportunity to shape cultural narratives. Building these foundations is the purpose of the current phase of ICARE, and the first step towards creating more inclusive educational and cultural spaces.