Today, a great many projects are undertaken in the young person’s sector, and mechanisms and initiatives launched to assist young people to flourish in their personal life and combat social exclusion. Consequently, the effectiveness of culture as a lever for local and human development no longer needs to be demonstrated. Recognition of Agenda 21 and cultural rights of individuals is sufficient proof of this. It, therefore, appears to be essential to develop transversal or trans-sectoral projects where respect of cultural diversity lies at the very centre of concerns, as outlined by UNESCO: “as a source of exchange, innovation and creativity, cultural diversity is, for human beings, just as necessary as biodiversity in the natural world”. Transversality has become a model for public policies in European territories, notably via the commitment of the European Commission and the development of funds, such as the Erasmus + programme which allow stakeholders to initiate joint reflection around strategic trans-sectoral projects. Many professionals from various different sectors of activities work together, but precisely how do they collaborate? It is in this framework that Latitudes Contemporaines, in collaboration with ALEFPA, the IRTS and its English (Tyne and Wear Museums) and German (IMAL – International Munich Art Lab) partners, collectively developed a series of reflections seminars throughout 2015 entitled “Artistic Intervention – Research on sustainable concepts of social and professional integration of young people with fewer opportunities”. The objective was twofold; firstly, to train professionals in European issues concerning trans-sectoral projects (social and cultural sectors) and developing joint methods. This was a way of bringing together different points of view, tools and working methods inherent to each country. In 2016, the work was brought together and the results published in a trilingual publication, webplatform available online and a European symposium. Three seminars took place in different partner countries (Newcastle, Munich and Lille) during 2015. These seminars were, on each occasion, followed by professional partners in the social and cultural sectors, including youth workers, cultural mediators, trainers, coordinators, directors and students from the IRTS. Seminars allowed for better understanding of the context of trans-sectoral projects inherent to each country, to share experiences and practices. This was the ideal opportunity to dialogue with young European participants and, finally, to involve social work students from the IRTS. All of this was hugely useful in defining our working areas and the guideline for research which is outlined in the methodological publication. Consequently, four transnational meetings were also organise with a view to collectively reflecting on content for the methodological publication, publishing written documents, reports and agreeing on a mutual research framework. The objective of this subsequent period, during 2016, was therefore to allow for the results of these seminars to be collected together and promoted with three significant publications:- Publication of a trilingual methodological publication (O1). This promotes the importance and interest of artistic projects in the empowerment of young people in their personal projects, in logics of cooperation/joint production of diversified stakeholders. - Online publication of a dedicated webplatform (O2). The purpose of this webplatform is to create an area of visibility which promotes the results of the project. Interactive tools can be used and consulted by professionals, the general public, students, politicians and authorities. - Organisation of a European symposium (E1), on 17th November 2016 at the Conseil Régional Hauts-de-France in Lille, under the presidency of Mrs Catherine Lalumière in the presence of around 300 participants from across Europe and the greater city area. This symposium brought together professionals from the cultural and educational sectors, social workers, artists, students, experts and young beneficiaries of these initiatives. This event all had an impact on and led to questioning by elected representatives at European scale and to constitute a network of stakeholders on these themes. In order to reflect on the long-term benefits and to continue the impetus created by this initial project, we would like to:-Give ourselves the means to further deepen the questions about living together, -Promoting alternative methods in artistic processes,-Considering artistic processes as areas for debate and collective construction and, consequently, democratic areas which combat all forms of self-containment and political and/or religious radicalisation

Thanks to the Erasmus+ KA2 application, we had the opportunity to get to know each other and learn from each other, exchange good practices, and create new international collaborations. Eight partner institutions (from six different countries) organized programs and trips to get to know each other's culture, professional profile, local practices of education, and methodology of knowledge transfer. Our project formed a network of specialized museums. The organizations built new relationships at international, national, and local levels. Explored and shared best practices of museums that work with VET institutions. Encouraged museums to engage in a permanent and structural form of collaboration with VET institutions. We built our museum professionals' capacity to identify the learning potential of cultural objects in a VET context. In addition to the staff of the partner institutions, representatives of other institutions, schools, museums and vocational training organizations were present at these events. International knowledge sharing has been achieved. The aim of the organized programs was to train and develop the participants and their environment. We communicated in English, learned new information about other European countries, organized training events, and several partners also gave presentations in English for an international audience. New contacts have been established between institutions and professionals. The participating institutions were also active at the local level. We contacted and co-operated with several organizations involved in international training about vocational education. Local programs, museum visits, and lesson plans had been prepared. We widened their educational offer, as well as increased and diversified their audience by working out new education sessions or other activities for the target groups in order to strengthen students' professional identities through historical examples. We built VET teachers' capacity for competence-oriented education in a