This toolkit is intended to help artists and arts
researchers to plan, organise, document and
evaluate participatory arts projects in different contexts. Its publication evolved in the
context of a Europe-wide research project
funded by the EU Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020. This research project –
Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture
(AMASS) – is an arts-based three-year project
(2020-2023) that aims to bring people based
in different European contexts together with
artists to work collaboratively on creative and
experimental research. Through participatory
approaches conducted in new artistic productions and research projects, AMASS explores
and analyses the role of the arts in engaging
with societal challenges and evaluating the
societal impact of the arts. It also addresses the marginalisation of certain groups in
society by analysing power imbalances and
exploring artistic, pedagogical and other ways of promoting inclusive strategies and sharing
the benefits of innovation and service solutions. The many strategies adopted by different AMASS partners call for the involvement
of various stakeholders like NGOs, artists, regional arts advocates, community members
and others in decision-making tactics and
forum group discussions revolving around
social needs and constraints. Strongly embedded in the value of alternative knowledge
systems and the belief that the arts can initiate significant transformations in policy and
perceptions, AMASS is intended as a catalyst
for change in various contexts, and multi-disciplinary results emerging from an evaluation
of its testbed will contribute towards policy
recommendations at local, regional and international levels. This toolkit shares many of
the challenges and enthusiasm for the arts
that characterise AMASS and its activities.peer-reviewe