VANGA is an association of individuals who have a common passion for education, more precisely a desire to make education accessible to all through the arts. Its members come from a variety of backgrounds – performing arts, history of art, architecture, storytelling – and have joined forces to contribute to the question of inclusive lifelong education, not only in theory but also in practice. Through the arts, via artis, the aim is to reach and practice other disciplines such as mathematics, philosophy, horticulture, languages…
As an interdisciplinary team, VANGA values practical skills as much as intellectual skills and embrace a Gramscian definition of what being an intellectual means – that is not an appanage, but on the contrary an approach to learning that can be shared with all and can bring meaning and understanding to the responsibility of each within society. Its members have an extensive experience of co-creating learning platforms either live or online, participatory learning workshops, interactive exhibitions, activity books and manuals. For example, we have developed philosophy workshops in council estates, co-created contemporary art exhibition with young adults who had never set their feet in a museum before, co-created a digital film documentary with technophobic octogenarians.
VANGA members consider learning and teaching as one and most have undertaken or are undertaking career changes, from circus artist to culinary arts, from acting to lecturing, from lecturing to permaculture gardening, from horse training to storytelling, from wielding to lecturing, and to community journalism, etc. Sharing the experience of learning is what drives VANGA. Given our mission to facilitate and democratise lifelong learning, our main co-travellers come from underprivileged backgrounds. Whilst our focus is on economic factors, our work is intersectional and adheres egality diversity and inclusion principles. Our aim is to find resourceful ways to rely upon collective intelligence and know-how: for example, we are currently developing a project to address the tangible question of water resources among specific communities through engaging with what water represents for artists and storytellers and develop community-driven solutions with river technicians, hydro-biologists, geomorphologists and local authorities.
Contact us: viaartisnga@gmail.com
VIA ARTIS 