16
November
2015
|
10:16
Europe/London
Free education for more than one million around the globe
- University initiative to deliver creative entrepreneurial programme in countries torn apart by conflict
- In Place of War will provide University of Manchester-certified training in Africa, South America and the Middle East
In Place of War
More than one million young people in some of the world’s poorest and most troubled communities will receive free education from The University of Manchester.
The University is to open a series of cultural spaces and deliver a new creative entrepreneurial course for people living in areas of conflict across Africa, the Middle East and South America.
The entrepreneurial programme will provide an escape through music and the arts and an internationally-recognised qualification for citizens whose lives might otherwise be torn apart by troubles and unrest, laying the foundations to grow their local economies and train up their own communities.
It will be delivered by In Place of War (IPOW) - an award-winning University of Manchester initiative which has worked for ten years, with the support of music industry figures, to bring opportunities through music, art, theatre and dance to sites of conflict, war and social upheaval.
The new work will be delivered thanks to more than £360,000 worth of funding awards from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Leverhulme Trust and will reach 25 countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Egypt, Lebanon, Columbia and Brazil.
Ruth Daniel, co-director of In Place of War at The University of Manchester, said: “This work will change lives in some of the most disrupted and disconnected parts of the globe. Over ten years of research and fieldwork we have seen the positive difference that the facilitating the arts can make in sites of conflict. Thanks to this funding, we can now turn that into real education and training opportunities with the potential to enhance local economies and take people out of deprivation by connecting with people both in other areas of unrest and far beyond.
“As academics, it also provides us with a continued evidence base with which to understand the role that this type of intervention can play for people living through war and upheaval.”
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This work will change lives in some of the most disrupted and disconnected parts of the globe.
Ruth Daniel
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Professor Ken McPhail, Associate Dean for Social Responsibility, Faculty of Humanities, said: "The In Place of War programme is a fantastic example of how research in the humanities can have real-world impact by addressing some of our most pressing social and economic issues. Their new program will empower and equip over one million of the world’s poorest young people and shows what a combination of the arts, entrepreneurship and a concern for social justice can achieve."
In the Middle East, £141,000 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will help fund creative entrepreneur workshops which will contribute to work to tackle extremism by providing an alternative to violence. The money will also fund a debating programme in the region.
A further £100,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council will deliver workshops in Africa and Brazil as well as opportunities to showcase warzone artists around the world. And the Leverhulme Trust has awarded £125,000 to create a network of cultural spaces, contributing to research into the importance of community spaces as a gathering point for creative and social endeavour. The first of these will open this year in Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rio de Janeiro. It builds upon an online network put in place by IPOW to allow participants to share their art and music around the world.
IPOW co-director, Professor James Thompson, added: “I’m delighted that In Place of War has received three different grants recently - this gives us the chance to develop new international partners for culture centres in conflict zones and expand our arts education programmes for young people in the Middle East and internationally. Ten years of research and practice and we now have a great staff team delivering all these projects.”