museum context. We provided VET students with opportunities to discover the cultural heritage of their region and acquire key competencies in an innovative and creative way thus increasing learning satisfaction. We promoted our cultural heritage education as a good opportunity for the competencies required by VET curricula by disseminating collected practices and experiences that we learned from pilot sessions and other activities. We examined some IT tools in museums to support VET because this age group is the most skillful in using IT devices and it seems a “special language” in which they communicate, therefore museums should also learn and use this language. Partners achieved their results, practices, and specific methods used at VET heritage education at eight joint staff training. One of them was canceled, because of the pandemic situation, but thanks to partners’ good cooperation, it was made up in combined training. During these training and learning events, participants experienced an increase in their professional confidence and language skills. Training materials were produced and shared in English. Participating in museums designed museum education sessions, projects, and other activities and tested these with groups. These sessions became part of their regular educational offer. Another tangible outcome of the project is the collection of best practices that are shared in a digital publication. We reached in the project more than 50 museum professionals who work with adult audiences or teenagers in VET. We were not able to measure exactly that how many professionals reached by the project indirectly, but in our training events, meetings, travels, and dissemination activities (Facebook, Instagram, websites, prospects, radio reports, informative emails, discussions personally with colleagues and representatives of VET institutions, and with online shared summaries and final publication, etc.) this number approximately has to be more than thousand. Vocational education teachers also were involved in the project. We directly reached more than one hundred of them and indirectly at least one thousand during the three years. Partners worked week by week with VET students, thousands of them were reached during the project. The E-VOKED project also shaped our thinking. It turned our attention to vocational education, VET students, and teachers. In the future, we want to develop as many programs, projects, and lesson plans as possible for vocational schools, because we learned that supporting vocational education is an essential interest for all European countries. Strong relationships have been built with partner organizations, which will be continued after the project. Most of the project’s results were summarized and disseminated in our final publication.

This research aims to explore the relationships between identity, place, and art. It will focus on people's responses to artworks within the collection of the Laing Art Gallery and its permanent display 'Art on Tyneside'. The Laing is the flagship art venue of Tyne and Wear Museums (TWM) and is based in Newcastle city centre. \n\nThe 'Art on Tyneside' display opened in 1991 and took a novel approach by displaying art, both historical and modern, in relation to its geographical context: Tyneside. It was felt that a familiar frame of reference - that of local place - could engage local non-visitors and 'humanise' the gallery as its then director David Fleming put it. Over its first few months the Gallery did indeed attract 70% more visits compared to the same period in the previous year. However, it also attracted media criticism from those who objected to the socio-historical approach taken to the interpretation and to the inclusion of interactives. Regardless of the different responses, this display was innovative and received significant critical attention. \n\nNow over seventeen years old, the 'Art on Tyneside' display is scheduled for redevelopment by 2010. Things have changed considerably not only in terms of Tyneside's thriving art-scene and the way that museums and galleries aim to appeal to new visitors, but also in terms of new possibilities offered by digital technology. This redevelopment therefore presents curators from the Laing Art Gallery and academics working at Newcastle University with an ideal opportunity to revisit the original ideas behind the display. These experts will draw upon recent academic research about place, identity, curation, audiences, and the use of technology within gallery visiting to create a new display for a contemporary audience. \n\nTo achieve this goal, the researchers propose to give members of the public the chance to be creatively involved in the new display. Participants will be given the chance to either feature in a short-documentary, try their hand at new digital storytelling techniques, record an oral history, or take photographs. The researchers hope that by asking members of the public to get involved creatively, this will offer a new insight into how people think about place, identity, and art. The audio-visual materials produced by participants will be integrated into the new display to show the diverse ways that people think about place, identity, and art and to help the display appeal to a range of potential visitors. \n\nParticipants will be drawn from a wide range of groups including families, community groups and those who have never before visited the Laing Art Gallery. Tyne and Wear has an excellent track-record of working with a diverse range of visitors and community groups. Those with a specialist interest in art and a knowledge of the North-East's art-scene will also be given a chance to contribute to ensure that the display includes a variety of perspectives. Along the way, researchers will give regular feedback to the staff and exhibition design team so that both the audience's perspectives and the academic ideas can be fed into the new display from the outset. \n\nThe films, photographs, and stories generated through the research process will be collected and cared for by Tyne and Wear Museums so that future researchers and exhibitions can also make use of them. An additional benefit is that the project will bring academics in the University and curators in the city's museums and galleries closer together enabling them to share their knowledge. The two organisations are already working together on the city's Great North Museum project. The 'Art on Tyneside' project also provides a chance for audiences to go behind the scenes in the Laing Art Gallery and to be part of the process of redeveloping this important public display.\n\nThe research project will run from summer 2008 to summer 2010 when the new display will open to the public.

