Perform 4 Change - Community Engagement through Performing Arts on Climate Change

<< Background >>Citizens' levels of social and political participation have reached historically low levels across Europe. There is distrust in political organizations and institutions, especially due to the lack of knowledge about them, and limited involvement in the political and social life of communities.At the same time, “the rapid shift to a climate-neutral Europe and digital transformation are changing the way we work, learn, participate in society and lead our daily lives”, challenges that have been exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic (European Skills Agenda).The development of social and civic skills is therefore urgent.Perform4Change was created to support (non-formal) learning of adults in Life Skills, on issues such as civic skills and environmental literacy, through their participation in performing arts workshops promoting essential skills to improve personal and social fulfillment and life. Sustainable professional/careers and contributing to active citizenship and social cohesion.Perform4Change used Climate Change as a theme for creations/workshops/community involvement in performing arts. Being a global issue, the international context of the project contributed to the richness of the discussion.<< Objectives >>Perform4Change aimed at providing adult learners from local communities of the partners with tools to improve their soft skills through performing arts training, contributing to their civic engagement and willingness to participate in public sphere concerns, such as Climate Change. The community collaboratively created artistic performances in a non-formal learning process aligned with the European common values and developed in an international good training practises exchange context.<< Implementation >>During Perform4Change, we applied 6 workshops on performing arts for the development of civic/soft skills in adult learners, through the discussion about Climate Change. 6 public performances came out of the training workshops. For the improvement of the workshops, partners participated in each other’s workshops in each country and improved their own, engaging in good practices exchange that resulted in a Good Practices Handbook.<< Results >>With Perform4Change, we aimed to improve involved participants' civic/soft competences through performing arts training. 6 public performances addressing Climate Change awareness took place, as a result. We developed a good practises handbook on training, shared in open access. Partners aimed to develop a collaborative international network, integrating new ways of working among entities with similar objectives and missions.