Around the 1990s, museums’ primary purpose faced a fundamental change. Instead of their object-centric character, emphasis was placed on their human-centered role. Yes, they continued to collect, store, record, preserve, etc. the material culture, but they welcomed their audiences in a more meaningful way. Now, museums focus on providing all society members with unique recreational and educational cultural experiences.
This framework set a fruitful ground for the development of Cultural Education. Initially, the development of Cultural Education resulted in programmes and activities exclusively for museum spaces. Then, this progressed into an alternative methodology that was evolved into Cultural Education Programmes (CEP). CEPs are more than just a school trip. They follow the non-formal learning approach, in order to upgrade the role of arts and culture in the educational process. However, they are not limited to “school education”, as they contribute equally to the lifelong learning opportunities offered to people of all ages and educational backgrounds.
One of our main services of Peripatos is the design of experiential and original Cultural Educational Programmes. We design programmes for everyone who is interested in participating in such an experience, tailoring them into the needs of each organisation, space and audience.
We follow 3 methodological directions: the experiential approach, putting knowledge into practice, cooperation and collectivity. Based on these modern means we provide a comprehensive learning experience through which everyone can develop their skills, express themselves authentically and discover cultures, arts and stories.
Play is learning!
Our latest learning activity is Play. As its name implies, it focuses on the playfulness of culture in the most imaginative way. Through riddles and missions, students are invited to observe, inquire, read and search, in order to experience the joy of discovering history and the stories that overflow open, public places.
Cultural learning experiences everywhere
Meanwhile, in Peripatos, we go beyond the typical museum spaces. We embrace the need for CEP to be implemented everywhere. After all, a non-formal learning programme -by definition- can be applied to a (seemingly) non-formal learning space. We have designed a series of CEP that can be implemented anywhere a school group can be found, for example in a schoolground, park, grove, even at a beach!
Our most long held programmes, The Secret Recipes of the Goddess Demetra and LandArt, are at the intersection of nature, art and mythology. Cognitive, creative and physical activities reject traditional learning models and reconsider the relationship between humans and their environment.
Museum education
We do design for museums, too. Some of the programmes we have designed for museums and other organisations that are worth mentioning:
- ARTistry… away from home! for the Exile Museum, where elementary school children are introduced to the art of Engraving, an art that flourished during the exile.
- The people and their myths, an endless story for the Archaeological Museum of Tegea. This time, elementary school pupils are invited to explore the hidden aspects of the greatest historical and mythical personalities of the area, through artistic and experiential activities.
- Homo Oryctus invites secondary school students to the Milos Mining Museum. Through riddles, puzzles and missions, children “play” with chemical elements, minerals and explore the human body itself.
- As part of the MemoArt project, a programme with the same name was designed, in collaboration with the Ionian University, in order to encourage teens to explore and artistically express an element of their intangible cultural heritage.
Cultural Educational Programmes are the ideal way to raise awareness and actively engage everyone in cultural activities and production. Even more, they are fun for all ages!
Photos by Annie Spratt and Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash
