ON A PAR by European Territory of Culture

On a par „European Territory of Culture” in The National Museum in Krakow National Museum in Krakow 2015

On a par. „European Territory of Culture” in The National Museum in Krakow

Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie al. 3 Maja 1, 30-062 Kraków www.mnk.pl Written by: Anna Posłuszna Anna Walczyk (chapter „European Territories of Culture”) Reviewed by: Małgorzata Perdeus-Białek, Renata Pater Edited by: Anna Biedrzycka Translated by: Monika Myszkiewicz Graphic design: tuszewski.com Jan Tuszewski Photographs: National Museum in Krakow Photographic Studio and Educational Departament ISBN 978-83-7581-192-6 This publication is part of The European Territories of Culture, a project delivered by the National Museum in Krakow as part of the Lifelong Learning – Grundtvig programme. Responsibility for the content of the publication rests solely with the publisher

Contents

1. The European Territories of Culture by Anna Walczyk

1.1 Acting locally • 4 1.2 Partner activities • 8 1.3 Summary • 11 1.4 Feedback • 12

2. An interview with the educators of the European Territories of Culture project • 14 3. Sample workshop scenarios • 19

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The European Territories of Culture by Anna Walczyk

e at the National Museum in Krakow have worked on a programme addressed to a variety of audiences, so a number of projects for visitors with intellectual disabilities have already been completed. However, the European Territories of Culture, a project funded in part by the Lifelong Learning Programme, made it possible to work over a longer run with a single recipient group and test more efficiently the methods used. As part of international cooperation we got a chance to share experience and apply the solutions our senior partners had already worked out with people with disabilities. Our partners on the project were institutions based in Slovenia, Great Britain, Cyprus and Turkey. 1.1. Acting locally

We decided to invite the clients of several centers providing care to people with disabilities in Krakow and around to take part in the first cycle of project workshops. Six institutions responded to our invitation. We set off with the series of workshops „Museum? Contact!”. The aim of the activities was to show those involved in the project that the objects collected by the museum are on the one hand a medium through which we can learn about the way people lived centuries ago, and on the other hand a tool people used to communicate. Apart from that we sought to demonstrate various forms of communication and to make those involved realise that communication could be attained other than by words. The diversity of the collections at the National Museum in Krakow allowed us and participants to travel through the epochs. Together we discovered the meanings behind the figures’ gestures on medieval icons (The Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace) and modern paintings (Europeum), and explored the communicative power of music (Gallery of Decorative Arts) or colour (Europeum,

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I’d like to come to every activity! Kasia - workshop participant

What I liked most were the paintings. The activities were very interesting. Ala -workshop participant

I was fond of going to each class, went there with much pleasure. Marek - workshop participant

Jan Matejko’s House), or found out how the ancient Egyptians communicated with the beyond (Gallery of Ancient Art). Every month, two educators, Katarzyna Maziarz and Grażyna Szarugiewicz, met two groups in a different gallery of our museum. Whilst dealing with different subjects, the workshops followed a similar format. After ice-breaking activities, the topic was introduced, for example by creating images to music or sharing associations relating to colours. Next, the whole group would go to a gallery where it examined and talked about selected objects. Back in the Educational Room people created their own works inspired by what they had seen and by the topic. They produced amulets, collages, lanterns, felt brooches, or icons. As the workshop was drawing to a close, the carers would fill out questionnaires and the participants evaluated the activities using a variety of creative methods, for example by sticking up notes on a stave: grey if they did not appreciated the workshop, and colourful if they did. Or they dropped buttons coded to reflect their degree of satisfaction into a drawer in a specially made cabinet.

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Together we discovered the meanings behind the figures’ gestures on medieval icons (The Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace)

Museum? Contact! Delivered by: Katarzyna Maziarz, Grażyna Szarugiewicz, Paulina Chełmecka (two workshops) The Image Codes / IconsCom / Sound Kaleidoscope / ObjectsCom / Perfect Body Language / WorldsCom / Colour-giddy / ColoursCom / Ushering Ushabti / SignsCom

