A new Erasmus project for Ipazia Production!
“Master the Act” is a new Erasmus project which develops and tests a teaching and learning for the education and lifelong learning of EU professionals that blends face-to-face theatre-based labs with flexible digital learning. It aims to improve a complex skillset that includes digital skills, emotional intelligence, creative thinking, interpersonal and communication skills, leadership and teamwork, along with global competence needed to thrive in a changing labour market. The “Master the Act” project directly targets job facilitators/enablers and theatre professionals and aims to empower them to teach and promote lifelong learning of professionals on an international scale. The indirect beneficiaries of the project are jobseekers and unemployed people. The aim of this project is to promote their employability and tackle their feeling of social exclusion and participation in civic and economic life.
The project entails a blended learning approach to improve skill sets in the target group of the project. The skills which this project aims to improve include digital skills, creative thinking and communication skills, among others. This will support individuals in their ability to thrive in the ever changing world and market. Check out the Master the Act website at https://mastertheact.eu/!
Ipazia Production is partner of this European project since November 2020 and, during its implementation, the project supports the accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth); likewise, it raises awareness about opportunities offered to Europeans looking for a job and funds dedicated to SMEs and helping them hire European professionals.
The project aims at up-skilling and broadening working methods of two target groups:
- job facilitators and enablers (HR managers, recruitment specialists, head hunters, career counsellors, public and private employment agencies);
- Theatre managers, trainers, and professionals.
How the project was conceived?
Master the Act builds on the Fake It Till You Make It action (2017) aimed at providing unemployed people belonging to social groups at risk or facing discrimination in finding work, with soft skills for employability. The 2-year initiative has proven to be truly impactful and its outreach has attracted an interesting number of vulnerable jobseekers, especially in Spain, among younger and older workers, women and migrants, people with disabilities, and others. Likewise, in Italy all the trained people have started up an entrepreneurial initiative. Its innovative teaching and learning methodology has drawn from theatre practice and has built on the “Spot-on” method, developing a novel hands-on approach that has been tested and validated. It can be experienced by candidates taking part in drama workshops where they create theatre productions and perform them for public audiences. Through this process they are expected to demonstrate their skills and abilities much needed for employment (such as teamwork, leadership, communication and entrepreneurial skills, among others).
Objectives:
By acknowledging results of the project Fake It Till You Make It, Master the Act also acknowledges the emerging need for trainers and adopters of the improved methodology, so as to increase the number of jobseekers supported in their empowerment process. After the end of the project, partners will test the deployment of a monitoring and tracking system, comparable to a self-assessment tool, suitable for capturing progression in employability skills of both a) trainers/adopters of the novel methodology, among job facilitators, Public Employment Services’ staff and theatre professionals, and b) jobseekers, among young and adult people trained and empowered by the former categories, so as to test effectiveness and consistency of the method on target groups and beneficiaries. The ultimate goal is keeping on feeding contacts within the community created by the means of the project.
Partners involved in this project include:
- Ipazia Production (RO): https://ipazia-production.com/
- Materahub (IT): https://www.materahub.com/
- L’Albero (IT): – http://www.lalbero.org/
- Inova Consultancy (UK): inovaconsult.com
- APEM (ES): https://www.madrid.es/portal/site/munimadrid
- Pôle Emploi (FR): https://www.pole-emploi.fr/accueil/
- ARTeria (PL): https://fundacja-arteria.org/
- European Academy (RO): https://www.europeanacademy.ro/
Building on the successes of the past “Fake it Till you Make it” project, as Ipazia Production we are excited about utilizing theatre and drama methodology for up-skilling and employability also in Romania and in all the Balkans!