On March 6-8 the YSU Centre for European Studies in collaboration with ShareMusic & Performing Arts – Swedish knowledge Centre for Artistic Development and Inclusion, Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics, Global Campus Caucasus, Global Campus of Human Rights and Right Livelihood organised “Inclusion through arts” conference.
The conference was a component of “Performing Arts Exchange-2” project which was implemented as part of “Creative Force” action and funded by the Swedish Institute. The
project aimed to foster sustainable cross-sectoral collaboration and to explore methods on using arts as a tool to work with human rights. “Performing Arts Exchange-2” was implemented by the
ShareMusic & Performing Arts – Swedish knowledge Centre for Artistic Development and Inclusion, Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics and Yerevan State University.
As part of the project a performing arts production titled My Convention focusing on the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child was created, as well as “Inclusion through Arts” children’s rights education toolkit was developed. Another action within the project involves organising an international conference
with a focus on arts, human rights and inclusion with special emphasis on children’s rights.
During the opening day, participants were presented the results of the “My convention” project and performance, and had the honour of listening to the inspiring keynote speech on Human Rights & Inclusion delivered by Mme. Marthe Wandou, RL Laureate. The day finished with a panel discussion on Children Rights and Arts and was moderated by Barbara Strasser, Children’s Rights Project Manager from the Global Campus of Human rights.
During the second day of the conference a wide range of topics were raised and discussed by the panelists and participants. It started with an inspiring keynote speech by Nigel Osborne who shared his experience on performing arts and inclusion in North Uganda, South India, Sweden and Ukraine. Subsequent panels covered various areas including Arts and human rights, Inclusion as policy, Practical Application of inclusion Policy, Right to Education for people with Disabilities. The day was concluded by an inspiring panel led by children on ‘Inclusion and my rights’, where members of the Armenian Children Leadership team (CLT) and members of the Consultative body to the Ombudsman Office (COO)shared their views and experience.
The last day of the conference had panel discussion with the authors of the “Inclusion through Arts” Toolkit, teachers’ panel discussion importance of arts at schools and concluded with a visit to Henrik Igityan Inclusive Training Centre for Performing Arts in Yerevan.
The international conference on “Inclusion through Arts” provided a platform for academia, civil society, decision-makers, educational institutions, social sector representatives, and cultural
organisations to deliberate on the current state and the future perspectives of implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to discuss the nexus between arts and human rights, address issues of inclusion and disability, and examine the role of arts in promoting inclusion for both children and adults.