Among the institutions that were involved in the workshop, we started longer-term cooperation with the Centre for People with Special Needs in Skawina [Środowiskowy Dom Samopomocy w Skawinie]. After a holiday break we launched a new series of workshops entitled „Word/Image/Europe”. First, people with disabilities, their carers, educators, volunteers, interns and the staff of the Educational Section of the museum met at bonding workshops in September. We designed a poster made of jigsaw-puzzle tiles, each created by a participant. From October 2014 to January 2015, fifteen clients of the Skawina centre visited branches of the museum twice a month engaging in art workshops and linguistic and drama classes. This time the subjects of the art workshop were related to the partner countries. Thus, at the exhibition „Always Young”, people tried to decide which work would best illustrate the Slovenian legend of a water sprite; during a workshop in the Main Building they investigated a surprising way to use English tea, and at the Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace – Santa’s Turkish roots; the drama and language workshop focused on the English words for the colours, shapes and objects they found in paintings (to make it easier for them to remember the vocabulary), and acting out scenes inspired by the works of art. At the end of the workshop series the participants gathered to present the postcards with their dream sites, which they had made at the workshops, and a short episode “Come with us”. Surfacing again and again during the closing meeting, the theme of travel was inspired by three of the participants’ trip to a project meeting in London. I want to thank the trainer. Very inspiring activities Invited to a recapitulation that stimulate creative thinking in the participants. of the series of workshops at Conducted with a panache. Thank you once again. the Gallery of 20th-Century Polish Art in the Main Building were the clients of the Krakow-based centres working with people with special needs. Next, in the Educational Room, diplomas and acknowledgements were distributed to those involved, and a short video of the event was taken.

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Word/Image/Europe Language and theatre workshop educator: Łukasz Zych Getting to know each other / Art is my World, The World is my Art) / Word and Image / Our Journey Arts Workshop educator: Katarzyna Maziarz Ghostly phenomena and phenomenal ghosts / Santa Stories / It must be love or whom and what a woman painter loves

Stanisława Szczepaniak, head of the Skawina Center for people with special needs says about her institution: „Our therapeutic work is geared towards the community of people with disabilities and mentally disturbed. The activities for adults are held daily, Monday to Friday, and offer pro-active training that develops individual skills and interests. More importantly, we teach how to make the most of free time and spend it creatively. Stage success in therapy through drama and art competitions (such as Very interesting workshops, a programme well adapted the International Biennial to the participants’ capabilities. A highly competent of Disabled Art, numerous trainer. The participants’ engagement was plainly arts and crafts fairs, as well enormous. as engagement in educational projects at the Regional Museum in Skawina and the National Museum in Krakow) activate people who otherwise face passivity and existential stagnation, counteract the progression of the disease in the mentally disturbed, particularly those suffering from schizophrenia or depression, stimulate people with intellectual disabilities and develop their cognitive processes. Apart from the workshops, we arranged training for the staff, cooperating specialists and volunteers of the Educational Section by drawing on our cooperation with the Skawina centre in order to prepare them to work with people with disabilities. Mrs. Stanisława Szczepanik, head of the Centre for People with Special Needs in Skawina, talked bout the requirements and risks inherent in working with this target group. The project was quoted as an example of good practice in a graduation thesis of Anna Matejska, student of pedagogy of the Jagiellonian University.

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1.2. Partner activities Activities taken up together with our foreign partners were an essential element of the project. All the project activities are presented on our blog (https://europeanterritoryofculture.wordpress.com), where we reported on the workshops and meetings with our partners, the results of our activities as well as the project itself and the participating organisations. We created a glossary of key terms and phrases in our languages to facilitate the process of learning them, and each of the partners shot a video demonstrating proper pronounciation. The Grundtvig programme put emphasis on personal interaction and sharing of direct experience by the institutions involved. Partner meetings represented a major part of the project, in which each of the organisations got an opportunity to present itself, its activities and achievements, and to get inspired or learn new things. The first partner meeting was held in Slovenia, hosted by DrustvoVita, the project coordinating organisation. The organisation was set up by parents of kids that had gone through a cerebral stroke. It keeps a day home, arranges family support, house assistance and transportation for persons with impaired

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In Europeum we explored the communicative power of colour.

