AEN is well under-way with its Extending the Margins programme, funded by the European Union under the Grundtvig Life Long Learning scheme. It's a partnership learning project which aims to develop the skills of cultural managers working with socially, economically and ethnically disadvantaged and excluded adult groups. 

In the Euro-speak jargon we explained to the funders that: 'the programme aims to facilitate sharing of knowledge and experience of cultural managers and exchange best practice.  The knowledge acquired through this process will enable managers to engage more effectively with their target client groups, making arts and culture more accessible to the widest spectrum of the population.  It will be particularly valuable in enabling managers to benefit from a diverse range of backgrounds, traditions and cultures offered by the Partner Network drawn from a wide pool of European countries and regions. With these widened perspectives, it is  believed that managers will achieve greater impact and creativity in their own local endeavours in widening the accessibility of arts and culture and promoting cultural and creative education.

The project focuses on five core topics that will explore how better partners can engage with disadvantaged adult learners, a priority group for European funding:

1. How cultural institutions can engage more effectively with culturally diverse and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities - particularly in in the development of learning programmes for groups of 'community cultural ambassadors' 

2. How to engage people from disadvantaged backgrounds, (particularly young people not in education, employment or training) in creative cultural programmes - such as in the delivery or workshops that raise creative and practical skills, familiarisation and taster sessions that generate understanding and sense of belonging, organising visits to events etc

3. How i-technology can be used to communicate with 'non-traditional' cultural attenders - particularly in providing intepretation and information on cultural events and programmes in ways that are meaningful and attractive to target learners

4. How the power of local communities can be enlisted to create cultural events and programmes (eg festivals) by working in collaboration with and supported by 'mainstream' cultural institutions

5. How new and contemporary arts can be made more accessible to people who lack sophisticated educational backgrounds through workshops, interpretation and outreach work

Get in touch with AEN if you have any interest in these topics - it may be that your organisation or project could be showcased at one of the Extending the Margins seminars in 2011 or 2012.