Promoting a ‘new us’ for Switzerland through cultural participation: practice exchange on the basis of a citizen-art project

Author(s) : Swetha Rao Dhananka, Béatrice Vatron-Steiner, Julien Glauser, Marc Tadorian, Ruben Gomes Dias

Source : https://doi.org/10.1332/QECX4473

Abstract:

In 2020, the Swiss Federal Commission for Migration launched a new programme called ‘New us’. The national programme called for participatory projects that question the ‘us and them’ binary and present alternative models for strengthening cultural participation, social cohesion and a polyphonic ‘us’ in Switzerland. This contribution critically appraises a citizen-art project that met the funding criteria of ‘New us’. We argue that the scientific approach of developmental evaluation serves as a compass for the development and steering of open-ended participatory processes. The combined reflection on the artistic and scientific evaluation process engages social work research in the facilitation of cultural participation.

Keywords: cultural participation; citizen art; developmental evaluation; social work; migration