movement, as well as all sorts of activities and therapy camps. The meeting in Ljubljana was a coordinating meeting. Representatives of all the organisation introduced their institutions, we decided on project details and set up the rules and dates of partner meetings. The next meeting in which the staff of the National Museum in Krakow took part was held in Larnaca, Cyprus, hosted by the Saint Lazarus Centre for People with Special Needs. The Centre caters for the needs of some 45 adults who engage in a relatively rich offer of activities to keep them fit and to develop skills and interests. The delegation could observe rehabilitation activities and workshops, visit studios that run workout activities, ceramic and basket-weaving workshops, speech therapy, music therapy or recycling workshops. They explored the work procedures and methods of their hosts. They also took part in workshops in which they got an opportunity to create props that were later used in a play illustrating the life of the vernacular inhabitants of Cyprus: traditional Cypriot reed chairs, hunting and farming tools, woven baskets, and necklaces of threaded ceramic beads and shells. The closing event of the workshops was a drama enactment of a painting, to which all the centre visitors and staff were invited. A project meeting at the National Museum in Krakow was held on September 23–25, 2014. The visitors toured the Arms and Colours Gallery, where they could try on copies of armours, and the Gallery of Decorative Arms, where, using “The Sound Museum” application they listened to the sounds assigned to specific art objects. A special workshop for those involved in the project was conducted by artist Monika Drożyńska, who talked about her works and invited everyone to her project “Speak through embroidery”. In it, they had to think of what irritated them and embroider it out in their native tongues. On day three, each national group that attended a workshop in the House of Józef Mehoffer designed men’s and ladies’ dresses for a reception. The reception itself took place at the Szołayski House, and everyone could try to dance the polonaise. Representatives of the partner organisations also visited the Skawina Centre for People with Special Needs where they saw a performance given by the centre’s clients, entitled The Angels’ Dream. An important item on the agenda was a lecture, “Museum’s For All”, given by Barry Ginley, Disability & Access Officer at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, who came to Krakow on behalf of Outside in Pathways (London). He also delivered training for the professionals, partners and volunteers of the Educational Departament, in which we analysed the various situations involving people with disabilities in a museum. Three project participants representing the Skawina Centre went to London with their carer and some museum professionals.

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Basket weaving workshop on Cyprus

Participants had oportunity to take part in Monika Drożyńska project: Stitch yourself

Participants of project meeting in Krakow in garden next to Józef Mehoffer House.

Tour in Gallery of the 19th-Century Polish Art The Sukiennice (The Cloth Hall)

The meeting was hosted by Outside in Pathways, an organisation that designs educational workshops for people with intellectual disabilities. Assuming that exposure to art and culture is important to everyone’s sense of social identity and well-being, Outside in Pathways takes people into London’s museums and galleries, and encourage them to explore and act on their own ideas to create art in the form of drawing, collage, photography and film-making, The programme was excellently tailored to the needs of sculpture and other media. those with disabilities. The trainer had a very good rapOur hosts at the V&A port with them. Great thanks to the trainer. Museum gave us an overview of their offer for people with disabilities, and showed how they planned museum activities for and catered for the needs of people with disabilities. For example, we saw the opera Arrival at the Renaissance Gallery, prepared during workshops for people with intellectual disabilities. Also, we met some of the clients of Outside in Pathways workshops. Our last meeting was hosted by the Turkish partner, Yardımlaşma ve Dayanışma Vakfı in Ankara. On the one hand, the aim of the trip was to learn about the activities provided by the host organisation; on the other, we met to sum up the project and our cooperation, share information about local activities and their effects, evaluate the activities carried out together and plan for the future.

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1.3. Summary The projects supported by European Programmes seek to work out new tools and to achieve certain indicators, products and results. As Part of the European Territories of Culture we delivered 21 workshops for 109 people with intellectual disabilities, plus a short performance was staged and a range of video and photo material was shot, including one short documentary of the performance that concluded the series of workshops. As Part of the European Territories of Culture we deliveFour partner meetings took place in which 17 people red 21 workshops for 109 people with intellectual disabiwere engaged. The Krakow lities, plus a short performance was staged. meeting hosted 43 guests from four partner countries. Two training sessions and one lecture were given. All these activities were reported on the project blog. This publication is another deliverable. It has to be noted that each project additionally brings some uncountable and immeasurable effects that are hard to overestimate. Regular and cyclical work with people with disabilities gave us an opportunity, or should I say forced us, to think more broadly of this audience group and made us more sensitive to their needs. It also showed how much more there is to do, in addition to the ongoing efforts to adapt the museum spaces to the needs of people with disabilities. It brought a lot of satisfaction and joy as well when the activities were appreciated by those involved. The feedback we got also shows that they had a good time and we hope this was only a beginning of their museum experience. The project was also a unique opportunity for us to work with foreign partners, see how their organisations work, strike up contacts as well as share experience and mutual inspiration. Finally, it is time for thanks. In the first place a big thanks to the Skawina Centre for People with Special Needs for their involvement in the project as well as for organisational help with the Krakow meeting. I want to thank the educators for their professionalism and engagement both during the workshops they delivered and throughout the project. I am grateful to the staff of the National Museum in Krakow, particularly the Educational Departament, for assistance in all project activities and for valuable advice with which those could be delivered more smoothly and efficiently. My special thanks go to all the volunteers involved in the project for making the project what it was and for their enthusiasm and engagement that acted as a spur to even more effort. Obviously, good cooperation from all our partners is immensely appreciated.

