WOENSDAG 20 SEPTEMBER 2023, 10.00-16.00 UUR.

De afgelopen tien jaar zijn wij, de stichting Changes & Chances, bij veel verschillende,
meestal internationale, educatieve projecten betrokken geweest. Onze projecten richten
zich op kwetsbare doelgroepen zoals gedetineerden, druggebruikers, vluchtelingen en
risicojongeren.
We hebben in al die jaren met heel verschillende mensen samengewerkt: psychologen,
jongerenwerkers, professoren, sociaal werkers, onderzoekers, gevangenisdirecteuren,
wereldverbeteraars, filmmakers, game designers, theatermakers, fotografen, muzikanten,
circusartiesten, dansers, om er maar een paar te noemen.
Wat we allemaal gemeen hebben is de gedrevenheid waarmee we ons inzetten voor deze doelgroepen en
voor het vak dat we uitoefenen.
We zouden het leuk vinden als jullie elkaar allemaal een keer ontmoeten, we hebben
elkaar veel te vertellen.
Op 20 september van 10.00 – 16.00 uur een netwerkmeeting in De Nieuwe Schuur in Herpt met een aantal
inspirerende workshops en twee bijzondere sprekers:
Manuela Kalsky – bijzonder hoogleraar Karen Armstrong Leerstoel voor Religie, Waarden en
Maatschappelijke Transformaties over ‘Superdivers samenleven in Nederland’.
Het levensbeschouwelijke landschap van Nederland is in de afgelopen jaren ingrijpend
veranderd. Het wij-zij denken floreert en het valt niet mee voorbij de eigen ‘bubbel’ te
denken en te handelen. Manuela Kalsky duidt deze veranderingen en houdt een pleidooi
voor verbinding. Van of/of naar en …. en, luidt het motto dat zij in haar lezing nader toelicht.
Friso van Doesburg – ervaringscoach jeugdzorg over hoe je jongeren binnen jeugdzorg
perspectief kan bieden.
Al jaren zet Friso zich in voor de jeugdzorg. Met het schrijven van zijn boek Uit Huis dat
gaat over zijn eigen verleden met jeugdzorg maakte hij naamsbekendheid. Nu geeft hij
door heel Nederland trainingen en lezingen over het ontdekken en ontwikkelen van de
ambities en het talent van jongeren in de jeugdzorg.
Tijdens de lunch en na afloop bij de borrel is er volop gelegenheid elkaar te ontmoeten
en om na te praten. Aan de bijeenkomst zijn voor de deelnemers geen kosten verbonden.

Mocht je bij deze dag aanwezig willen zijn, dan kun je je

via deze link inschrijven

Er zijn geen kosten aan deelname verbonden, maar er is slechts een beperkt aantal plekken beschikbaar
dus schrijf je tijdig in!

Our Art No Stop partner FES (Fundacion Escuela de solidaridad) organized the Krearte festival in Granada, Spain.

“Art represents an infinite space of expression, relationship and growth, capable of breaking down barriers and giving voice to unfair situations.

For this reason FES http://escuelasolidaridad.org/ gives the world of Art and the Social a platform for dialogue and experimentation that continues to grow and consolidate innovative and effective methodologies for social inclusion.

From 11th till 14th of may, 2023 the fourth edition of the KreArte Social Art Festival took place in Granada, Spain. It is a festival that aims to give visibility to different artistic practices as a tool for social inclusion.

Workshops, shows and an extraordinary parade took place in various spaces in Granada and the province, open to the participation of students, artist, associations, NGOs, social workers and anyone interested.

These photo’s show the Parade on Sunday, May 14th 2023 in Granada.

Source: https://festivalkrearte-com

“Magic of the Frame” at the Hugo de Groot College in Rotterdam

The short film “the circle portrays two young neighbors, the seventeen-year-old twins David and Sanchez Smith. They talk about their relationship, their family, the problems they face, their mental health, their dreams and other sensitive topics.

These topics were discussed in the first of the series of 12 lessons that we are currently organizing at the Hugo the Groot College in Rotterdam. At this school we work in an international class with students from Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries. All the world problems are present in a classroom of about 50 square meters. The group is motivated and but at times difficult to work with, but not because of their attitude. The main problem is the language, some of them have only been in the Netherlands for a couple of months, so parts of the lessons are in English. In the first lessons many theater exercises were used to address the subjects of the documentary. To finalize their project the students will interview people who work for NGO’s, local politicians and activists on camera about the topics of the movie

“Magic of the Frame – Teach with documentary film!” is a project financed by the Erasmus+ Programme under contract N: 2021-1-HU01-KA220-SCH-000029686.

Magic of the Frame Pilots NL

In both pilots in the Netherlands we choose to work with the movie “The Circle”

This documentary by choreographer and filmmaker Lanre Malaolu, is about growing up as a black boy in one of the social housing projects in Hackney, East London.

The short film portrays two young neighbors, the seventeen-year-old twins David and Sanchez Smith. They talk about their relationship, their family, the problems they face, their mental health, their dreams and other sensitive topics.