My research project aims to advance our understanding of human-centred design practices within museums that are moving toward a digitally mature condition, in which an increasing proportion of the sector is transforming, due to the tendency of museums to embed digital activity, media, and thinking within museums' practices and organisational structures, strategies and mission. Digital media, activity, and thinking are impacting rapidly on the nature of collections, learning, and services; on audience behaviour and expectations; and on the ways in which museums can fulfil their (new) missions. Museums are not just adopting new technology, but rather they are embedding digital in their vision and strategy, organisational working practices and skills sets, and ways of thinking and decision making. Significantly, museums have started to embrace a significant trend that sees human-centered design practices booming in those innovative industries where digital transformation requires new competences and capabilities, and novel ways of thinking, experimenting, and making to design for effective user (human) experiences and services, and envisioning new organisational strategies. Why is fostering design practices so crucial in the digitally mature museum? And why is studying those emerging practices important? Design practices are both shaping and shaped by the integration of the digital within museum practices and, therefore, inevitably results in and emerges out of the organisational change that ensues (Mason and Vavoula 2020 "Digital Cultural Heritage Design Practice: A Conceptual Framework"). Design is a driving force within a wider landscape of the transformative museum. Design brings into the organisational practices new mindsets, capabilities, and practices that help museums to embrace and deliver change, and pursue (digital) transformation. Human-Centered Design promotes a creative and explorative culture and collaborative working practices, where museum professionals are called upon to actively participate in design activities in collaboration with digital specialists, design consultancies, and stakeholders (including visitors and communities). This is changing internal working practices and design activity, where knowledge is created and shared in new ways, in which new tools are introduced, and workplaces re-configured. Through the first systematic study of design practices in the digitally mature museums I aim to understand these changes, how and why they are affecting and changing museum design practices. This project is driven by a social science approach based on qualitative research and ethnographic observations to conduct a study in/for UK museums. It is an interdisciplinary research project at the intersection of design, digital cultural heritage and organisational studies to (1) overview the landscape of emerging design practices in UK museums and (2) understand how these emerging design practices work, towards (3) establishing theoretical foundations of emerging design practice in the digitally mature museum. This project considers innovation for museums, not only resulting from the adoption of cutting-edge technology, but about creative and explorative culture, and collaborative working practices that are enacted by design.

Although people are living longer than ever before, the number of people with dementia is increasing, and 1 in 5 people over 80 will have dementia by 2021. People with dementia and their families often become disconnected from society through the stigmatizing effect dementia has on taking part in everyday activities. Added to this, the current economic climate has meant reductions in many services, and there is often a lack of meaningful activity available to this population. Yet many people with dementia wish to remain within their communities, in the home of their choice, near their family, carers and friends, with the support of health and social care services. This research aims to address the disconnection and marginalisation of people with dementia and explore how the vision for dementia supportive communities might benefit from creative activities. Specifically, it will use a visual art intervention as the catalyst for change for understanding community connectivity, challenging attitudes and promoting well being. Research to date, although limited, suggests a number of potential benefits of arts participation to the quality of life, health and well-being of people with dementia. This project wishes to build on this to address a new area, which will maximise the involvement of, and potential benefit to communities. It will look at how participation in community arts interventions can increase well-being and connectedness between the dementia community and wider society. It will also examine another new area, to further understand the underlying processes that create the connection between arts participation and good outcomes. To realise the aims, the research will be set within three areas of the UK. These consist of ethnically and geographically diverse communities to contextualise the research. In each area our project partners will deliver the same visual arts intervention over a 12 month period to different groups. To understand the impact, the research will assess changes over time in the well-being and social connectedness of people with dementia, and how these changes can in turn have positive effects in communities (facilitate change in societal attitudes and promote participation and inclusion) through social contagion. The processes and outcomes of the research will be assessed using a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches, and will use art, both as a tool for analysis and for visual, creative representations of the results. The research builds on existing relationships and develops new ones with community and policy partners, such as arts organisations, museums, galleries, health and social care practitioners, charities and local government. This will ensure full engagement and maximum benefit and impact for research, policy and practice. It will also contribute towards building future sustainability.