Creative approach: Resume

Artistic approach

Art is a language, it allows you to say, to shout, to whisper. Art can also be listened to and listened to. It allows sharing and self-expression and these perceptions, individually and collectively. Art is thus a communication tool. Art is also a medium of teaching-learning, it allows through activities and dedicated projects, to give to acquire new competences and knowledge and to put them in perspective in other disciplines of the formal education, in a more global know-how that will allow the acquisition of social skills. Art is also an important bridge for intercultural transmissions. It allows the acquisition of a general culture exchanges through artistic education but also historical and cultural references to refine their understanding of social environments and the world around him.
The main idea is that of artistic practice as a vehicle for expression and learning through the experimentation of an artistic activity and project. Through the inclusion of the creative process in recreational and learning activities with children affected by conflict, children and young people will be able, through creation, to be actors in their own emotional and social development. The creative approach is thus a global method whereby child protection staff are led to conduct their activities at the different stages of their projects.
This art approach is a personal theorization in its contributions related to the PSS needs of children and young people affected by conflict. Artistic practices are still an integral part of Child Protection and Education in Emergencies. They are vectors of different approaches and objectives. The creative approach is not just a recreational or playful method. First and foremost, it is part of the acquisition of intercultural and social knowledge, knowledge and skills brought about by the creative process through art practices.
The main elements to be developed is that the creative approach can guide young people and children are imagination and creativity but also concrete tools so that they can implement the activities and projects. Thus, it is not a question of being an artist or even having deep knowledge in the artistic field, but simply of cultivating a sense of transformation and discovery through identified supports and materials.

The creative process

The creative process is at the heart of our concerns. The creative process is traditionally described as a succession of 5 successive phases:

Preparation : knowledge-seeking, a phase which corresponds to an impregnation of the research object by its description, formulation and aggregation of the available data
Exploration of different paths (divergent-exploratory thinking)
Incubation : period when the individual is led to combine and synthesize the different elements generating insight, it is a mechanism of assembly, memorization, retreat, rejection and reconstruction in order to highlight possible solutions
Illumination is a phase of rupture due to the recombination of elements that suddenly gives a clear insight into the dark environment of the problem.
Verification of a response to the initial problem. It is a phase of experimentation of the idea chosen as a solution, then its validation.

The first step is to define the creativity and the process by which creativity expresses itself and makes it possible to come up with new, useful and original ideas or the ability to provide an original solution to a particular situation.

Creativity is a process of applying personal potential to the production of new, original and useful ideas. Creativity is therefore to be linked to both reproductive and creative imagination. The first allows us to evoke the images of objects that we have already perceived, while the second is the ability to form images of objects that we have not perceived or to make combinations of new images in order to achieve a transformation.

To develop creativity is also:

Develop acquired knowledge and exchanges with different environments through experimentation
Develop the project concept to promote the projection of young people
Insert the notion of emotion from the very first solicitations

Objectives about creativity

Staff will be encouraged to use these objectives in their activities:

Fostering the imagination, design and production of artistic productions
Implement observation and develop qualitative aspects such as talent, practicality and manual skills
To develop the ability to imagine and the desire for artistic practices
Develop skills and capacity to mobilize resources (knowledge, capacities, attitudes)
To lead to the justification of intentions and expressive choices
Promote the implementation of the principles of design and manufacture of objects through the choice of procedures and techniques of creation
Develop creativity and imagination and its sharing
Develop capacity for understanding and creation
Test equipment and materials

A few tips:

Create a climate of trust and pleasure; no censorship or moral judgment; no merit or performance is appropriate.
Alternate collective and individual achievements in order to mobilize different intimate and social objectives.
When doing group work, make sure that everyone finds their place.
because they do not promote individual expression
To nourish the imagination thanks to the contribution of original materials and unusual ideas (alternatives, divergent)
Do not seek to define artistic categories and references a priori, in excess of them
To make good use of the instruction that can be a constructive or blocking element of creativity
From a first spontaneous, poor, stereotypical, fuzzy expression: change tools, support, materials, take back an element, repeat it, enlarge it.
Suggest variation. The aim is to vary the media, techniques and materials in order to develop creativity and means of expression. To give artistic references of the different types of art or to make practice through diversified practices.

Interculturality

Interculturality is the set of relationships and interactions between different cultures, generated by encounters or confrontations, called intercultural. Involving reciprocal exchanges, it is based on dialogue, mutual respect and the desire to preserve each other's cultural identity. Interculturality can take on more or less intense forms, and is often a rewarding experience. These encounters or experiences with the Other are also an opportunity for reflection on oneself and the world and can be at the origin of cultural interbreeding. Interculturality is therefore linked to encounters, because there is no culture but cultures, within which other cultures sometimes coexist and interact. Each country, people, human being, organization has a different culture.

Interculturality is thus categorized in the art approach to PSS as follows:

1. Identity

The notion of identity refers to the culture that each human being possesses and represents (his knowledge of the world, of others, his norms), but also to his intimacy (his appearance and physical character, his character, his tastes, his ideas, his name, his gender, his nationality etc.).

2. Culture

The notion of culture refers to the common culture of a group of people such as the national culture that understands its history, gastronomy, values, etc. The culture of Iraq is a common one. It can also be associated with a smaller group of people, such as a city residents. We then identify the specific characteristics of this group (music, history, ways of dressing, various beliefs, languages, etc.).

3. Environment

The notion of environment is the set of geographical spaces associated with an individual or group of individuals. The different environments are part of the social markers associated with identity and culture. The environments interlock with each other until the slightest specificity. We live on Earth, then we belong to a continent, then a country, a region, a governorate, a district, a neighbourhood and so on. We attend different schools, public or private places, etc.

The aim of the intercultural approach is thus to make the participants aware of the cultural diversities that surround them, but also to prevent the risks of conflicts between different cultures, the reasons that explain cultural clashes between groups, and the mechanisms that can lead to a better understanding and cooperation between the different parties involved.

Thus, the intercultural approach has three main objectives: to recognize and accept cultural pluralism as a reality of society; to contribute to the establishment of a society of equal rights and equity; and to contribute to the establishment of harmonious inter-ethnic relations. Associated with the PSS, it also enables us to connect young people and children with the world around them, by narrating their specific and common identities. It also aims, through its association with the artistic approach, to make children and young people affected by conflict express themselves and to promote an open-mindedness and acceptance of differences by practicing arts.

The notion of participatory project

The project concept should be given priority in the creative approach. The notion of project globally and here, specifically associated with artistic projects developed with young people and children, is the driving force behind a number of driving forces for participation, participation and inclusion of participants. The different phases: diagnostic and analysis; planning; implementation; monitoring and finally evaluation, allow all stakeholders to take into account the activities proposed in the project. The participation of young people and children in the proposed projects gives meaning to their psychosocial needs.
For example, a work team and a child friendly space may consider working on the identity of children. She chooses a specific theme that meets the needs of children to express their identity, such as physical appearance or names. Through this central theme, the different activities are constructed that will meet the objectives stated in the project planning. Thus, the team can work with different artistic supports and different types of activities, the same theme. The project ends with a global evaluation but also an event that values the work carried out over several weeks.