EPALE focus: Art and culture in adult education

Google can bring you back 100 000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.

Neil Gaiman

Art and cultural institutions, such as museums, libraries and galleries, play an important role in adult education.

A big part of adult education in the arts and humanities takes place in informal environments and it tends to become more focused on adult and seniors. The arts and humanities foster critical thinking, and they help learners find their own path to knowledge through unconventional visual and aural methods. Art can also serve as a powerful tool for social inclusion when working with immigrants, minorities and other vulnerable groups.

Similarly museums, galleries, libraries and other cultural institutions offer significant opportunities for informal adult learning. One of their biggest benefits when it comes to informal adult learning is that they offer a range of ways in for learners. Museums, for example, are one of the most important environments for intergenerational learning, since many informal adult learners are initially drawn into museums after visiting the place with their children and grandchildren.

15–19 February EPALE focus: Art and culture

We at EPALE love to celebrate the important role of art and culture in adult learning.

• Over the past few years digital technology has been used increasingly in museums and other cultural institutions. EPALE’s thematic coordinator, Simon Broek, interviewed Dimitra Christidou from the Nordic Centre of Heritage Learning and Creativity on how this affects learning in museums.
• Margherita Sani from the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO), wrote a piece on museums’ gradual shift from being temples of conservation to fora for public engagement.
• We also have some pieces by Ross Clarke – a language teacher who often integrates culture in his teaching methods. Don’t miss out his article on giving students cultural context to improve their language learning. Also, find out here how baking can be used in language classes.
• Don’t forget to check out these 5 Erasmus+ success stories that involve arts, culture and adult education.
• Check out this short video about stage director Patrick Kreb’s experience in staff mobility through Erasmus+. Patrick’s students come from various backgrounds and are either homeless or with mental disabilities. His aim is to provide them with a safe space where they can express themselves.

Don’t miss out some of the other great blog posts, case studies and resources, from across the EPALE community:

Blogs

• A learner, a library and a trip to Finland (EN)
• A New European Library Network for Adult Literacy (EN, SE)
• Can drinking coffee be a learning experience? (EN, ET)
• Case study: Project 'Cultural Vehicles in Education' (EN, ET)
• Changing perspectives (EN)
• Filmmaking as a means for active ageing (DA, DE, EN, ES, FR, IT, LT, PL)
• How to exploit libraries in adult education? (EN, PL)
• Integrating arts and cultural activities into lifelong learning (EN)
• Inverclyde Libraries build literacy with Six Book Challenge (EN)
• Libraries – a development matter (EN)
• LIBRARIES – places of learning and integration of local communities (EN, PL)
• Meet the graffiti grannies taking over Lisbon (EN, ET)
• Multilingualism and social inclusion (EN, RO)
• Older people should have an active role in museums as cultural mediators and producers of culture. How this can be achieved? (EN)
• Ort Gallery: A relationship between art, community and adult education (EN)
• Public Libraries 2020: a project to promote European public libraries (EN)
• Q & A: Mary Ann Cauchi - "The arts education sector needs to prepare students holistically" (EN)
• Q & A: Tyrone Grima - “The perception of people towards art still needs to change” (EN)
• The Education & Training Monitor 2015: how public libraries help to meet EU priorities (EN, NL)
• The Universal Learning Offer: articulating public libraries’ contribution to informal learning (EN)
• Training for cultural tourism in rural areas – an ERASMUS+ project (DE, EN)
• Welcome to dance class where the average age is 77 (EN)
• Why museums are valid learning environments (BG, DA, DE, EN, ES, ET, FR, IT, LT, PL)

Resources

• Do ESOL learners benefit from engagement with museums? (EN)
• Don't dis my ability. Report of the Art-is project on art and disability (EN)
• Education and the National Gallery in Prague (CS)
• Estonian Museum Education Dictionary „Meaning Maker“ (ET)
• European Territory of Culture - Lifelong Learning Programme (EN)
• Evidence review of the economic contribution of libraries (EN)
• Grundtvig project Re-active - a "success story" (EN)
• How libraries can solve basic problemsin adult education (CS)
• Implementing Heritage Learning (EN)
• Looking for a space for informal learning in small groups? (CS)
• Museums and lifelong learning – a European handbook (DE)
• Museums as a supporting learning environment (ET)
• National Technical Museum (Czech Republic) (CS)
• Selected publications on the inclusion/ integration of refugees and migrants in European societies through cultures and the arts (EN)
• Speaking Volumes: the impact of public libraries on wellbeing (EN)
• The 2014 Cultural Consumption Barometer. Culture between Global and Local (Romania) (EN, RO)
• The Arts of Desistance. Evaluation of the Koestler Trust Arts Mentoring Programme for Former Prisoners (EN)
• The health and wellbeing benefits of public libraries (EN)