ART WORK(S): ARTISTS IMPROVE BASIC WORKING
SKILLS OF 4 DISADVANTAGED GROUPS
2005-2007
ESF-Equal
Kunstenaars&CO
(Artists & Cultural Entrepreneurship)
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Joost Heinsius, manager Knowledge& Innovation
November 11 2009 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 11 2009 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 11 2009 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 11 2009 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 11 2009 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 11 2009 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 11 2009 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 11 2009 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 11 2009 Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO
Kunstenaars&CO
Mission: economic independance for artists through
1. Competence building
2. Developing new markets
Joost Heinsius
jheinsius@kunstenaarsenco.nl
www.kunstenaarsenco.nl
November 11 2009 Art Work(s) ESF Equal Kunstenaars&CO