“Magic of the Frame” at the Hugo de Groot College in Rotterdam

These topics were discussed in the first of the series of 12 lessons that are currently organized at the Hugo the Groot College in Rotterdam. At this school we work with an international class with students from Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries. All the world’s problems are present in a classroom of about 50 square meters. The group is motivated and but at times difficult to work with, but not because of their attitude. The main problem is the language, some of them have only been in the Netherlands for a couple of months, so parts of the lessons are in English. In the first lessons many theater exercises were used to address the subjects of the documentary. In May and June, the students will interview people who work for NGO’s, local politicians and activists on camera about the topics of the movie. The teachers Nadira and Cyrille have approached several organisations to arrange this.

“Magic of the Frame” at the HAVO voor theater en dans in Rotterdam

During a special study week, the students of the “HAVO voor theater en dans” in Rotterdam worked with the documentary the Circle. During one week, in groups of three, they tried to find subjects related to the movie in the neighborhood of their school and made short documentaries themselves. Because of the limited time it was a bit of a pressure cooker but the project was well received by the students and the school and will be repeated next year.

A documentary made by three girls about unsafety on the streets will possibly be broadcasted on TV Rijnmond the regional TV channel for Rotterdam and surroundings. One of the girls involved had a bad experience herself.

Link to video Theater Havo:

“Magic of the Frame – Teach with documentary film!” is a project financed by the Erasmus+ Programme under contract N: 2021-1-HU01-KA220-SCH-000029686.

You can find the recently presented books on arts in prison online at
https://nikahdlu.wixsite.com/artoffreedom/books
In 5 languages: English, Croatian, Polish, Hungarian and Dutch.

STEP meeting in De Nieuwe Schuur in Herpt Nl.
An #Eramus+project to support and enhance the use of digital tools and distance learning in prisons

Meeting of partners from Sicily, Zagreb, Tenerife, Ljubljana, Vila Real, Bordeaux and Nld in Zagreb.
We are creating a handbook with best practices and a working method about storytelling for inmates.

A very good article written by Sofia Antonelli of Antigone, partner in our project, to explain the importance of education in prison To read absolutely.

A full right to education: why e-learning initiatives could represent an effective way to enhance opportunities of people deprived of liberty 

Any collection of rights at national, regional and international level includes the fundamental right to education, open to all equally and without discrimination. Everyone should therefore have access to education, regardless of personal circumstances. These include, of course, also the circumstance of deprivation of liberty stemming from a criminal sentence. The state of detention should not affect in any way the enjoyment of the right to education. On the contrary, education and training in prison should play a central role in order to ensure that the time spent in prison is not just dead time but rather a period during which a person can acquire new tools to use once outside.

The European Prison Rules states that “Every prison shall seek to provide all prisoners with access to educational programmes which are as comprehensive as possible and which meet their individual needs while taking into account their aspirations” (Rule 28.1). Ensuring the full enjoyment of this right within penal institutions is not always easy, regardless of the efforts made by the people working there. Few human and financial resources and the high turnover of students are just some of the reasons that often complicate the provision of courses in prisons. These complications increase further when it comes to professional training which is usually more difficult to organise, to fund and to make it accessible to a large number of people. 

One solution that can at least partly respond to these problems is the adoption of distance learning courses which, by their very nature, can more easily adapt to the difficulties inherent in detention pathways. E-learning initiatives have in fact characteristics that are usually particularly suitable to situations of frequent changes as the ones that may occur in prison. Compared to a traditional face-to face format, a well structured distance course can normally have a larger number of participants than can follow the same course, possibly even from different classrooms or from different establishments. Moreover, once initially structured, online classes usually have few costs of replication and maintenance. Lower costs also occur in the personnel involved, since for example there could be only one teacher for many classes. Distance learning consent generally to implement more flexible courses that can be adjusted in line with specific needs. If there are recorded lessons or modules that can be activated at any time, courses can be started, paused and finished more easily. Such characteristics are of course very useful for a detained person who for several reasons may need to interrupt and then resume the course. Finally, distance learning could also provide for the possibility of continuing the course also in another prison following a transfer or outside prison once the sentence is ended. Another important aspect is that e-learning may be the only way in which prisoners have access (sometimes for the first time) to programmes and technological devices, thus representing a way to reduce the digital divide that often characterises long-term prisoners from people in outside society. 

These are just some of the reasons why e-learning initiatives should increase in prison. Obviously their implementation should not be an alternative to in-presence learning, which clearly retains its central importance and usefulness, but more of a complement to it.

The need for more distance learning tools became even more apparent with the outbreak of the health emergency in spring 2020. Worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic emphasised the importance of distance learning abruptly imposing radical changes in the field of education. In prison, where the use of technology is almost everywhere strictly limited, the pandemic has even more forcefully exposed the need for modernisation processes aimed at adapting to the outside world as much as possible. With the pandemic, issues that can no longer be postponed have emerged: access to digital education, the preparation of prison staff, the basic digital skills of trainers and learners.

It is in this context that the STEP (Supporting distance Training and Education in Prison) project was conceived, namely with the purpose of supporting the use of digital tools and distance learning in prisons. To succeed in this goal, STEP aims to build a comparative research, common guidelines for the enhancement of distance learning in prison and an ad hoc training courses for prison and civilian staff working in institutions. These results will be available to all prisons interested in expanding and improving their educational offerings, with the hope of contributing to the growth of effective training and thus the access to  opportunities. 

Sofia Antonelli

Associazione Antigone