The CULTURAD project aims at addressing the danger of radicalization and the importance of civic engagement among young people in the EU as well as exploring new, innovative and effective ways of involving them in the community with the contribution of youth workers and professionals in the cultural and artistic sector, thus highlighting the potential of cultural participation for social inclusion.

To achieve these goals, the project has a threefold approach that (a) promotes cross sectoral and cross-border collaborations between youth practitioners and professionals working in the cultural and creative sectors (CCS), (b) develops engagement, participation, and inclusion among marginalised young people using European arts and cultural practices, and (c) implements a participatory action research methodology to democratize the co-creation of new knowledge related to civic engagement and prevention of radicalisation by grounding it in the needs of youth professionals and marginalised young people, as well as by actively involving them in the design of the project’s activities. Through its activities, CULTURAD will centralise the role of European arts and culture for the development of a more cohesive and less polarised young EU generation.

This will be achieved by: 

• The development of a user-informed training course and open resource toolbox on European arts and culture pedagogies to increase civic engagement and lower radicalization risks.
• The development of the online CULTURAD interactive platform.
• Capacity building of youth practitioners and CCS professionals on the CULTURAD Training Package and workshops with marginalized youth, utilising the resources from the Open Resource Toolbox.
• Virtual transnational roundtables with relevant stakeholders for the co-creation of the Practice & Policy Recommendations Guide.

During its 24-month lifetime, CULTURAD will directly and indirectly positively impact at least: 

• 25 youth practitioners, CCS professionals and young people who will be involved in the co-creation and offer user-led input across all project results through their participation in the user-scrutiny panel.
• 75 youth practitioners and CCS professionals who will be trained on the CULTURAD course and toolbox.
• 100 marginalized young people who will participate in the CULTURAD workshops.
• 40 experts in the field of radicalization, policy makers, youth practitioners, arts and culture professionals and young people who will participate in the virtual transnational roundtables.

CULTURAD at a glance: 

• 4 national reports on alignment workshops and 1 transnational report indicating the recommendations of 25 youth practitioners, CCS professionals and young people for the development of the CULTURAD course and toolbox.
• 6 modules of the CULTURAD training course
• 60 high quality art based open resources related to social cohesion and engagement
• 1 multilingual online interactive learning platform featuring the digitalized CULTURAD training course and a peer mentoring section
• 1 train-the-trainers online event
• 8 CULTURAD training workshops
• 2 virtual transnational roundtables
• 1 co-created Policy and Practice Recommendations Guide
• 12 user-led video stories
• 4 local awareness-raising events and 1 final international conference.