The Gargasindi School is a special education centre located in Calp (Alicante) which educates diverse students with special educational needs from 3 to 21 years old. It is for this reason that our main goal as an educational and transformative-of-society centre is the indivdiual development of each of our students in order to get a full inclusion and social involvment of them.Newly celebrated the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the philosophy of our centre could not be better fitted with the commitment to the drama and, in general, to the arts as a basic means to provide our students chances to develop new ways of communication, expression and inclusion in the social environment. Drama has a positive impact at an educational level as a personal one, in terms of self-steem and motivation, communication and expression, and use of their possibilities and abilities because they become the starting point for the pattern of the activities; as well as a social level. The effect in this field is related to the own nature of the activity since it includes all the individualities from a teamwork; at the same time the activity makes sense when it is obtained a final product that will be played in front of the audience in general, which obtains a social visibility, overcoming of prejudices and, as a last target, social transformation.Finally but not least, drama offers us the chance to develope all thos contents needed for the established curricular model, providing with coherence the different working fields as the work is done in a crossing and functional way.But the effort for the social transformation can not be only from the educational scope, but it must be shared and it must include all the members of the Community in a wide sense, that is, organizations, associations and institutions which involve professionals from different social fields.This offers us a favourable frame to propose the work among European partners which includes the formal scope and non-formal scope as well in education through those associations which share a project in common: the specialization in the drama field and arts with people with disabilities in order to promote the personal development and the social inclusion of the participants. For this reason we have chosen ÁRATOS company from Thessaloniky (Greece) and TSVETE Theater in Sofia (Bulgary) with which it will be developed a project divided in two stages: a first course dedicated to the drama and arts training workshops in each of the partner organizations' headquarters and a second course dedicated to the rehearsal and performance of those plays designed by each of the partner institutions. These plays will be recorded in digital content for its divulgation in social networks and also in DVD format for its later broadcasting.The protagonists of these actions will be the 36 students/users from the participating organizations (12 different students or users from each one) who will participate in the training workshops as well as the performance of the play, accompanied during the mobilities by 2 coordinating professionals from each institution. Nevertheless, the nature of the proposed activities allows a greater impact, not only involving the rest of the students/users who are not direct beneficiary but also at a social level, taking into account that they will produce cultural content which will be difussed among the audience in general. Regarding the rest of students and users, they will benefit due to the enrichment of drama methods and techinques as a consequence of the contribution of the participating associates; and also due to the mobilities which will take place in their headquarters, since they provide the same chance to interrelate and meet people from other countries and cultures. Apart from the impact mentioned before at a personal development and participation and social inclusion, it is also expected to obtain in a long term a greater implication of the educational and regional authorities in oder to value the arts in general and drama in particular as a way to gain social transformation; as well as achieve a multiplier effect of these practices in formal and non-formal contexts to offer more and better chances not only of social participation (leisure activities and free time) but also of promoting job ocupation for people with disabilities.

"Theatre Pitching for Employment (THE PITCH) is an international Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnership focused on sharing knowledge and practice of “pitching” between partner organisations from Croatia (Zagreb), Turkey (Antalya), Slovenia (Maribor), Poland (Krakow), and two from Greece (Thessaloniki and Athens). More precisely, it is a partnership of NGO's, public cultural organisations, tertiary education institutions, and organisations working with/for the unemployed, who have come together to share their knowledge and achieve their compatible educational goals through combining drama and inclusive practices with exciting presentation technique of ""pitching"". Pitching is one of the most important skills at the labour market (if not The crucial one) – as anyone who has looked for a job can attest for. Knowing how to present yourself (or your project) in a concise, confident and interesting way can make or break job interviews, crowdfunding opportunities, and project presentations. By having their educators join these workshops, partner organisations raise their human resources (by raising the self-esteem and soft- skills of their educators) and improve their and EU Key competences (especially social and civic competences, cultural awareness and expression, entrepreneurship, English language etc.). To achieve its educational and sharing goals, each of the partner organisations hosted one short-term learning, teaching, and training programmes (LTT, i.e. educational theatre pitching workshops). The educational process in these workshops gave pitching a little “twist”, in order to make it “real” -each of the workshops ended with a Pitching forum – a live pitching