STRAMURALES - Participatory Urban Art as an European process of Adult Inclusion and Community Development

The project "STRAMURALES - Participatory Urban Art as an European process of Adult Inclusion and Community Development" represented, for the entire partnership and their participants involved, an opportunity for personal and professional growth and a capacity building initiative able to enhance the territories involved with a two-year European perspective 2022/2024 of collaborations, relationships and constructive comparisons. The basic need that united the partnership was to seek learning opportunities in the ADU sector, capable of moving the partner organizations, already tested by the post-pandemic isolation, by putting Street Art at the center. To this end, it is considered essential to delve into the project management aspects related to planning and learn about replicable good practices carried out by partner organizations, with particular attention to economic sustainability and capacity building activities and involvement of the local community. "The impact generated in a small village of 5,000 inhabitants was overwhelming and for the first time we breathed Europe in Stornara, together with the administration, schools, families and children - Lino Lombardi, President of Stornara Life".

STRAMURALES partner organizations has experience and expertise in a specific sector related to art and the Erasmus+ programme. The objective achieved by the project was to share the good practices of the partners, allowing to improve the accessibility of European learning opportunities for adults, using street art as a tool of social cohesion for the cultural development of communities. For the Stornara Life association, the specific objective was to strengthen and share the inclusive community process initiated as a good practice of training opportunities for adults, artists and associations through the promotion of international cooperation in order to enhance the local cultural heritage. The exchange of good practices between the partners was crucial to learn about ways of digitizing open-air artistic collections and transferring guidelines to replicate what was observed in Stornara, enhancing its 126 widespread murals. SAMA, DESINCOOP and ACD La Hoya co-managed the project, acquiring technical knowledge on the management of art festivals and participatory processes, essential daily aspects for festival organizations and community engagement.

The activities has been developed as planned in the initial project proposal, apart from the replacement of one partner. To this end, a coordination meeting with the other partners was requested to welcome SAMA and describe the project in all its phases. The activities planned and implemented were the following: 1. Kick off + Study Visit Italy (August 2022), with focus on community involvement and sharing of the Stramurales festival, in its sixth edition. This allowed the partners to interact and discuss with over 20 internationally renowned artists on the role of street art as a social connector; 2. Study Visit Netherlands (November 2022), an activity characterized by SAMA's digital approach applied to the tourist valorization of Street Art; 3. Study Visit Spain (March 2023), activities with a focus on community involvement; 4. WP4 Study Visit Portugal (June 2023), a crucial activity to fully understand the impact of cultural processes as Guimaraes was the "European Capital of Culture". 5. WP5 Follow up and Dissemination Italy (August 2023).

The results of the project were carefully defined following an initial mapping of the needs of the involved partners.The results achieved were the following: 1) Increase in the skills and professionalism of adults and the community in general to operate at an international level with greater skills acquired regarding the management of artistic paths of inclusion of the Community and strengthening of community cooperation. The partners shared technical-practical skills on the management of European projects, on community involvement methodologies and on the management of cultural initiatives with a strong territorial impact; 2) Publication containing the project description, shared good practices and learning opportunities for adults in the field of street art and participatory processes. The document traces the structure of the project and important information for cultural and creative organisations; 3)n. 4 artistic projects with a European theme resulting from collaborations with the local communities of the partners involved. In particular, a mural entirely dedicated to Europe was created on the walls of the Giovanni Paolo I school in Stornara, 71047 Via Roma 39, Stornara (FG).