Conference Program

This paper presents an art-based educational and therapeutic project developed primarily by Roma activists, reflecting broader forms of Roma civil rights mobilization and community self-advocacy documented across Europe (Kóczé & Ryder, 2019), aimed at fostering children’s awareness of their ethnic and cultural identity. While the long-term goal is the preservation and intergenerational transmission of Roma cultural heritage, the project also promotes the development of a bicultural identity (Roma and Italian), although most families already hold Italian citizenship. The issue at stake is therefore not formal citizenship but symbolic recognition and the possibility of negotiating multiple belongings within a context of structural marginalization.

The project was carried out during the 2023/2024 academic year at the COT (Center for Temporary Hospitality) on Via Novara in Milan and involved approximately fifteen Roma children of different ages. The families experienced severe disruption following the dismantling of long-established camps where extended family networks had lived together. Over the past four decades, Italian municipalities have concentrated Roma populations—often citizens not formally recognized as a minority—into peripheral “camps.” These environments are associated with systemic marginalization, informal economies, precarious housing conditions, and high levels of school dropout, as highlighted in socio-institutional analyses of educational inequality (Besozzi, 2017).

Within this context, school attendance is often intermittent due to material constraints and mobility patterns. The current EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies (NRIS) (European Commission, 2020) promotes the dismantling of camps in favor of individual housing solutions; however, many Italian Roma families resist such arrangements, expressing a preference for communal living. This tension reveals a crucial point: educational inclusion cannot be addressed solely at the level of the individual child or family but must engage broader community structures and forms of social organization.

In response to these challenges, the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, through its Artistic Therapeutics course and in collaboration with the association Upre Roma, designed an art workshop centered on Romani fairy tales. The project was conceived as a symbolic act of cultural recognition. Stories were read collectively and illustrated by the children with the support of trainee students and educators. The drawings were later transformed into sculptural and installation works, translating graphic gestures into three-dimensional forms and enabling collective reinterpretation of narrative imagery.

The methodological approach prioritized process over technical skill, emphasizing experiential engagement with materials, relational quality, and the expressive capacities of each participant (Leavy, 2018). The workshop fostered empowerment during a period of transition and instability, increasing agency within structurally unequal contexts (Thompson, 2015).

The resulting artworks were exhibited at the Del Sarenge Festival—the first Roma festival, held in Milan—offering public visibility to narratives that often remain marginalized. Drawing on interviews with participants and organizers, the paper discusses outcomes and challenges, highlighting the potential of arts-based educational practices to address educational poverty and social exclusion through identity support, community engagement, and the creation of inclusive public spaces.

This paper presents the findings of a sub-case study from the international research project CliViE (Cultural Literacies' Value in Europe) Horizont Europe. The case study took place in the first half of 2025 at the low-threshold club Mixér run by People in Need in Předlice, the suburb of Ústí nad Labem (Northern Bohemia), known as one of the largest social ghettos in the Czech Republic. As part of the study, we sought to give a voice to children from this marginalized community (primarily Roma children) and, through a series of creative workshops, explore their views on life in the city. Together with them, we sought to find answers to the following questions: How do children perceive the phenomenon of the city and public space? What are their experiences of life in this particular neighborhood? Are they interested in public space?

The contribution will focus on the visual analysis of the resulting artifacts (drawings, Polaroid photographs) together with an analysis of interviews conducted with clients of the low-threshold center. It will also focus on the analysis of professional discourse in this area. Research of professional materials shows that activities supporting the development of artistic and creative sensitivity, i.e., the general development of cultural competencies in socially excluded localities, are framed therapeutically. This is demonstrated by theses written at the faculties of education of various Czech universities and specialist books on art therapy (Blabolová, 2011; Hroudová, 2022; Kenardžievová & Havránková, 1996), in which art is not primarily perceived as a form of education and personal development with significant positive consequences for the community and social environment, but as a form of therapy.

