The project in summary
Art-education activities and workshops for minors and youth with different migration, cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
The project in detail
The “Thesaurus” project, which is part of a non-formal educational program developed since 1996 by the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), aims to:
- allow minors with different migration, cultural and linguistic backgrounds to express their emotions and their experiences in a creative way, within a safe, protected and child-friendly environment;
- improve their self-esteem and increase confidence in themselves and in others;
- strengthen their artistic-creative skills, their relational and socio-communicative skills.
Beneficiaries during the project period (2021-2024)
- 1’149 children and youth (aged 5-20), with different migration, linguistic and cultural backgrounds, participated to the varied creative-artistic and educational activities organized at the Intercultural Center “PYXIDA”, 3 mixed elementary and secondary schools of Athens, and 5 NGOs active in the fields of care and integration of minors with a migration background;
- 54 adults (of which 41 parents) with a migration background participated to several cultural visits of the most important museums of Athens and the Region of Attica.
Between January 2021-December 2024, Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) with the support of Alta Mane, has carried out the following activities:
- developed the digital educative platform “Thesaurus Library” where, subsequently, a total of 2’725 books for children and adolescents, which are part of the “PYXIDA” Center’s book collection, have been catalogued;
- organized 60 art-education workshops, during which 296 children, with different migration, cultural and linguistic backgrounds (aged 5-17), starting from the reading of different books and through different expressive-artistic modes, had the opportunity to reflect on various themes such as, inter alia, identity, journey, friendship, knowledge and co-existence with the other, and produced various drawings, paintings and padlets, successively featured and shared on the “Thesaurus” platform;
- organized 39 participatory book workshops, including 11 on the Rights of the Child, reaching 255 children and youth (aged 6-20), including 15 UAM;
- organized, in collaboration with 3 mixed elementary and secondary schools of Athens, and 5 NGOs active in the fields of care and integration of minors with a migration background, 38 theatre workshops reaching 367 minors (aged 6-18), including 39 Greeks;
- organized 1 Festival on the Rights of the Child reaching 18 minors with a migration background (aged 11-20), 6 teachers, 6 staff/collaborators and 1 parent;
- organized 45 cultural visits, coupled with several art education workshops, of the most important museums of Athens and the Region of Attica reaching 231 minors (aged 5-18), 41 parents and 13 adults with a migration background.
In 2025, GCR, with Alta Mane support, intends to strengthen the art-education activities (theatre and participative book workshops) in 2 mixed elementary and secondary schools of Athens, extend them to 5 NGOs active in the fields of care and integration of minors with a migration background, as well as in 1 Shelter for Unaccompanied Minors, to create a model of educational and social inclusion, art-based, replicable to a larger population of minors with a migration background and UAM.
