SWAIP: Social inclusion and Well-being through the Arts and Interdisciplinary Practices

The SWAIP project is a strategic partnership project that runs for two years with funding from the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme.

SWAIP Aims and objectives

The two-year Strategic Partnership Social inclusion and Well-being through the Arts and Interdisciplinary Practices (SWAIP) develops curricula for a study programme, which will train artists and health workers with an arts background to work with social inclusion in their artistic projects. The goal is to introduce them to art’s abilities to make connections, facilitate well-being, empowerment and strengthen self-confidence. Emphasises will be on training flexible and sensitive artists, capable of relating to advanced ideas and finding new roles in the constant changing society.

The project consists of several activities over a two-year period, offering a collaborative learning community for all art disciplines, with active participation of academics and students in the field of arts and therapy, and healthcare specialists. These will be in the form of two intensive programmes and a staff development seminar, focusing on reaching out to people suffering the Alzheimer disease and youth at risk of dropping out of school.

The project activities will serve as a venue for exploring learning approaches developed by an interdisciplinary group of specialists, which have the common ambition of using art as a tool for social inclusion. The group’s development work will result in curricula for a study programme that provides artists and health workers with an arts background, with opportunities to train and work in a professional environment, presenting creative interdisciplinary learning approaches.

SWAIP partners

The project is a coordinated by Iceland University of the Arts and the partners are:
  • University of Porto
  • University of Alicante
  • University of Hertfordshire
  • Academy of Fine Arts in Munich
  • Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki
  • Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC)