Cultural mentoring could be a great tool for the social inclusion of disadvantaged young people. It combines two powerful engines, giving the young people the opportunity to learn, grow and develop soft skills through sharing cultural experience with their peers. The cultural mentoring program, developed under the Erasmus+ KA2 "Match with Arts a& Culture" project emphasises culture and arts not as an end product, but as a means to socialisation and overcoming social obstacles of young people who find themselves in a vulnerable position in their community.

The "Match with Arts & Culture" common European methodology for the implementation of a cultural mentoring program is suitable for:

• cultural organisations and cultural institutions;
• NGOs;
• public institutions;
• educational institutions;
• socially responsible private companies,

from any part of Europe which have interest in mentoring and are looking for ways to incorporate social mentoring programs in their work and thus to expand the activities they provide to young people.

The methodology consists of:

1. Service Delivery Manual for Cultural Mentoring - a step-by-step manual on how to set up a mentoring program in the organisation;

2. Guidelines for Mentors in the Cultural Area - a training program to prepare the mentors for their future role.

in 2023 the cultural mentoring program has been tested in four countries - Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands and some of the results could be found on the project's website - www.matchwithartsandculture.eu as well as in the video provided here.
 

Partners in the project: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bulgaria (leading organizsation, Bulgaria); Edu Playground (partnering organisation, Bulgaria), Melting Pro (partnering organisation, Italy), Firda (partnering organisation, the Netherlands), AFEV Barcelona (partnering organisation, Spain), La Cosecha (partnering organisation, Spain).

The "Match with Arts and Culture" project is funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission. This publication reflects only the views of the project partners and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.