The Extending Creative Practice

About the project

The project is funded by the Gruntvig Partnership Grant under the Lifelong Learning Programme. The research team includes Dr Alison Rooke and Imogen Slater and the Partners are Digitales, Mitra and the Progress Foundation.

About Extending Creative Practice

The Extending Creative Practice (ECP) is a European project which is  motivated by a desire to make ICT accessible to marginalised communities, particularly elderly people and isolated people from rural communities. 

Extending Creative Practice uses digital storytelling as a means to increase the active usage of ICT by older citizens. Digital storytelling is an engaging and unusual approach to ICT training. Using widely available software, trainers work with participants to develop story ideas and compile them into a 2 minute piece which is then shown locally and distributed via broadcasting and the internet.

Participants acquire confidence and skills in an “accidental learning environment”. Involvement in digital storytelling can often transform peoples’ self perception, building confidence and a sense of self worth, as well as providing people with new skills, a means of self expression and a social presence.

The Extending Creative Practice partnership draws  on the skills, knowledge and experience of four different organisations across three countries.

About our partners

DigiTales is funded by the European Social Fund and it is led by Hi8us Projects Limited, within the Inclusion Through Media (ITM) partnership. ITM works by enabling excluded people to find their voice through participatory media and aims to create new opportunities in the media and related creative industries. All work produced under the ITM banner will be distributed to the widest possible audience such as local television, DVD and broadband channels. ITM will also work to influence policy makers.  

Mitra, a non-profit association working on the the development of audiovisual culture and intercultural dialogue with groups at risk of social exclusion in Slovenia.

The Progress Foundation in Romania is a non-governmental organisation which works with vulnerable communities including Roma, marginally excluded groups and disadvantaged youth by providing non formal educational services aimed at social inclusion and by offering new skills for integration into the labour market (e.g. reducing the digital divide by training in e-skills and overcoming digital illiteracy).

How the project will be evaluated

The evaluation of ECP will  be carried out by CUCR. It  will extend and build on CUCR's expertise in qualitatively evaluating the full impact of participatory media projects to partner countries thereby maximise the learning between partner organisations.

ECP will conclude with a pan European conference exploring creative approaches to digital exclusion of the elderly in Maribor, which is European Capital of Culture during the European Year of Active Ageing and Intergenerational Society in 2012.

Publications

Extending Creative Practice Evaluation Report (PDF download)