The results of creative workshops focused on reflecting on the city (the excluded locality of Předlice, Ústí nad Labem) together with subsequent unstructured interviews showed that children, clients of low-threshold facilities, may have different starting positions and socioeconomic situations than children from the majority society, but they are able to define the positive and negative aspects of the place where they live. They are able to think about its past and present and further process these topics using artistic means according to their own abilities and skills. Their life situation does not automatically predetermine them for therapeutic or diagnostic procedures within the framework of artistic or general cultural activities and workshops, within the framework of art education. The workshops and their outputs also show that art education activities can be an important tool for building a relationship with public space and developing cultural literacy.

This paper originates within the Horizon project “Alphabetica - Activating learning paths: holistic arts-based education and training for inclusion and cultural awareness” and presents the results of a study aimed at exploring the role of participatory artistic practices in fostering processes of social inclusion, critical awareness, and climate justice among adolescents (aged 11–14) in three lower secondary schools in Emilia-Romagna affected by the May 2023 flood events.
The floods are framed not as isolated disasters but as symptoms of wider systemic crises requiring a rethinking of educational and cultural paradigms. Within this context, young people are understood as intersectionally vulnerable: disproportionately exposed to climate risks across class, gender, and geography (Cripps, 2022; Sultana, 2022), and simultaneously marginalized through epistemic and intergenerational injustices that infantilize them and exclude them from decision-making arenas (Thew et al., 2020; Singh et al., 2025).
The pilot action involved 80 students across three distinct territorial contexts: an urban neighborhood in Bologna affected by river overflow, a mountainous Apennine area marked by landslides and infrastructural isolation, and the Emilia-Romagna lowlands characterized by widespread flooding. Through an open call, three artistic projects were selected to operate in these contexts: a performative workshop which, through body listening, visual collage, and creative writing, culminated in a public march as a form of symbolic reappropriation of the territory; a photography-based project centered on the manipulation of flood images through tearing and recomposition in order to build a layered collective visual memory; and a collective comics workshop that produced an anthology conveying the complexity of the flood experience through adolescent perspectives. Through questionnaires, participant observation, focus groups with students, and the co-production of artistic materials (Leavy, 2015), the research explored the capacity of artistic practices to translate traumatic experiences and to give voice to embodied, extra-academic forms of knowledge (de Sousa Santos, 2016). Preliminary findings highlight three relevant dimensions: (1) the development of critical and relational skills through collective creative processes in which students experienced horizontal forms of collaboration that challenge dominant adult-centric logics; (2) the ability of the arts to connect personal memory and systemic reflection, transforming trauma into a lever for deeper awareness of socio-environmental inequalities; and (3) the construction of new alliances among schools, artists, and local communities as sites of care and cultural transformation (Singh et al., 2025).

This presentation examines the findings of field research conducted within the framework of the Horizon Europe programme research project “Cultural Literacies’ Value in Europe” (CLiViE) (No.101132285). Currently, social inclusion and tolerance face major and growing challenges across Europe. In Latvia, the tensions between ethnic and linguistic communities have intensified, partly exacerbated by the geopolitical pressures generated by Russia’s war on Ukraine (Budrytė 2023). The research project CLiViE responds directly to these challenges by applying a theory of change methodology (Connell and Kubisch 1998; Harris 2005) to support meaningful social transformation towards social inclusion. While it is possible to apply a theory of change from different perspectives and in different ways, this study focuses on sector or target group theory of change, i.e., the research is focused on how change happens when activities are implemented within a target group (Reeler 2007). This presentation analyses activity “The Other in Art and Life” addressed to young people, implemented in collaboration with non-academic organisation, namely, Marko Rothko Museum in Daugavpils (Latvia). The activity engaged youth aged 16‑18 (n=30) recruited from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, including Latvian, Russian, and Belarusian-speaking families. Based on a theory of change, the researchers locate this activity within a wider analysis of how change comes about, draw on external learning about development and how change happens at different levels, and articulate their understanding of change. The theory of change as an approach demonstrates the importance of understanding both what changes it is helping to bring about and also how those changes happen. The study conducted in Latvia shows how non-formal art-based education can function as a platform for social inclusion. Through creative practices young people encounter multiple perspectives on ways of living in the world. These encounters can challenge dominant narratives, stimulate critical reflection and deepen empathy by allowing learners to inhabit experiences different from their own. Arts-based pedagogies also encourage co-learning, collaboration and learner agency, providing spaces where young people can explore cultural diversity in dialogic and transformative ways. The research conducted in Latvia shows that cultural literacy fosters critical awareness, empathy and the ability to navigate diverse social environments, all of which are essential for constructive intercultural dialogue, and social inclusion. Cultural literacy enables learners to interpret cultural meanings, question assumptions and understand how identities are shaped within social, historical and political contexts. These abilities are essential for fostering productive intercultural dialogue and for cultivating the attitudes of openness, curiosity and respect that underpin mutual understanding. In diverse societies, such competencies can help counter polarisation, reduce prejudice and support the broader goals of social cohesion and tolerance. By equipping young learners with the tools to interpret cultural differences thoughtfully and respectfully, art-based educative initiatives contribute to mutual understanding and help counteract stereotypes, prejudice and exclusion.

