Deadline: 15 September 2021
Send us your application: workshops@kons-platforma.org
As a product of project konS[1], we are creating multiple creative hubs in which we will carry out various forms of informal education for children, adolescents and adults. The main purpose is to encourage children and adolescents to discover their potentials and to develop skills, creative thinking and innovativeness. The main form of informal education we use are creative workshops, in which participants acquire knowledge of new technological fields such as biotechnology, biology, wearable technology, digital media, audio, energetics, robotics, alternative resources, signal processing etc. The activities in the hubs are intended for the participants to gain interest, learn, research and prototype, but they are also intended to create a community in which children, adolescents and adults cooperate and develop their projects. This is why it is welcome (not mandatory) that the themes of individual workshops are adapted to different age groups and/or different levels of competence.
We will be establishing hubs throughout the project (2019–2022) in Maribor, Velenje, Novo mesto, Ljubljana, and Nova Gorica, home to partners of project konS. We plan to carry out more than 300 workshops, a fifth of which will be new and the rest will be their reruns.
The invitation for workshop proposals is open until the end of the project. The proposals will be reviewed in their order of arrival.
For whom are the workshops intended?
Workshops are intended for 3 main groups of participants:
- Children, 8 to 13 years old
- Adolescents, 13 to 18 years old
- the general public
How long should the workshops last?
Workshop duration depends on the level of difficulty and the age of participants.
Introductory workshops are designed to acquaint participants with individual tools, technologies and basic topics. Workshops must be adapted to the abilities of a particular target group of participants. They should last 3 hours at most, however, they can vary by the level of difficulty with regard to the age group.
Advanced forms of workshops for children and adolescents should be adapted to the abilities of the age group and should last 3 to 4 hours at most.
Workshops designed for well qualified participants may last several days. However, they should be designed in such a way that each day represents a completed phase of the entire workshop (e. g. 1/2, 1/3, …).
What kind of workshops do we seek?
Workshops for children
Workshops should begin by introducing a theme, highlighting it from a scientific, engineering and artistic perspective. In this way, from the very baseline, children approach the theme in different manners, and are later capable to choose their own approach. A description of the theme is expected (up to 6000 characters with spaces – 2 A4 pages). The workshop is led by a mentor[2] and an assistant[3] or by an artist and a mentor. Workshops should enthuse children about the basics of programming, the use of electronics, mechatronics, sound, biotechnologies … Children should get to know these tools hands-on, in a relaxed manner, possibly through a game. The purpose of these workshops is not so much in acquiring knowledge but in developing the passion to learn and in transferring knowledge and know-how. We try to establish what individuals are interested in, encourage them to discover and develop their interests, and to recognize their potentials.
A workshop will be considered satisfactory if it presents a finished product (an activity, an experience, …) and a workshop textbook (»lab book«) which enables participants to repeat the workshop on their own.
Workshops for adolescents
Workshops should begin by a critical presentation of a theme coming from the social reality. First, we establish the scientific field of the theme and the engineering solutions or applications used by individuals or communities. We focus our attention towards art projects which thema- tised various aspects of the chosen theme. A description of the theme is expected (up to 6000 characters with spaces – 2 A4 pages).
Workshops should acquaint participants with technologies and demystify them, as well as en- courage critical thinking, by means of which the participants empower themselves to creatively use those technologies in their projects.
A workshop will be considered satisfactory if it presents a finished product (a prototype) and instructions for its fabrication, or an activity in the form of video instructions or a workbook.
Workshops for the general interested public
Workshops are above all intended for artists and other makers who would like to get to know, learn or develop skills necessary for their upcoming projects. The workshops can also be designed to develop tools (open hardware) or open software, which is needed for makerspaces or for communities that operate within them. A description of the theme is expected (up to 6000 characters with spaces – 2 A4 pages).
These workshops are designed to transfer very specific knowledge and experience, which is developed and used by individuals or groups. The themes may be very niche, but they must be of interest to the participants for the purposes of using, thematising and problematising old and new technologies as well as technologies which are not yet fully developed.
A workshop will be considered satisfactory if it presents a working prototype or documentation of activities executed beforehand. The duration of the workshop is determined by agreement with the producer organising the workshop. The workshops may last several days upon prior agreement.
The workshop proposal should include a detailed description of the workshop and, where appli- cable, a draft of a workbook or video instructions.
Workshop development
If a proposed workshop does not yet exist, its development is sponsored separately. The baselines and provisions which are defined for workshops for individual target groups also apply to workshop development.
In case the developer of the workshop does not intend to perform the workshop with the participants her- or himself, he or she is obligated to qualify mentors who will carry it out on his or her behalf.
Eligible costs
- Workshop expenses are to be determined by agreement.
- The development of a new workshop may be granted up to €500, depending on the level of difficulty and by agreement with the programme council.
- Material costs of individual workshops up to €150
- Travel expenses: mileage reimbursement for travelling in Slovenia Honorarium for performers of individual workshops: €200 – €250
Creative commons attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0)
The authors of workshops allow others to carry out their workshops under the following conditions:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Notes:
- You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.
- No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
Source: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
CERN OPEN HARDWARE LICENCE, VERSION 1.2
https://ohwr.org/project/cernohl/wikis/Documents/CERN-OHL-version-1.2
The application should include:
- name and surname, e-mail address, mobile phone number, date and place of birth, a brief biography – maximum 1 A4 page;
- workshop proposal (basic concept, description of implementation) – maximum 2 A4 pages;
- estimated cost breakdown by item;
- optional appendix: supplementary material helping to better understand the project submitted (sketches, schemes, diagrams, links, etc.) – maximum 2 A4 pages.
Save all the contents of the application in a single PDF file.
Applicants may submit one or more workshop proposals to: workshops@kons-platforma.org
If the application file exceeds 5 MB, please send it through wetransfer.com.
Contact: info@kons-platforma.org
*Partners in the konS project consortium include: Kersnikova Institute, Projekt Atol Institute, Aksioma Institute, Ljudmila Association, CONA Institute (all Ljubljana), University of Nova Gorica – School of Arts, Velenje Youth Center, LokalPatriot (Novo mesto), Maribor Youth Culture Centre.
[1] Project konS – a Platform for Contemporary Investigative Art aims to promote ground-breaking artistic creations and to establish a production environment in which artistic ideations can be rendered into recommendations for the innovation of newer, safer, more sustainable and more ethical products and services. By encouraging excellence in artistic works, we would like to create an inspiring environment for the creators of the future among children and young people, as well as for decision-makers and professional stakeholders who contribute towards creating new technological applications and social innovations.
[2] Mentors are qualified to execute workshops. The qualification is obtained upon the completion of the course for mentors, carried out by Kersnikova Institute as a part of training for investigative learning.
[3] The assistant of the mentor is a participant of the training course for mentors, and in the case of an assistant of an artist in charge of a workshop, the assistant is someone who has already obtained a mentor’s certificate.