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Project team: Agnieszka Fluder, Marta Graczyńska, Anna Posłuszna, Katarzyna Szczygieł, Anna Walczyk (coordinator) Project partners: DrustvoVita (Slovenia), Saint Lazarus Centre for People with Special Needs (Cyprus), Sosyal Yardımlaşma ve Dayanışma Vakfı (Turkey), Outside in Pathways (UK) Trainers: Katarzyna Maziarz, Grażyna Szarugiewicz, Łukasz Zych, Paulina Chełmecka Volunteers: Ludmiła Garbarchuk, Agnieszka Bajorska, Weronika Moskwa, Anna Matejska, Joanna Zbela, Malwina Zaremba-Skulimowska, Żaneta Kukuc, Weronika Poskrobko, Paulina Tota, Kaja Krzaczyńska, Emilia Okrzesa, Natalia Komarow 1.4. Feedback I volunteered for a project for people with disabilities provided by the Educational Section of the National Museum in Krakow. I assisted in several art workshops. By helping I got a lot more in return: positive energy from the trainers and trainees. The preparation was high-level. Every second of the meeting was well-planned, active and with total engagement on the part of the trainers and the participants alike. The atmosphere was always cheerful and full of respect. I think each of us took away a lot of good. I am thankful for letting me be part of it. Ludmiła Garbarchuk Volunteer Taking part in workshops for people with disabilities I realised that one should enjoy every little thing, every moment. In tough situations that make me upset, when all my energy peters out, I just think of those workshops and feel like a newborn. This experience filled my life with more of those happy days, gave me more energy to act and more optimism. The museum helped me look at life culture and art from a new, different perspective. Agnieszka Bajorska Volunteer

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Being part of the European Territories of Culture, the project Word/ Image/Europe was for us a wonderful and exciting journey through time and space; an invitation to an extraordinary encounter with beauty expressed through works of art that our people were exposed to. We are grateful to the organisers for the invitations: grateful for and richer with the fascinating artistic experience and knowledge that comes from “touching” history. The meetings, where we had to engage our whole beings, our bodies and all our senses, made that possible. I personally think that the use of museum space with its unique interiors is a excellent educational idea. The experience was inestimable for all involved, including the therapists. Testing our clients’ adaptative and perceptive skills, their degree of engagement in direct contact with knowledge and culture is very stimulating, especially if you consider the range of dysfunctions they have. Stanisława Szczepaniak Head of the Centre for People with Special Needs in Skawina

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Interview with educators of the European Territories of Culture by Anna Posłuszna

n the following interview Anna Posłuszna, who works with the National Museum in Krakow, talks to Grażyna Szarugiewicz and Katarzyna Maziarz, educators at the National Museum in Krakow, about their experiences of and reflections on their work on the “Muzeum? Contact!” project – a series of educational activities for people with intellectual disabilities at the National Museum in Krakow.

anna posłuszna: The activities you delivered as first part of the project „Museum? Contact!” at the National Museum in Krakow was addressed to people with intellectual disabilities. Every month each of you gave workshops at various Museum premises. What was the format of the classes you designed? grażyna szarugiewicz: Usually, the classes followed the same pattern. It started off with an ice-breaker that in some hinted at the topic of the workshop. For example, when the subject was the colours, those involved would chose their favourite one. What followed next was an introduction to the subject and exploration of it in the gallery. At that stage I aimed at maximum interaction. I wanted those involved to discover certain things themselves with engaging me as little as possible. Next, we proceeded to more creative activities and concluded with an evaluation, most often in pictorial form, by selecting an appropriate print or placing a pictogram in an arranged space. What I sought to do in my classes was activate as many senses as possible through music, scents and touch. This format proved successful in the first workshops so it was continued, subject to some cosmetic changes, through the cycle. katarzyna maziarz: When planning the first workshops we realised that our visions are very similar. I guess the reason is our common museum experience and the application of a tried and tested format, although with some modifications. We introduced the subject of the workshop through associations, refer-

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Reports from workshops can be found at https://europeanterritoryofculture.wordpress.com, or a National Museum in Krakow blog devoted to project “European Territories of Culture”.

