Erasmus Scene Network

In 2017 the Erasmus Programme, one of the most concrete and popular examples of the progress achieved during 60 years of European integration, celebrated its 30th anniversary. In a context in which the global financial crisis has brought new challenges to a European integration, the culture of Europe should stand for a strong and cohesive European Union.

However, Europe is recently facing maybe the most urgent and immediate challenge since the Second World War: the refugee crisis. At a time when Europe is receiving an extraordinary number of refugees, supporting EU Member States in tackling this situation is a key priority of the EU. In November 2015, the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council of Ministers reaffirmed that intercultural dialogue through culture and the arts plays an important role to integrate refugees. Theatre, drama and language learning can bridge gaps and improve mutual understanding between the population of the host country and the refugees.

Erasmus+ Scene Network (E+SCN) intends to merge one of Europe’s greatest successes regarding intercultural dialogue and cohesion, the Erasmus Program, with one of Europe’s greatest challenges, the refugee crisis. E+SCN is a European cultural project based on theatre and education that is addressed to 3 different target groups: Erasmus students, local students and local refuges. It aims to make the most of these targets’ creativity and human potential promoting their integration and participation in the cultural and social life of their host city.

E+SCN a project evolved around the creation of a European network with the following features: it was born with the objective of turning itself into a research and dialogue tool related to the creative, educational and integrative possibilities offered by the relationship between the students’ mobility phenomenon and the refugees phenomenon. E+SCN main goal is establishing a meeting point for persons displaced for different reasons who will be working together with a common aim: the creation of a theatre play. This process will lead to the acquisition of linguistic, communicative, artistic and expressive competencies to improve some aspects of the participants’ integration and employability.

E+SCN super-objective: integration of several citizenships from different strata society (refugees, migrants, Erasmus students…), through language learning, using theatre & drama as vehicle.

Partnership is composed by 4 different partners from 3 European countries (Spain, Italy & Germany): Fundació General de la Universitat de València (Spain, Project Coordinator), Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany), Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy) and CRIT Theatre Company (Spain).

Mainly addressed to these three different groups; Erasmus+ Scene Network selected students, local students & refugees and immigrants connected to NGO’ collaborating in the project.