Grundtvig Multilateral Project, 2011 – 2013

Project coordinator

Institut für Bildung und Kultur, Germany

Partner countries

Austria, Belgium, Germany, Scotland, Slovenia

MIX@GES promoted understanding and dialogue between younger and older generations throughout the European Year of Active Aging and Intergenerational Solidarity.

Target group

The project invited young people (14 – 20) and older people (50+) to create under the guidance of professional artists, arts and media facilitators and organisers innovative media products.

Project objectives

• to jointly explore with seniors and young people the broad range of creative and artistic possibilities our contemporary digital world has to offer and the many opportunities to deploy creative expression
• to develop and deliver innovative methods of bringing the generations closer together and stimulating dialogue by using the creative potential of new media
• to investigate and evaluate the relevance and impact of creative media for enhancing ICT competences of older and young people and for improving intergenerational communication
• to identify and map relevant approaches towards intergenerational media in the participating countries

Project activities/results

MIX@GES explored how the artistic use of digital media can bring together both young and old. The European project invited young and older people to jointly discover the broad range of creative and artistic possibilities. In Scotland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Belgium the project partners implemented creative new media workshops in collaboration with national organisations such as museums, schools, youth or seniors’ associations.

The workshops were guided by professional artists, media trainers and art educators and involved the creation of artistic media products including iPod movies, audio guides for a museum, art blogs, Tagtool performances, digital music and photography. All the workshops were evaluated by both participants and facilitators.

The project delivered a plethora of experiences and explored innovative approaches to intergenerational activities in cultural and community settings. The findings of the project have been published in the manual “THE MIX@GES EXPERIENCE. How to promote intergenerational bonding through creative digital media“. The reader will find in this manual both detailed descriptions of how the mix@ges workshops proceeded and the project’s findings and lessons learned, around eight inspirational themes. Useful information about the partners, links and references complete the manual.