ences to everyday life and activities known to those involved; the elaboration stage was a short task or a tour in a gallery coupled with a longer task. The feedback time, in turn, gave us a picture of what they managed to remember and how they felt about what they had been doing in class. a.p.: When preparing scenarios for such activities, what should be the focus? How long should the classes be so that people do not get tired or bored? k.m.: Building a scenario you not only need to have a plan B but also a plan C, so the best way is to also plan the classes the other way round than the original concept. Each time ask yourself „What am I going to do if...?” and chose solutions that are most surprising for you. A scenario cannot be overloaded, give up on expository methods, focus on action. Remember, the classes cannot take too long or they will get jaded. Yet on the other hand they need more time to complete tasks. The duraPeople with intellectual disabilities get bored with the tion of the classes is an insame things that you do: long lectures, overintellectudividual matter but I think one hour could be the goldalised tenor of speech, one-directional stimuli and the en mean. Do not go from one ensuing monotony. extreme to the other, do not inundate them with tasks and activities; this is tiring too. Transfer information multimodally: impairment of one of the senses cannot exclude the person from access to the content. People with intellectual disabilities get bored with the same things that you do: long lectures, overintellectualised tenor of speech, one-directional stimuli and the ensuing monotony. g.sz.: A golden mean is very important to prevent the workshops from getting oversimplified or too intellectual. I totally agree with the advise to forget about expository methods. It is very helpful to use action just in case because you feel comfortable as a trainer. And, which I mentioned before but let me stress it once again, you should not cling on to the scenario, or force tasks that may not be okay with somebody; instead you should be responsive to the group’s activity so they can make the most of the workshops. a.p.: What should be avoided? What did not work out right? g.sz.: Overloading the workshops with content should definitely be avoided. On the other hand the activities should not be too childish. Time management and planning proved most important. I miscalculated the time for creative tasks in the first classes and, unfortunately, people did not get to finish their works. The time allocated to creative tasks was extended for the next class.

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k.m.: I also made some timing blunders – flexibility proved helpful. I remember we had to give up on activities where too much focus was on motoric skills, especially handling small objects – it turned out too tiring or even impracticable. a.p.: And then, I guess, help would be welcome? g.sz.: Yes, fortunately some volunteers always lent a hand! It was thanks to their contribution that the workshops went smoothly and the participants did not have to wait long for the next task or for materials. Also the volunteers often assist the people who need that, and help the trainers observe the group. k.m.: I totally agree, volunteers’ help is invaluable. They helped us create good and friendly atmosphere. a.p.: What specific elements of the activities you conducted last year seemed most valuable? k.m.: Painting to music, light plays (looking at works of art through colour transparencies, backlighting or obscuring reproductions) or naming emotions and moods invoked by light or lack of it, or assigning new roles to ordinary artefacts. For instance it turned out you could paint with tea, that flour is a very good ground for a drawing, and that jars can easily turn into lanterns. g.sz.: I agree with Kasia. Painting to music, light plays or looking at paintings through colour transparencies were excellent. I would add collages, which the participants made of elements they looked for in magazines and had to decide themselves which fitted the subject best. I would count the tasks in which the participants were expected to express their emotions (such as through music or drawing helpers for the daily chores they disliked) among the key important parts of the workshops. Some activities, like those showing that you could create something out of nothing, for example lantern making or painting with tea, were significant not only for the participants but also for their carers who came to the workshops and could get inspiration for future activities with their clients. a.p.: When working with groups from various centres I noticed that a lot depends on the group carers’ engagement and expectations, which affect the trainees’ attitude. g.sz.: Yes, the carers’ expectations vary. Some expect their client will learn as many new things as possible. Others wait only for creative tasks. Still others look for new exercises, tasks and approaches to teaching. Some treat a visit to a museum as part of the socialising process. I always try to have people to do as much as possible by themselves, and as well as they are able, with no overprotectiveness. And a person with disabilities often turns out to be able to do that if opportunity and space are secured.

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Obviously, when it is clear that a trainee cannot cope or faces motoric constraints that hamper movements, assistance is most recommendable. a.p.: Exactly, assistance! It was heartening to see workshop trainees not asking for help but trying to help one another, explaining for example your instructions in sign language, for example. By that they proved more independent than anyone might have expected, especially as an integrated group! k.m.: This is true. It is key to avoid overprotectiveness, which is, to some extent, inherent in relations with people with disabilities. Let us help them but not do things for them. In the majority of cases the participants were self-sufficient, and if they needed help they asked for it. Hints from the carers what things to put more emphasis on were very helpful. a.p.: Can you think of a situation that left you in a pickle? k.m.: No, there were no such dramatic situations (smile). Perhaps I was only surprised with some people’s direct manner. g.sz.: I confirm that nothing like that ever happened. I think the volunteers deserve credit as well, helping with the workshops and assisting the carers, who could react just in time to potential hazards such as a participant fleeing from the room. The carers’ presence was not immaterial because they knew their clients best and could be great support for the trainers.

