ALPHABETICA aims to provide effective solutions that allow children and young people at risk of poverty or social exclusion to access arts and arts-based education through co-creative participatory research actions. For some young people, access to ‘art’ is limited; often understood as a luxury or a leisure activity that may feel inaccessible or irrelevant. For others, their creative endeavours might not be recognised from their own perspective, as being ‘art’. ALPHABETICA will carry out 12 pilot actions across 7 European countries aimed at enhancing the transformative effect of active participation in community-driven artistic co-creation activities. Collectively, the research pilot actions cover a range of school settings and out-of-school community settings with children from 3 to 18, as well as young people and adults of various ages. The project is informed by a synthesis of theories of youth participatory action research, Theory of Change, pedagogies of care, love and enchantment, pedagogies of past, present and the imagined future, and the more-than-human approach. This conceptual framework invites a reflexive and in-depth exploration of children and young people’s complex everyday realities, while offering opportunities for creative self-expression and meaning-making, participation, skills-development, and relationship-building. ALPHABETICA will take a transformative approach by: • providing qualitative and quantitative data on attitudes towards and perceptions of arts by children, families, educators and policymakers, • using participatory and caring approaches and pedagogies to provide an evidence-based assessment of the instrumental outcomes of arts-based education, their transformative impact, and their transferability to children and young people’s other life domains, • taking and teaching a caring approach that through arts-based education will sustain a commitment to lifelong learning, • providing evidence-based recommendations for policy action.

The overarching aim of NEW ABC is to take a transformative approach through a commitment to sustainable, strategic change by combining stakeholder voices, co-created and participatory practices, and the creation of synergies among stakeholders that do not normally interact. Despite the EU’s and national governments’ past and current efforts to devise a successful strategy for the integration of refugees and migrants in their new countries, research suggests that children with a recent past of migration continue to face barriers in the education system that current top-down policies fail to overcome. The NEW ABC project contributes to educational, cultural and social inclusion by taking a collaborative and participatory approach in the co-creation of nine innovation pilot actions aimed at enhancing the integration of immigrant children and young people in education through collaborative partnerships that foreground young person-led innovation activities. The pilot actions will be co-created with the specific aim of ensuring their adaptability, scalability, long-term sustainability and take-up of the results by the identified users. New ABC will take a transformative approach by ensuring: • the development of horizontal and vertical synergies of stakeholders, • an evidence-based, bottom-up approach in creating and piloting the nine innovation practices, • the empowerment and development of agency of vulnerable groups and other hard-to-reach stakeholders, • the continuous engagement of all voices throughout the project and after its completion, • the fall-out effect of such empowerment and agency on other aspects of their lives, • the uptake of the results and solutions offered by the pilot actions by policy- and decision-makers. The project will be implemented in 9 EU countries with 14 partners.

<< Objectives >>An increased knowledge of and empathy for both shared and unique migration experiences in different European cities/countries.Through discussions, we will introduce the values of inclusion, respect for diversity, social participation and engagement as a very normal European ‘new heritage’ to young people. Through collaboration with Portuguese and Belgian organizations, we will develop the participation and engagement of young people through activities and discussions.<< Implementation >>A series of 45 to 60-minutes video conference sessions with Museum MMM, Foyer des Jeunes and União de Refugiados em Portugal – UREP, and groups on both ends participating in a dialogue moderated by a staff member at both sides and a qualified facilitator at museum MMM that will be recruited for it. << Results >>Promoting connection, dialogue and solidarity between newcomers and young people with immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds in European countries, by sharing (migration) experiences. Promoting also inclusion based on a European open frame, promoting European values, and promoting citizenship and involvement in society. And in the meantime also testing the possible role of immigrant museums to achieve this, through the experience of MMM.

<< Objectives >>REFUGIN aims to ensure a sustained integration of young refugees’ through a bidirectional process that involves both the civil society and young refugees themselves. For this, it aims to capacitate key actors in the process, namely educational and NGOs practitioners, by holistically building their know-how on the field, and enhance young refugees’ central skills that will aid in their integration. Ultimately, REFUGIN aims to contribute to more tolerant and inclusive European societies.<< Implementation >>REFUGIN will create a European network for educational and NGOS practitioners and map promising integrative practices (WP2); Assess the needs of young refugees and of educational and NGO professionals working with them (WP3); Build a tailored training programme for educational and NGO’s professionals & a training course to boost young refugees ‘skills (WP4); Create a mentoring model, a framework for fostering tolerant societies and guidelines for promoting inclusive educational settings (WP5).<< Results >>REFUGIN will result in a network of civil society professionals; a practical manual of promising practices on the sustained integration of young refugees; a comprehensive needs and know-how gaps assessment report; tailored and innovative training programmes for educational and NGO practitioners and young refugees; a mentoring scheme for young refugees; a framework to achieve more inclusive and tolerant societies; standardised guidelines to create intercultural and inclusive school environments.