" Youth Culture" , a volunteer project to spread and promote art and culture among young people.
Promoted by the European Union through the Erasmus + program, and organized in collaboration with Asociatia Educatio , a local association active in the Romanian town of Arad, the project aims to promote cultural activities through the organization of events and workshops, through the use of the method of non-formal education .
Volunteering is never just volunteering: we start with an idea, an intention that, often and willingly, and luckily I would add, changes shape. It is giving, but above all receiving .
It was a physical journey, in a new social and cultural context, and an inner journey, which allowed me to explore new parts of myself. An opportunity to give shape to ideas, seeing them transformed into concrete projects, to give my contribution to a community eager to spread and enhance its cultural background among young people, without any class distinction.
Art classes in primary school
The passion for drawing and the love for that lightness and spontaneity of which only children are capable, led me to the Elena Ghiba Birta “National College” school in Arad. Here I taught drawing , trying to build the lessons together with the little 1st year students, so that immediately they could feel an active part and protagonist of the project.
The primary intent was to be able to stimulate and encourage children to express themselves with freedom and creativity . For this reason, so that no one could say " I am not capable ", they were not asked to reproduce and copy from any model. Each child was constantly supported and assisted, especially when he found it difficult to give shape to something he had in his head but did not know how to draw.
My primary intent was not to teach the technical aspects of drawing, but to make sure that drawing was a tool, a form of expression that would give children the opportunity to bring out what they had in their stomach, heart and head . This is why I adopted, from start to finish, a delicate and non-invasive approach, so that children could always feel like protagonists.
Testing a new learning method
After the success with the didactic laboratory started in Milan ( DisegnaLibri ), originally aimed at teenagers, I wanted to propose it to elementary school children too, and see what the response would be.
If with adolescents we have chosen to tackle a single literary text, this time, together with the teacher we have decided to broaden the range and to address each lesson a different theme. We have dealt with poems, fiction, history and science texts.
Even in this case, the goal remained to use drawing and listening as a learning tool and method.
While drawing, we noticed also on this occasion how the students were able to remember more easily, not only in those cases in which the child presents attention disorders or difficulties in reading.
Play, art and learning
Active Club! at the Curcubeu Social Center . Here I had the opportunity to organize and contribute to recreational and educational activities aimed at children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, and consequently with less access to education.
The approach used was that of non-formal education , and the lessons I actively participated in ranged from painting to teaching English and Italian.
Part of my time has been dedicated to teaching Italian to adults, always using the non-formal education method, thus making use of creative and interactive workshops.