It is key to avoid overprotectiveness, which is, to some extent, inherent in relations with people with disabilities. Let us help them but not do things for them.

a.p.: Was there anything that impressed you? I must admit I was amazed but also delighted to see the cheerful, helpful and respectful atmosphere of the workshops. It was a pleasure to see how the participants enjoyed every little thing such as attractive art supplies they got to use. k.m.: Engagement is what always impresses me, not only in working with people with disabilities. g.sz.: Engagement – I can confirm that. Some of the trainees’ knowledge was often surprising as well. And I am always fascinated with how people with disabilities can enjoy doing things. k.m.: It was rewarding to see participants remember elements of the activities long after the workshops were over. a.p.: To wind this up please tell me what hints or advice you might give to educators working with people with disabilities in museums? k.m.: The first and foremost hint is this: remember that a museum is also for all audiences, including the most exacting ones: it is your responsibility to present the exhibition so that people with disabilities can take away as much as possible. Plus some other important issues that come to my mind:

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•• Get to know your group well to design activities for them. This is a stretching goal as there may be people with varied, interlinked disabilities within one group. Find out as much as possible about them as the most trivial things such as the use of colour red may trigger off negative reactions. •• Inspect the exhibition the group is going to visit. What I mean is the logistics, barriers for people with disabilities (of which there are still too many) such as narrow passages or exhibits not lit enough for people with impaired sight to see. Explore the space, plan optimum activities, give the group a run-through: select a part of the museum, show the adjacent rooms. You are familiar with the place but this may be the first time many of them come here. Nobody feels comfortable in a place they do not know. •• Formulate your statements in a clear and simple way so they are comprehensible. Motivate, judge and evaluate immediately, do not be closed-mouthed. This is something to learn from them. •• Be flexible, observant and respond immediately: you may find the trainees focus more intently on an activity that was not a priority for you. Let them go on. Good knowledge of the exhibition content will come in handy here. You either have to get deeper into the subject or redistribute emphasis. •• Don’t insist on making them happy. If a participant does not take to you, do not force them to. Allow them to ignore you or, conversely, let them demonstrate they like you in a form acceptable to you. g.sz.: Absolutely. Your are right there, Kasia!

Grażyna Szarugiewicz – educator, consultant of the National Museum in Krakow, Krakow city guide, works with children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

a.p.: Thank you very much for the interview and congratulations on the series of excellent workshops! Katarzyna Maziarz – teacher of Polish, educator working with people with intellectual disabilities, consultant at the National Museum in Krakow.

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Sample workshop scenarios

„T

he workshops at the National Museum in Krakow in which we are taking part, are highly professional: very well prepared in terms of both content (i.e. scope and methodology) and organisation. I’d say, surprisingly well-prepared if I you look at such a young team of educators. This makes my deep-felt respect for the organiser even greater. I realise how difficult it is to conduct this type of stimulation activities. It is quite a job to deliver the content and inspire true interest in people with disabilities and with such varied degrees of perception as our clients. They were very eager to come to the classes and will gladly do that again!” Opinion of the head of the Centre for People with Special Needs in Skawina, who took part in the project

Note: All the workshops were designed for adult groups of 10–15, with mild or moderate intellectual disabilities.

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series: „MUSEUM? CONTACT!”

WorldsCom Objectives: •• To develop cognitive inquisitiveness, •• To practice eye-hand coordination, •• To practice concentration, •• To learn about selected objects at EUROPEUM, •• To improve fine motoric skills (relaxing muscular tension, better dexterity of the wrist joint and the fingers), •• To train creative thinking processes, •• To develop manual skills and visual imagination.

Duration: 1,5 hr Location: EUROPEUM Centre for European Art Designed by: Katarzyna Maziarz

Work method: Individual work, group work, talks, exercises, educational games. Materials: Colour binding transparencies, a torch, a lamp, 10 jars, glass paints / adhesive colour transparencies, 10 tea lights, a bed sheet or plain coloured, light fabric, black markers, pencils, colour light sticks, 1 kg of flour, a plastic box, Christmas tree lights, sheets of paper, pencils, colour crêpe paper, craft punches, a wooden easel-like “screen” with a sheet tacked on.

