Cultural Mediation of Art “Atelier Direction”

The training provided for cultural mediators represents a recent investment for the Verona Academy of Fine Arts, and is rooted in a territory that has been dedicated to using art as a strategic lever in various sectors since the second half of the twentieth century. Practising art is something that can complete a person’s transformation processes, focusing on more in-depth self-knowledge and representing a moment of individual and relationship growth. Mediation of art is present in many contexts, not only in the traditional field of education for schools and museums, but also in the world of hospitalisation or mental illness, in the corporate world or in the world of public administration, communicating through exhibitions, shows or temporary events to engage a wide range of different audiences.

The aim of the course is for students to develop:

• the ability to face the challenge of innovating personal research and using cultural mediation to build bridges in educational and training situations;
• the ability to clarify the process of self-observation and convey this as a moment of growth, development and for sharing ideas, with theoretical training and laboratory activities being combined with the common experience of art;
• the skills to encourage free expression in educational facilities, museums and recreational structures and the ability to adapt, as well as knowledge of different artistic techniques that must be adaptable to children’s capabilities, adults’ capabilities and special capabilities, on a case-by-case basis;
• the ability to prepare physical and relational set-ups that are suitable to create empathetic surroundings, ensuring that everyone can find the key to their own expressive ability through symbols, colours, shapes, volumes and spaces; following the example of the many previous workshops organised by important artists in different health facilities, to develop the skills to facilitate free expression without any therapeutic goal, focusing on the development of participants’ expressive abilities;
• the ability to prepare and organise artistic activities for groups in public and private social welfare facilities, nursing homes and care institutions, such as oncology, paediatric, neurological and rehabilitation departments in general, or for people in a position of social marginality (due to mental health issues, illness or physical disability or due to a lack of ethnic integration), paying particular attention to relational aspects;
• the ability to manage relationships with others, related to learning and the critical aspects of work experience (difficulties, roles, esteem, errors, etc.) for users who can be spurred on by artistic and creative group activities able to improve efficiency and quality in the workplace; skills and abilities to organise exhibitions and editorial curatorship in order to spread knowledge of the results achieved by running creative workshops.

The qualification gives access to 1st and 2nd level University Master’s and/or other two-year 2nd level specialist courses.
The qualification of “Second level degree in Visual Arts” enables the attainment of the following teaching qualifications in secondary schools: artistic education, drawing and history of art.
As an employee or freelance, the operator of an artistic studio in the educational and social field may work for companies, institutes, public and private organisations and cooperatives that operate in the fields of Cultural Heritage, educational in general (schools, museums, libraries, educational and cultural centres, foundations etc.) and social-health care (mental health centres, hospitals, rest homes etc.).