Civic education has recently been reintroduced into the school curricula of all levels. Ministerial guidelines (MIM, 2024) outline a very broad framework covering various themes, leaving class councils the task of developing a specific curriculum for each class, involving students in 33 annual hours.

Some middle schools in Genoa and the surrounding areas have taken the opportunity provided by the project "Lo Spettacolo Siamo Noi" (LSSN, in English “We are the show”), supported by the Edoardo Garrone Foundation, to engage their students in a program that combines the production of a theatrical performance with philosophical reflections, according to the practice of Philosophy for Children (PFC; Bevilacqua e Casarini, 2021). The objective is to involve students in a journey of youth leadership that develops both critical and creative thinking while simultaneously strengthening teamwork skills. The idea of involving students in an intensive artistic program stems from an increasingly substantial body of literature highlighting the multiple benefits of various art forms in terms of health, support for social cohesion, and well-being (Fancourt D, Finn S., 2019).

The program consists of 15 sessions (11 theatre and 4 PFC) and is led by experts in PFC methodology alongside actors and directors from Teatro del Piccione. Since the 2024/25 school year, the project has involved 24 classes across 15 schools – most of which located in disadvantaged contexts – and is accompanied by an analysis aimed at estimating—using a counterfactual approach (Martini e Sisti, 2009)—the program's impact on ten dimensions of interest. These are measured through a questionnaire administered to students, covering: interpersonal behaviour, listening skills, the ability to ask questions, argumentation skills, emotional intelligence, self-determination, school well-being, creativity and curiosity, artistic aptitudes, and cultural engagement.

During the first year, research activities were dedicated to identifying outcome variables, developing the questionnaire, and testing the organizational framework. The 2025/26 school year is instead dedicated to the counterfactual analysis involving 24 "treatment" classes and 27 "control" classes using a difference-in-difference design; the questionnaire is administered to all students both before the start of activities and upon completion. The research design is completed by a questionnaire administered to teachers of the treatment classes—aimed at identifying satisfaction and critical issues of the proposed intervention—and a questionnaire for teachers of the control classes, designed to record the civic education program implemented in classes not involved in the intervention.

This contribution intends to describe the proposed program, the research design, and the preliminary results of the analysis.