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1. Welcome „Greeting with light”. After the participants take their seats and get used to the new place, turn the light or some of the lights off (is possible). Have the participants pass on a torch and introduce themselves (make sure they do not feel stressed out; best consult the group carer if such activity is possible). 2. How does light change objects and paintings? The participants put colour transparencies over reproductions. The trainer controls the discussion asking how the images change as a result, what moods particular colours invoke, whether light is always the same colour. The subject is continued as they wrap Christmas tree lights with colour crêpe paper and place objects on a backlit box (you can use a see-through plastic box with Christmas tree lights inside instead).

3. What does lighting point to? The participants outline the shadows of the backlit objects with a crayon on a sheet mounted on a frame or easel. 4. In the gallery The participants and the trainer inspect selected works of art, find chiaroscuro in them and the identify the highlighted and the dark image areas. They examine how various artists painted light. Next, they try do copy the shadows cast by sculptures. Art works: •• Dirck van Baburen, Peter Renounces Jesus •• Abraham Danielsz Hondius, Annunciation •• Mattia Preti, Dice Players •• Otto Marseus van Schrieck, Thistles and Butterflies

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5. Lanterns Back in the room people decorate jars (painting, cover with colour tin foils punched decoratively) producing colour lanterns.

6. Presentation of works

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7. Painting with light Note: For this task lights have to be turned off in the room so participants need to be forewarned about that and prepared for temporary darkness.

With the lights off, the participants „paint” in the air with light sticks to the changing rhythm of music (quiet, lively, dynamic, lyrical) and a volunteer or trainer records the light performance on long-exposure photographs. Next, they all review the results and try to identify any familiar shapes in the images created. 8. Evaluation The participants make drawings of smiling or unhappy faces in flour spilled onto a desk, depending on how they assess the workshop.

Professionally taught workshops, offering lots of knowledge. Robert - workshop participant

9. Thank you and good-bye

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series: „MUZEUM? KONTAKT!”

Image Codes Objectives: •• To stimulate the senses of sight and hearing, •• Top practice concentration, •• To practice creativity through artistic tasks, •• To bond the group, •• To make the participants familiar with icons and present the collection of Orthodox art. Work method:

Duration: 1,5 hr Location: Gallery of Orthodox Art of the Old Polish Republic, the Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace Designed by: Grażyna Szarugiewicz

Individual work, group work, chat, a show based on experiences, developing manual dexterity. Materials: Sections of reproductions of paintings, hard or Bristol paper, white sheets of paper, paints, brushes, golden and silver tin foil, slips of colour paper, recordings of an Orthodox choir, reproductions of icons and other religious paintings, an hourglass, a timeline for evaluation, music playing equipment.

on a par • sample workshop scenarios

1. Welcome The participants and the trainer stand in a circle taking turns to say their names, and each selects a colours card they like best. 2. Introduction to the subject The trainer turns music on and asks the participants to help create a painting to it. They all sit around a table with an hourglass in the centre of it to measure the time needed to paint a single element. Each of them paints one element and passes the sheet on clockwise. All look at and discuss the works created. What can we say through an image? Are the colours in an image important? Has anyone used the same colour as the card they initially selected?

Hourglass measuring the time Colours chosen by participants

3. In the gallery a. The trainer takes the participants to the gallery. At the start they look at the paintings around and compare them to the images they have just created. Are there any similarities? b. Everyone draws a card featuring a section of an icon in the gallery. Their task is to locate the original icon. c. When the icon is found, the group analyses the image together: how the saint is showed, what the objects around him stand for. They also thinks about his gestures and the position of the hand and based on it have a discussion on whether gestures can replace speech. They greet one another once again, this time using no words. In order to show what else can be expressed with hands participants play games where they volunteer to mime messages such as „Good Bye”, „Come nearer”, „Go there”, „I am concerned”. d. Looking at the icons once again the people check what colours feature most prominently in them, thinking whether the colours carry any specific meanings. They play a brief game of associa-

on a par • sample workshop scenarios

tions: What comes to their minds when they think of particular colours. The trainer asks them to check if the human figures in the icons cast shadows and what colour cannot be found in them. 6. My coded image The participants prepare their icons using templates and based on what they learned in the gallery.

7. Evaluation Each of the participants pins up ready-made pictogram printouts of a hand with a thumb up or down for positive or negative opinions of the workshops respectively.

on a par â&#x20AC;˘ sample workshop scenarios

When are we going there again? Jadzia - workshop participant

series: „Word/Image/Europe”

It’s tea time! Objectives: •• To develop cognitive inquisitiveness, •• To practice eye-hand coordination, •• To practice concentration, •• To learns about elements of English culture, •• To learn about selected items of the Gallery of Decorative Arts, •• To improve fine motoric skills (relaxing muscular tension, better dexterity of the wrist joint and the fingers), •• To train creative thinking processes, •• To develop manual skills and visual imagination.

