The GermInArte project took place between 2015 and 2018, resulting from a partnership between CMT and LAMCI-CESEM and funded by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. Following the Opus Tutti project, which explored the development of artistic practices that contribute to grassroots social and educational work, GermInArte aimed to improve human and professional resources for early childhood by designing and implementing artistic and musical training.
The project has taken a holistic approach, looking to reach parts of the social system that can, directly or indirectly, have a positive influence on the way issues related to childhood are dealt with. GermInArte has integrated theoretical and empirical research with activities aimed at the general public and activities for specific audiences.
Out of GerminArte’s key activities, we would like to highlight the design and implementation of two training approaches, called Transition Training (short programme) and Immersive Training (medium-length programme). The first offers increased awareness of the field of childhood music, and is flexible enough to be offered in various situations and reach a large number of professionals; the second offers the potential for greater depth and consolidation in the field of art for childhood. Transition Training consists of three modules (Colos de Música, Super-Sonics and BebéPlimPlim), lasting three hours each, based on the Manual Para a Construção de Jardins Interiores (Manual for Constructing Indoor Gardens), one of the publications produced in Opus Tutti. As part of the GermInArte project, Transition Training has been delivered more than 30 times across the country.
Immersive Training has deepened a concept that was initially developed through Grande Bichofonia and gave rise to three distinct initiatives: Jardim Interior, Claidoscópio and Dabo Domo, which were intensive week-long projects (40 hours) at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, which culminated in performative presentations for parents and babies. The expression “immersive training” describes a process based on the acquisition of skills — artistic, educational, interpersonal — through practical experience, in a real context that can present successive challenges and opportunities to assimilate perceptions and learning in an experiential way with strong emotional significance. In essence, it is more than a “training” process as it offers a “Trans-Formation” process (regarding personal development as appropriating and assimilating techniques and transposing them to lived experience) and promotes an ethical approach (regarding professionalism as both personal creativity and a sense of social responsibility). Both training processes are aimed at: musicians, artists from other areas, teachers and educators with an interest in artistic interventions in the context of interaction with babies and children (0—6 years old). They are two very distinct ways to respond to the challenge of training, providing trainees with musical experiences that can enrich interactions with babies and children, offering experience in the areas of personal development, interpersonal development and musical and artistic development.
The results of the GermInArte project have been presented at various academic forums, were an integral part of themes addressed in editions V-VIIII of the International Colloquium for Arts for Childhood and Social and Human Development and gave rise to the book/DVD “Ecos de Germinarte” published by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
Training
Immersive Childhood Art Training
Jardim Interior (Interior Garden)
Experiential training programme culminating in an artistic experience for families with babies, produced in an open-air space, in dialogue with nature.
More information
Caleidoscópio (Kaleidoscope)
Experiential training programme based on sections in “Manual para a Construção de Jardins Interiores” (Manual for Constructing Indoor Gardens). Includes various artistic and educational experiences with babies.
Transition Training
Music for Children
Short training programme focusing on different creative and educational perspectives, aiming to support personal development and enrich interactions with babies and children.
Courses run in either Spring or Autumn.
More information (PDF)
Afinação do Olhar (Tuning the Gaze)
Training focused on observing and interpreting the behaviour of babies and their carers (family and professionals), in different types of musical and artistic interventions. Aims to support understanding of psychological, social and aesthetic dynamics in the context of music and art for children, using a set of illustrative videos and asking: Are we “musical” from childhood?
More information (PDF)
Supporting material: video commentaries
The GermInArte project facilitates a training paradigm in which each person can bring out their own unique ability to communicate/flourish in the context of a creatove interaction. So, in different ways, it is possible to positively influence education and care in the early years and throughout childhood.
The expression “artistic transformation” aims to convey the idea that art can be an instrument for social and human development. This is because quality child care is fundamental to building a society with a better quality of life and because investments made at this age have far-reaching repercussions.
GermInArte Manifesto
We need training models to:
- 1. recognize harmony and affection
2. value personal development and the quality of “presence”
3. be of exceptional quality, even if that seems utopian
4. be “immersive” to ensure behaviour is incorporated
5. create new contexts, adjusting ideals to reality
6. value cross-cutting and interdisciplinary work
7. aim to cross-pollinate the work of different participants, with curiosity and commitment
8. value playing in open spaces, outside and in contact with nature
9. create diverse, active groups
10. be plural to inspire individuality
GermInArte conveys the idea that childhood education and care should be shared by caring communities.
More than training, GermInArte aims to be transformative, to mobilize each person from within.
More information at germinarte.com
