Why we created the Mind the Gap Project
Throughout global lockdowns, arts educators used creativity and resourcefulness to work with their communities in the face of significant restrictions and limited resources. As the sector gradually reopens, what will the future of digital engagement look like and how can educators involve a diverse range of beneficiaries?
The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the creative and cultural industries has been significant to say the least. Across Europe and the world, social distancing measures led to the closure of venue-based culture spaces, the cancellation of events and the suspension or profound upheaval of community-based education projects. Eighteen months into the pandemic, what will be the longterm impact on the European arts education sector?
Tackling the digital divide in arts education
Restrictions have led to the emergence of new forms of cultural engagement, in which audiences and communities interact with cultural works and practitioners entirely or partially online. Recent research has found that post-pandemic, audiences may be interested in continuing to engage with artistic experiences online. However, the crisis has made the shortcomings of digital (lack of access for learners and practitioners, digital fatigue, and narrow audience reach) increasingly apparent. Communities such as migrants, senior citizens, people with disabilities and those from rural communities are not only disproportionately affected by the pandemic, they are also among the most affected by the digital divide, or gap between those with knowledge of and access to technology and those without.
© Clare Guss-West/Luzern Tanz Fest
Mind the Gap: Creating Digital Bridges to Community is a two-year international research project bringing together six European arts organisations to explore digital arts education and how educators can work effectively with diverse communities. The project aims to identify best practices for digital engagement, provide educators with tangible resources and offer guidelines for policymakers. The Mind the Gap consortium, composed of six partner organisations from Belgium, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Norway, will work together over a period of two years to explore methodologies for working digitally with disadvantaged communities, offering training, case studies, online tools and a study of how arts workers, educators and teaching artists can support communities affected by the digital gap.
Mind the Gap is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission. To find out more about Mind the Gap, get in touch.
Further reading:
European Overview of the Use of Digital Media for Opera, Music and Dance Education, 2015, RESEO
Impact of Covid-19 on the cultural sector, 2021, Centre for Cultural Value
Culture shock: COVID-19 and the cultural and creative sectors, 2020, OECD
Coronavirus Resources: Arts, Culture and Cultural Mobility, On the Move
Photo © Les Clés de l’écoute