Duration: 1,5 hr Location: Main Building Designed by: Katarzyna Maziarz

Methods Group work, chat, exercises, educational game, brainstorming Concepts Black tea, white tea, green tea, red tea, samovar, five o’clock, tea time. Materials Paper frames, a pack of black tea, assorted teas: green, white, red, flavoured; brushes, A3 sheets of paper, newspapers, glue, felt pens, colour crêpe paper, timepieces: an alarm clock, a watch; a cup and a saucer, alu foil, pastels, images of cups.

on a par • sample workshop scenarios

1. Welcome The trainer ushers the participants into the subject area, explains elements of English culture referencing the subject, talks about tea drinking customs. The other subject of the workshop is timepieces. 2. Artistic tasks The participants draw the outline of a cup and saucer on a piece of paper; next, by drawing or pasting colour paper scraps and crêpe paper, they try to make the outlines over into completely different objects. Presentation of the works. 3. In the gallery The whole group together looks for English timepieces and tea sets in showcases previously marked “A” on the floor in front of them. They think who might be the owner of the objects they have just seen. 4. Tea Presentation of various tea types: the participants guess what ingredients enrich the teas by smelling or rubbing leaves between their fingers. 5. Tea painting The participants design their clocks or watches based on what they saw in the gallery. Alternatively, they can use parts of images of museum objects to which they add decorations of their invention. Next, they put their works in paper frames made of pieces of newspaper soaked in strong tea brew and pasted onto sheets of paper. Presentation of works. 6. Evaluation Participants pin cups with a tea level marked with a pen to reflect their level of satisfaction with the class onto a big sheet of paper. Thank you and good-bye

on a par • sample workshop scenarios

series: „Word/Image/Europe”

Word and Image Welcome The group is greeted in Polish and English. Brief physical and linguistic warm-up. Picture guessing at the gallery A brief tour of part of the Gallery of 20th-Century Polish Art combined with a language game of “picture guessing”, in which the participants are encouraged to formulate their own associations with a painting or sculpture viewed. Participants give their interpretation of the art work. The trainer tries to title the story with a single English phrase.

Duration: 1,5 hr Location: Main Building Designed by: Łukasz Zych

Acting out paintings Back in the workshop room, the participants (split into four groups) select the subject of a painting they remembered and prepare to act it out. The point of the game is to have the audience guess the title of the performance. The audience may watch all the groups preparing but without unnecessary comments or too much assistance for the actors. Following a presentation, the other each groups guess the situations behind the performance.

on a par • sample workshop scenarios

If nobody gets the title right, the group can act the scene out again and reveal the title. Change of location drama game in English The participants and the trainer sit in a circle. The trainer provides phrases in English and Polish which may or may not be true about participants (such as “I have had breakfast today”, or “I am wearing glasses”). The people that the phrases match stand up and are encouraged to say something more about them.

Where are the flowers? drama and language game The trainer jots down 10-15 English words for objects that are in the room on a sheet of paper. The group learns the new words repeating after the trainer. They also learn the phrases „Where is...?”, „…is here”. Each participant get one slip of paper with a word written in both languages. When the trainer asks for example: „Where is the door?”, the person with the with „Drzwi/door” on it raises it and tries to point to its location in the room. The game continues until all the names written on the slips are used.

on a par • sample workshop scenarios

It was great, I learned a few words in English Marzena - workshop participant

„Living camera”, a drama game practicing orientation in space The participants get into pairs. Each pair decides who will act out a photographer and who will be a camera. The cameras close their eyes and the photographers lead them around the room until they find an interesting object to take a picture of. The photographer „sets off” the camera, who opens the eyes for a few seconds and memorises the view. After about five of such “pictures” the camera tries to locate all the “photographed” objects in the room. Next the roles switch in each pair. Where is boss?, a drama and language game that teaches concentration and basic acting techniques The trainer chooses a participant to be a „boss”. The purpose of the game is for the group to imitate and repeat all the gestures and words spoken by the “boss”. When most of the group has correctly copied the boss’s actions, the trainer appoints another person. The game may be continued until the first signs of the group getting bored. Lippi and Messy An excerpt of the English teaching television show Lippi and Messy: learning songs and phrases. Recap Repeating the memorised phrases together, singing songs together. Thank-you and good-bye

on a par • People with intellec tual disabilities in a museum

This publication is part of The European Territories of Culture, a project delivered by the National Museum in Krakow as part of the Lifelong Learning â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Grundtvig programme.

ISBN 978-83-7581-192-6