The VAST project continues its research on the present of values through interactive and co-creative activities, which give valuable feedback to the study regarding the transformation and the perception of values through space and time.

Specifically, on Friday 27 January 2023, Dr. Dora Katsamori, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications (IIT) at NCSR Demokritos realised an educational workshop at the University of the Peloponnese (UoP). The workshop was addressed to post-graduate students of the Social and Education Policy Department of UoP,  aiming to raise awareness and investigate students’ perceptions about values.

The activity was based on an excerpt from the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles, where the students were motivated to reflect on the values found in the excerpt, and interlink them through team working and dialogue, whilst creating their personal and group mind maps.

Using the experience, methodologies and tools developed through research in the VAST project, the partner Fairy Tale Museum in Cyprus created a handbook which assists in Conducting Effective Co-creation Activities/Workshops.

The booklet is addressed to anyone who wants to organise and implement an educational activity or a workshop for raising awareness, teaching, or enhancing skills, and is available in the link Conducting Effective Co-creation Activities/Workshops.

Through this initiative, VAST offers a step-by-step guide on how to plan, design, and implement high-quality, integrated and inclusive educational and co-creation activities or workshops adjusted to meet the needs of specific audiences and capture their experience.  Specifically, the guidelines include all the steps necessary to be followed prior to the activity (planning & preparation), during the activity (implementation), and after the activity (evaluation).

Partners NCSR Demokritos and Museo Galileo (IMSS) represented the VAST Project at the UNCHARTED central event: Tensions in Societal Values of Culture: Can Value Conflicts be managed or mitigated?  that took place between 12-13 January 2023 at the University of London.

During the interactive poster session of the event, partners’ representatives showcased the VAST poster, explaining the VAST objectives, the developed digital tools, and the way they can be used by stakeholders in the cultural heritage domain.

Additionally, during the event, our VAST representatives had the chance to attend presentations and participate in open dialogues on the
conceptual findings produced by the UNCHARTED Consortium, which interrogates contemporary tensions in the societal values of culture.

A few words about the event

The symposium Tensions in Societal Values of Culture comprises debates, provocations, and discussions interrogating the value conflicts and tensions that surround cultural production, consumption, and administration. This symposium explores how such conflicts can be managed or mitigated by cultural practitioners, administrators, and policymakers and builds upon the conceptual learnings of the UNCHARTED research consortium.