Voluntary Arts has begun work with partner organisations from across Europe on the new 'BRIDGING' project which received funding from the Erasmus+ programme. The two-year project also involves partners from Denmark, Slovenia, Austria, Poland and the Netherlands and aims to explore means of bridging social capital through co-creative and participatory culture.

During the next two years, the partners will research and explore current practice and develop models of good practice which can be shared through resources and events across Europe. The work will involve collaborating with the arts, culture and heritage sector, trainers and educators, along with volunteers and community projects looking in particular at social capital in five contexts: inter-social, inter-generational, inter-regional, inter-cultural, and inter-European.

The idea of exploring in-depth how culture and creativity can play a role in building trust and integration between different groups in our society is a timely one, that connects with much of what Voluntary Arts is involved in already. BRIDGING presents an exciting opportunity to develop this thinking internationally and share the outputs across the UK and Republic of Ireland and beyond.

For updates as the project progresses, you can visit the BRIDGING website.

The full list of partners in BRIDGING are:

• Voluntary Arts, (UK & Ireland)
• Kulturelle Samråd i Danmark (Denmark - lead partner)
• Interfolk - Institut for Civilsamfund (Denmark)
• Fundacja Alternatywnych Inicjatyw Edukacyjnych (Poland)
• Javni sklad RS za kulturne dejavnosti (Slovenia)
• St.Landelijk Kennisinstituut Cultuureducatie en Amateurkunst (Netherlands)