Our Association contributes to development and reaching audience and groups, which are normally excluded from the cultural and social life due to marginalization or isolation and improve their access to cultural and creative work by engaging them in new and innovative ways on local and regional level. Our particular focus is on young people, people with mental health issues, addictions, behavioral problems and other underrepresented groups.

Through our project activities in the past 9 years we contributed to the delivery of innovative and creative approaches in the field of skills development and creative expression for disadvantaged people in Plovdiv region and managed to validate their cultural competences as a tool to provide for subsequent job seeking or education and training. We are encouraging those groups, as well as the professionals, who are working with them to engage in cultural entrepreneurship that contributes to enriching cultural life and its diversity with new events and content.

In addition to this, we engage in activities to establish sustainable links and relationships between the disadvantaged people (including their families), specialists working with them and the general public to lay the foundations for motivation for change, integration, dialogue and inclusion in social, cultural and active citizenship life.

Our projects and activities give visibility and publicity to the work of artistic organizations and professionals working with disadvantaged people using theatre and art. We strive to recognize their efforts as a serious work and a powerful tool for influencing public attitudes and to build a network through which activities can be more sustainable in the future. We provide support and training to develop the capacity of artistic and social organizations, professionals and volunteer youths through the methods of education through social inclusion and the use of artistic skills development activities as well as ways to validate their cultural competences.

In The BRIDGE through Art project we have build upon past experiences by organizing a Festival of artistic activities delivered to marginalized groups/ persons in a disadvantaged position. There were also several supporting activities with the project target groups, their families and the general public for creating links and sharing of good practices in the field of active social inclusion through art and theater, which took place in 2019.

Moreover, we have created and interactive map of art and theater operators, working with disadvantaged people, that provides national data and foster interactions for sharing ideas in the field of art and culture.

You can see the full list of projects and initiatives in the included document:   Art projects information