programme that was livestreamed online to a global audience of interested individuals. Pitching forums were run by local jury panels who gave the participants positive feedback on their pitch – which ensured competitive and fun educational environment for the participants. Feeling positive, participants pitched (presented) their project proposals for tackling some of explored topics of marginalised people at a labour market in Europe. As such, Pitching Forums were not only also sites of training for educators and marginalised groups, but also sites for promotion of creativity, EU and European values.In order to act inclusively, each partner made sure to address one of the local issues of marginalisation and discrimination at the labour market, and involved few members of the local marginalised groups in workshops – as local participants (mostly unemployed youth and people with disability).Regardless if they are local or international participants, participants’ feedback shows that joining THE PITCH workshops contributed to raising of their self-esteem, thought them new and useful skills (be it in their work as educators, or at the labour market). Participants learned how to use their body language and nonverbal communication and improve their pitch – effectively helping them in their educational work and/or at the labour market. Having to present their own projects in front of a live (online) audience, in a fast-changing format and in English language, was experience that developed their personal and professional skills and/or motivated them to join the labour market or even start their own business.Empowered by this experience, participants organised local presentations and workshops where they transferred their newly gained knowledge from international to local level. It must be said that this partnership was heavily influenced by force majeure circumstances since long before COVID-19, and it still managed to finish most of what was planned – empowering partner organisations additionally, supporting their future cooperation, and teaching them to be open to use of online education.In total, seven educational workshops (7 LTT) were held, where 112 participants (those on international mobilities and local participants), including participants with fewer opportunities (4) and participants with disability (7) got to learn pitching and not only learn but also act inclusively. Additionally, partners hosted three (3) transnational project meetings (TPM) intended for monitoring, planning, and management. This ensured continuous communication and monitoring, which proved to be crucial in these difficult times of COVID-19.Even though this partnership was held under difficult circumstances (force majeure caused problems since 2019: exit of the Polish partner, earthquakes in Croatia, and COVID-19), partners finished their plan and produced educational materials, e-Manuals (7) and e-Videos (7) from each of the workshops that are published, alongside recordings of livestreams of all Pitching Forums (7), and remain free open sources available at EU platforms (EPALE, SALTO, and VALOR platforms), and on partners’ websites and social media. Everyone who is interested can use them and pitch for Europe!"

"EDUCATHE+ is a partnership of eight partners from six EU member states and one partner country who strive to enhance employment of people with disability (PWD) through use of educational theatre. This method enables us to empower people with disability by developing their Key Competences, share old and develop new methods, and enhance visibility of people with disability who are usually left on margins of the labour market due to prejudice. Disability is a social issue that has been addressed significantly by the EU in the recent years but what is lacking still is the notion among employers that being disabled is not being unable to work. As organizations with years of experience in working with and for disabled people, we find that this prejudice persists because of lack of interaction between the disabled and the ""non-disabled"". During our projects (on local and EU level), we have always found that a goal oriented interaction between ""non-disabled"" and disabled people results in higher levels of mutual understanding, cooperation and even employment and, on the other hand, lower levels of prejudice and subsequent discrimination. The basic method (""Educational theatre as the place for overcoming discrimination of PWD - EDUCATHE) was developed on that principles in 2008 and it has a profound educational and life altering impact on ""non-disabled"", disabled and educators alike. It is an open method that welcomes new input – which is especially important in order to capture the needs of different local communities in the EU. Therefore, this partnership will be used to share methods and enrich them through shared experience of partners, all the while expanding the subject from field of education to the field of employment. Built on a proven method that allows all partners to include their method, this partnership will give a new dimension and produce an added value of European stature for all those involved as we will directly involve learners and educators who are disabled and ""non-disabled"" and indirectly the general public, media and legislators (through our performances) - therefore addressing all ""stakeholders"" of this social issue.In total of 40 days of 8 international educational workshops, participants will undergo 112 mobilities (with 31 of those made by PWD), share/innovate practices and develop 8 theatre public-dissemination performances and raise public awareness of economic discrimination of disabled people - all the while receiving numerous ""soft-skills"" described by the EU Key Competences necessary for raising employment. Performances will be site-specific and held in locations that symbolize connection between the EU and the local country – which will add an additional EU dimension. Our performances will engage the audience and be meeting places where disabled people and the general