RESEARCH ON OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS OF PEER EDUCATION IN TUSCANY

1. RESEARCH ON OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS OF PEER EDUCATION IN TUSCANY Researchauthor: IL VIVAIO DEL MALCANTONE cultural associationactive in the Florence area in the field of performingarts and live performance, with particularattention to the contemporaryissues reflectionand responseanalysisisenriched by the knowledgeof and collaboration with some of the interviewedsubjects, and also by ourawareness of the socio-politicalcontext of culture in Italy and specifically in Florence.

2. RESEARCH’S TYPOLOGY SUBJETCS INQUIRED about20 subjects, workingin the cultural-artistic and social matters. RESULT OBTAINED responsesreceivedfrom about the half of them QUALITATIVE AND NON-QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH sincethe sample examinedisnotnumericallysignificant. RESEARCH TOOLS writtenquestionnaire: general section: questionsdesigned to specify the type of subject (the workingenvironment, methods,..) peereducationsection: questionsdesignedto determinetheirknowledge and the possible use of thismethod interview: to specificsubjects in order to enhance some issue, based on the relevance of some of the answersobtained.

3. GENERAL PICTURE OF THE REALITIES INQUIRED CULTURAL REALITIES, ASSOCIATION AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OPERATING MAINLY IN THE CULTURAL FIELD, WITH A STRONG LINK WITH THE TERRITORY IN WHICH THEY ACT FINANCIAL SUPPORT private funds public financing and self-financing lessrelevant: bankfoundations, private donors and sponsors START UP available human resources and creative staff, brought together by a common idea and cultural urgencies The site isasrelevantas the team they are the onlyones to evaluate the market and the business value of theirproject public administration, whichisthe mainfinancial supporter ,isnotinvolvedneither in design nor in the start-up of the associations

4. NETWORKING: high valued and used Generally, isclearemployedmerely on single projects and in an episodicmanner (whichfor peereducationisseverelylimiting) SOCIAL VALUE OF ART AND ITS USE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST RACISM: allsubjectsagree on it, butno one can tellprecisely the projects in whichthispractice take place N.b.the subjectsworkingspecifically in social field and usingpeereducationdon’trecognize the art as a vehicle for training and social promotion or theyuseditmarginaland experimental way USERS SATISFACTION AND NEEDS ANALYSIS: halfof the subjectsdeclare to use tools for tracingusersatisfaction and needsanalysis, althoughitisn’tcleartwhatstrategies are derived from it.

5. SUBJECTS’ POSITION TOWARDS PEER EDUCATION PEER EDUCATION PROJECT : based on a specificdesigning,carried out in a planned, conscious and communicable way. MANY OF THE INTERVIEWED DOESN’T HAVE CLEAR NEITHER WHAT PEER EDUCATION IS NOR WHICH ARE THE POSSIBLE FIELD OF ITS EMPLOYING IT 5 out of 10 declarethey use peereducation In facttheyreferto naturally born and self-organized peer education experiences Onlyonesubjectgives the example of a truepeereducationproject and operates in the social field INTEREST IN DEVELOPING PEER EDUCATION: almost all subjects POSSIBLES USES: educational activities, promotion of social values and promotion of young artists EVALUATION OF THE PEER EDUCATORS AND THEIR PROJECT: based on the quality of the proposal and the face-to-face impression given by individual interviews

6. CONCLUSIONS PEER EDUCATION IS A METHOD RARELY USED IN TUSCANY, ESPECIALLY IN THE CULTURAL FIELD both private and public institution REASONS- littleknowledge of the method cultural association and subjects - dififficultiesin applyingthismethod due to ongoing knowledge transmission in the cultural field still seemed to be based on a vertical scheme, addressing recognized teachers and trainer Reflection on teaching and training schemes and models must take place. difficulty of medium and long term projecting, due to the uncertainty and irregularity of funding, both in the cultural and social fields, or the lack of a sustainable, clear and shared cultural planning

7. STRATEGIES • CULTURAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT • lacks of medium-long term planning, both by public institutions and by the single associations • the administrative and economic process that leads to obtain funds is not clear, due to a not homogeneous communication by the institutions, and to a lack of information exchange among the associations • individual projects or singular events on large-scale are chosen to the detriment of longer project • NEED TO HELP TO RE-ORGANIZE THE PLANNING AND METHOD ABOUT CULTURAL DESIGN: • It is necessary to work planning on medium and long term, on 2 level: • -institutions: for achieving a structured and systematic distribution of funds, in order to ensure the continuity of projects • - association and other subjects: for organizing the work and focus on the context’s needs

8. PEER COACH: useful resource to bring on different actions • create a new educational model based on networking and fostering the flow of content • point out new needs and issues • allow informal access to information, with the aim of building a network • enhance and spread best practices borrowed from self-organized and independent experiences • These actions require to be STEADY AND CONTINUOUS, within a long term implementation to foster not only cultural and social but also personal growth of all the people involved. • TASK OF THE PEER COACH: • to propose initiatives and projects regarding this historical moment’s critical issues, working as operators able to join informal and widespread distribution of cultural and artistic practices • to interacts with the subjects working in the social, cultural and educational fields within the same territory, proposing innovative ways and training models, and a new concept of cultural planning and fruition, also though the use of social networks and new technology