This is an ongoing research project that presents a case study, the participatory art project Sottobanco, in which art-based methodologies are used to promote sexual and emotional education among adolescents. The main aim of the research is to explore the link between the artistic and educational processes, and their ability to enhance the quality of the experience and transform social conditions. This research also aims to highlight the importance of creating educational spaces based on consent and mutual care, in order to encourage the participation of individuals who struggle to find a space for expression and action within the school system. From a methodological point of view, the ongoing research is conceived as a case study that uses as tools an auto-ethnographic diary, interviews, collages and photographic documents of the process. Sottobanco is conceived by artist Tea Andreoletti and produced by the Orlando Festival of Visual and Performing Arts in Bergamo, and involves the creation of a performative installation that imagines a self-managed sex and emotional education class set up in the public space of Piazza della Libertà in Bergamo during the Orlando Festival that will be held in May 2026. Sottobanco is co-created with two groups of students aged between 16 and 18 who come from areas that are usually marginalized in terms of cultural activities, namely the upper Seriana Valley and in the eastern plain of the province of Bergamo. It arose from the need to find creative and collective responses to the growing restrictions imposed on sex and emotional education in schools and to bring the knowledge of adolescents into the public arena, opening up the walls of the classroom. Sottobanco involves the creation of a temporary community based on consent and collective responsibility, made up of adolescents and the adults involved (the artist herself, an intern from the Academy of Fine Arts, an educator and a researcher), who share rules, urgent issues on sexuality and practices to navigate the world of affections. The project embraces a broad vision of sexuality (cognitive, emotional, physical and social) and an intersectional view of gender and aims to promote the self-determination of each person in pursuing their own sexual well-being. Gender and sexual orientation can become factors in social exclusion due to systematic discrimination, stereotypes and cultural norms that limit opportunities for women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially for young people. The use of participatory art has both ethical and aesthetic aims and seeks to create a collectively negotiated space of social engagement that can reduce discrimination and epistemic injustice.

Mainstream approaches to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in organizations often rely on formal training and cognitive learning models that struggle to address the complexity of marginalization and inequality. Recent scholarship highlights the limitations of traditional diversity management programs, which tend to produce limited behavioral change and may even generate resistance (Dobbin & Kalev, 2022). In response, researchers have increasingly explored experiential and arts-based pedagogies as alternative ways to foster reflexive learning about diversity and inclusion (Springborg & Ladkin, 2018; Meltzer, 2022). Building on this perspective, this paper investigates how dance-based learning methodologies can enable participants to reflect critically on inclusion, marginalization, and diversity.

The study examines nine workshops organized across three editions of an Italian dance festival dedicated to artistic experimentation and education between 2023 and 2025. Workshops were led by professional choreographers and combined movement-based inquiry, embodied reflection, and dialogical exchange. The research adopts an affective ethnographic methodology (Gherardi, 2017; Holck & Villeseche, 2023), allowing the researchers to capture the socio-material and emotional dynamics emerging during the workshops. Data collection included participant observation, audiovisual field notes from recordings of workshops and informal interactions, and semi-structured interviews with participants and choreographers. This approach enables the study to explore how embodied practices, emotions, and relational encounters shape learning processes related to inclusion.

The findings identify a three-stage process through which dance-based methodologies foster reflective learning about diversity. First, workshops create what we conceptualize as authenticity grounding, a mode of interaction that prioritizes direct human engagement, simplicity of communication, and shared vulnerability. Choreographers organize learning prompts through embodied metaphors, inclusive imagery, and the deliberate staging of tensions or contradictions within artistic practices. These socio-material cues activate a second layer of mechanisms based on affective responses. Participants report experiences of alertness, empathy, and attunement, which together foster emotional engagement and relational awareness. Affective responses enable learners to access personal memories, confront discomfort, and develop new sensibilities toward difference.

These affective dynamics subsequently trigger generative connections, cognitive processes that allow participants to reinterpret social categories, question normative assumptions, and read relational dynamics within collective settings. Through contrasts, embodied observation, and shared reflection, participants engage with themes such as gender, race, power relations, and exclusion in ways that differ from conventional diversity training. Ultimately, these mechanisms produce a reconceptualization of inclusion as a continuous learning process, rather than a static competence or organizational policy. Participants learn to recognize power relations embedded in everyday interactions and to legitimize individual biographies as sources of knowledge about marginalization and belonging.

By unpacking the mechanisms through which dance-based pedagogies activate reflective learning about diversity, this research contributes to debates on arts-based education and inclusive learning. It demonstrates how embodied practices can challenge the limitations of traditional DEI training by creating spaces where emotional, relational, and cognitive dimensions of learning intersect. In doing so, the study advances our understanding of how arts-based methods can support more critical, participatory, and socially responsive forms of education aimed at addressing inequality and fostering democratic learning environments.