public can interact and discuss – during and after the performances.Our performances will be recorded and disseminated on our web platform and all those interested in working with disabled and using theatre for educational purposes will be able to freely access online this knowledge and other materials produced by this partnership: E+ Toolbox, E+ educational video, E+ documentary. The outputs of our partnership will be built throughout the duration of the project and will include practices, exercises, experiences, interviews and methodologies that partners have brought into the project as their own contribution (e.g. their style of education theatre). In that way, partners will create a new mix-methodology for working with the disabled, promoting inclusion and employment. Beside our workshops that will produce public performances and reach the public, we will have three staff meetings to ensure quality project management and, equally important, give this partnership an additional, final media conference after 8 dissemination performances held in partner organizations. We are proud that this partnership has been built on values of transparent democracy, equality and solidarity which, we feel, is a mirror for what Europe strives for. By combining those principles with theatre workshops to achieve a goal of overcoming social prejudice and enhancing employability of disabled people (by making their abilities visible and rendering their physical/mental predicament less important in the eye of the employers) is something we want to encourage other organizations to do. We see this partnership as a basis to build a common future network for organizations who address the needs of the disabled and work in education & culture to improve employability of PWD. We use this opportunity to invite all interested organizations and individuals who work with, for, or advocate rights of disabled persons (and other marginalized groups) to contact and join us during the project and afterwards - when we plan to take a third step and spread the results of EDUCATHE + method across Europe and its adult education system."

The consequences of Covid-19 crisis outdistanced not only the ordinary lives of citizens but also the regular interaction between different educational, socio-economic and cultural sectors. One of the hardest radical changes of this “social breakdown” impacted the linkage between the fields of adult education of persons with disabilities and the cultural and creative institutions. Along with the springtime confinement and even after the severe lockdown in Europe, adult persons with disabilities ceased any possibility to take part in intercultural activities either in their own educational settings or at the premises of artistic institutions. At the same time, professionals and actors from the creative field were prevented to reach the most disadvantaged groups and offer them artistic and cultural pedagogical programmes, which often turn to be a unique channel of inclusive education and skills development. The REVIVAL project represents an innovative and practical response to this inter-sectoral gap and aims at opening new pathways of educational interaction between the creative sector and the adult disability world. Leveraging from the successful LET IT BE project (2018-1-ES01-KA204-050049), the partners – both educational and creative organizations – will develop a digital theatre education course and artistic works for adults with disabilities that will be available in an online creative collaborative platform. In addition to the virtual theatre education, the REVIVAL project will equip adult learners and organizations with a wide range of participatory opportunities overcoming the long-lasting Covid-19 barriers: - promoting physical and virtual accessibility to local cultural events, particularly to adults with disabilities;- collecting and disseminating at local, national and European level audio and video documentation on cultural and artistic events and on artists' works, acting as a fly-wheel for the career of artists and visibility of local cultural actors;- encouraging the organisation of creative and cultural events at adult educational settings, representing an “e-bridge” between cultural institutions and socio-educational centers, guiding towards sound compliance with Covid-19 security measures. In doing so, the REVIVAL project enhances social inclusion through arts and helps the cultural and creative sectors to recover from the crisis in terms of green, more digital and resilient recovery, thereby also contributing to the EU’s strategic priorities.The project will benefit 2 target groups: adult learners with disabilities and theatre operators and artists. Approximately 60 adult learners with disabilities, 15 creative actors and 15 educators, plus additional staff at consortium level will be involved in the strategic partnership, in order to:- develop a digital theatre education course targeted to adult learners with disabilities, accessible through an online creative collaborative platform - IO 1;- compose a Portfolio of inclusive creative works offered from creative actors to adults with disabilities – IO 2;- produce Covid-19 updated Guidelines for the safe and joint organization of cultural activities, in attendance or virtually, between adult education providers and cultural organizations – IO 3;- develop a cooperation protocol between adult education organisations and cultural entities to promote access to creative works to adults with disabilities – IO 4. Besides the 4 aforementioned intellectual outputs, the project will implement 5 transnational meetings and 7 national multiplier events. Additionally, a cycle of theater training activities will be conducted at the local level to put into practice the digital course. One blended mobility of adult learners will be organized, giving the opportunity to persons with disabilities, educational and creative staff to travel, meet and exchange their experiences and knowledge acquired at a national level, strengthening the REVIVAL network.