Art and social services met at ICT City
On 10 May, the fields of art and social services met at ICT City as students presented art-based methods intended for working with the youth.
Text: Inga Manzos, photos: Suvi Harvisalo
Main photo: Project participants Ian Mac, Suvi Kivelä, Anne Syvälahti and Marja Susi painting at the students’ workshop.
Turku region’s Business Service Center Potkuri, which is located at ICT City, changed into a colourful and sensory space at the hands of students. There was music in the background and a text “haista taide” (“smell the art”) was displayed in a bright colour on the wall. The students had planned exercises, which the visitors could try out in practice. The visitors got to wander around the space freely, getting to know the student groups’ checkpoints.
Cooperation across fields and cultures
The international MOMU, Moving towards multiprofessional work project, was behind the event. The aim of the three-year project, which is coordinated by Turku University of Applied Sciences, is to improve cooperation between the fields of social services and art. The project looks for opportunities within multiprofessional work between the fields of art and social services and acts to prevent the exclusion of youths.
“The aim of the MOMU project is to offer tools to current and future professionals in the fields of art and social services for multiprofessional work in supporting youths. Multiprofessional encounters and art-based methods should be practiced already during the studies”, says Project Manager Suvi Kivelä about the project’s background.
The past autumn the MOMU project offered training for teachers in the fields of art and social services, and this spring they have implemented multiprofessional teaching for the students. The students organized activities for youths in cooperation with Turku Vocational Institute, Turun Tyttöjen Talo (“House for Girls of Turku”) and the youth centre of Raisio.
“The challenge was to match the course timetables of different fields of education, student groups and teachers. It has however been extremely fruitful to pair up teachers, students and working life partners from the fields of art and social services. The results have benefited all parties”, Kivelä says.
Experiences on multiprofessional cooperation
The purpose of the event organized at ICT City was to share experiences on multiprofessional work between working life partners, teachers, students and youths participating in the project. The project involves students from the degree programmes in Social Services, Design, Fine Arts and Drama Instruction at Turku University of Applied Sciences. From the project’s partner countries, Ian Mac (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Anett Männiste (Tartu University Viljandi Culture Academy) came to Turku to see the ideas developed by the students.
