Nomadways

_about the association

Nomadways logo // created by graphic designer Anne Merlin

Nomadways is a French non-governmental organisation with a wide international network. The association aims to promote dialogue through visual and performing arts. To do so, we create multidisciplinary, intergenerational and multicultural workshops, residencies and trainings with artistic, pedagogical and social dimensions. We foster interaction between young creatives, youth workers, youth trainers, youth leaders, social workers, educators and researchers to develop artistic and pedagogical products and tools in Europe and beyond. Nomadways has been active in the cultural and non-formal education field since 2008 and has created and realised more than 20 projects funded by the Erasmus+ programme.

Since 2008, Nomadways has organised projects for young people and youth leaders to foster their creativity, and critical thinking and help develop their competencies, attitudes and projects. In their daily work, the team pays attention to new technologies and creative methods, such as the creation of innovative educational tools like online booklets, videos and games. They have created and coordinated over 20 projects funded by the European Commission programmes (Youth in Action and Erasmus+) such as trainings, youth exchanges, strategic partnerships, job shadowing and feasibility visits.

The core team of the association is formed of three professionals who are experienced in project design and implementation in the field of culture and non-formal education. The association also has an active network of specialists in various areas with whom they work on projects led by Nomadways. Those competencies cover a wide range of methodologies such as communication design, digital storytelling, visual facilitation, non-violent communication, theatre, acrobatics, publishing, performing arts, visual arts, mixed media and much more.

_history

In 2016, we engaged in "Developing an innovative platform to impact millions of refugees with social circus", a 3 years strategic partnership to offer alternative sources of non-formal education and connect refugee and displaced youth in and around Europe with social circus and art programmes. We are responsible for the creation of the website and app with social circus content.

In November 2016, we coordinated How to be a clown, a training for youth workers to explore clowning as a tool for self-development, active participation, community building and social change.

In October 2017 we coordinated Subjective Mapping for artists, educators, architects and activists who have created different kinds of maps ranging from digital to sensorial maps in order to shake geographical conventions and propose alternative representations of the world in which we live, and to present the diverse ways of living and seeing the world. As a part of it, there was a high interaction with the local community and the possibility of exchange, especially during the final exhibition and celebration.

Earlier the same year, 2017 we led a Stories We Tell 2-week training course for youth workers and artists using creative writing and digital storytelling as innovative pedagogical tools for revaluation of local surroundings and active civic participation among young people. During the workshop, the youth workers, educators and artivists explored various tools of creative communication, visual and written communication in order to get additional skills on how to tell their groups’ stories in a compelling way.

In May 2018 we implemented a training course called WeMen, a workshop in Brivezac, France, that invited youth workers and artists to lend their support to involve youth for gender equality. We had chosen to address this topic through the use of creative digital tools because images are a powerful tool for reflection and call to action, and digital media has the widest impact reach. We intended to bring everyone’s messages for gender equity and equality through comics that we also put in a joint comic book.

During 2018 and 2019 we have participated in a strategic partnership with Latvia and Italy to elaborate innovative, efficient learning tools and methods for boosting young people’s participation and activism thought to develop their initiative and entrepreneurship, social and civic competence, that would be based on the work with body and movement.

In July 2019 we coordinated Non-Violent Theatre training course in France for youth workers, educators, facilitators and activists to deal with situations of conflict or misunderstanding in the work environment, where reaching a compromise is needed for the common good and growth. As much as conflicts are natural for human relations, our concern is not to let them threaten the basic sense of safety, when a person feels their needs are endangered, which might lead to violent defensive reactions.

In September and November 2019 we have coordinated Creative Communication: a project that consists of two activities: a training course in France that aims at presenting the concept of digital literacy and a mix of creative and online tools to improve NGO leaders’ online communication and will empower them with new skills, good practices and tools to use in their digital communication. Then, the second activity which is a seminar in Bulgaria is to present the learning outcome and good practices to participants from developing countries in Eastern Europe. The activities are based on well-developed methods of creative strategies design (such as storytelling, design thinking, service design, buying personas, graphic facilitation and more) which is an approach to resolve issues outside of professional design practice, such as social contexts.

During 2020, with the COVID-19 outbreak, the association couldn't implement any projects and had to postpone the already-funded projects to 2021 and 2022.

In 2021, after a hectic year of adjusting to the pandemic situation, we managed to implement 3 of our Erasmus+ training courses: Acroconnection and Visualitation 1 and 2 in Italy and France. For the two latter projects, we brought together youth leaders, educators and visual practitioners to develop, test and pass on a set of empowering tools coming straight from the world of visual language. Our training courses were based on experiential learning and introduced many experiential activities to discover the power of visual language for community engagement and communication.

In 2022 and 2023, Nomadways was focused on using visual tools to empower educational non-formal activities and foster group exploration of the social environments. Together, with 4 more partners from Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, we implemented the Strategic partnership (K2 Erasmus+) project UrbEX which aimed at developing urban exploration as a tool to engage and empower youths at risk of exclusion. It achieved its aims firstly by promoting the active participation and engagement of five local groups of young people and providing them with non-formal learning opportunities for exploration and appreciation of the urban space. Secondly, it created an educational model based on the neighbourhood as a learning space and used it to train youth workers, teachers and professionals from the social and educational sectors. Finally, the team developed an international network of youth organisations, schools, and educational and social institutions interested in using urban exploration as an educational strategy. The network will ensure the dissemination and long-term use of the results produced in "UrbEX" as well as a continuous exchange of knowledge between the actors.

_team

★ Alexandra NIKOLOVA (Ål Nik)
Our Ål Nik [Alexandra Nikolova // Александра Николова] is an artist, designer, and facilitator. She experiments with mediums such as visual, digital, and sound art. Ål recently finished her Master’s programme in Fine Art and Media Design: Experimental Publishing at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam. In the context of her master's research, she aimed at finding accessible entry points for other visual makers to use sound in their research and artistic work. In her practice, she weaves diverse lines of work and disciplines - artistic research, collaborative practices exploration, publishing, documentation, and addressing socially-charged themes with a mixture of mediums.

★ Hélène CAVAIGNAC
Our Hélène is a pedagogic artivist ! Indeed, for many years she worked as a Project Coordinator in NGOs involved in the non-formal education workshops and she has been a non-formal education free-lance trainer for 5 years. Passionate about the performing arts (pantomime, clown, masks, impro, costume), she uses it as tools to develop critical thought to lead to empowerment. The exploration of new ways of learning is her keystone, she has developed original training courses based on self-directed training and learning experiences. Her involvement in European mobility programs for fifteen years led her to join the Nomadways team. She also works in the professional training field, where she gives sociology courses to social and youth workers.

★ Ilaria FRESA
Our Ilaria is a visual facilitator engaged to spread the use of visual language as a tool to support the learning processes. Her mission is to help people to explore their full potential and support groups to develop projects and focus on the implementation. As a social researcher, she graduated in Political Science with a Master of Art in communication and sociology of Migration, she conducted a number of researches concerning gender and refugees’ empowerment - focused on financial education and family balance and savings - within European projects. As an expert in cooperative learning methods and visual facilitation, she designed supervised and coordinated several non-formal education trainings for Italian local institutions educational organisations international agencies and NGOs.

_learning materials & articles

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