Art Poetica (Yana Masarnovskaya and Elizaveta Shakirkhanova)

The tasks of the volunteers and the activities are multi-faceted, which mostly take place at the Foundation’s Daycare Centre and Residental Home. We would like to start the activity from September and plan for a maximum of 12 months. We consider it important for our volunteers to implement long-term projects, as it takes time for our clients to accept someone, be able to bind to her/him, but it is also important from the project’s point of view that our volunteers can complete a whole process. All our programs go along the principles and directions of the most important foundation and EVS statutes, such as tolerance, acceptance of otherness, empathy, normalization and autonomy. We can collect the tasks of the volunteers according 5 groups: First task group – daily participation in the work of the chosen workshop, which includes mental support, occasionally caring, accompanying and developing the mentally disabled clients working in the workshop. Thus, the volunteers are partly involved in caring tasks and partly in production activities. Collaboration with the leader of the workshop, learning the tasks assigned to them, like certain phases of the work of handicraft products, the volunteers help these processes and training the clients in the workshop. This process begins with the morning talk in the workshops and then continues with the daily work, which is different in each workshop. Volunteers have the opportunity to switch between workshops during their EVS service and later choose a workshop they want to spend their entire activity. The daily work is interrupted by a break at 10 o’clock snack and at 12:15 lunch, which takes place in the dining room, the Youngsters go together with the volunteers, who help in the necessary tasks. In the afternoon they return to the workshop and have the opportunity to organize and carry out leisure activities. Workshops led by professionals who carry out all their activities in accordance with the principles of the foundation and their best expertise. The most important principles of the foundation are tolerance, acceptance of otherness, empathy, normalization and autonomy. 2nd task group – the volunteers are developing the Art Poetica project together with the mentor and coordinator. The volunteers work with the artistic tool and method they choose to organize and implement their project involving young people with intellectual disabilities. We experience that our volunteers are active and motivated from the start, they want to show what they know. Based on these, we give them the opportunity to practice this knowledge and skills (of course, with professional help – mentor, workshop leader). 3rd task group – the volunteers accompanying the Youngsters between the Daycare Centre and our Residential Home. Travelling between these two places a bit complicated, as the colleagues have to travel with two busses to get from one place to the other. They need assistance, because they can’t get around the city by themselves. From time to time we await help with the tasks at the Residental Housing, like: cooking, cleaning, organizing programs in town, hiking, walking, helping in taking them to swimming. 4th task group – the volunteers are participating in individual, periodic projects. These programs are extremely diverse, and we are currently running many smaller or larger projects. For example, “Ability Café” – our trained intellectually challenged colleagues help in caffeshops voluntarly, this way show society, that they are capable of learning and doing this kind of jobs. “Garden project” – we grow vegetables and herbs in the garden of the Foundation. “Integrated Art Brut Training at the University” – our talented mentally challenged colleagues participate together in the training with the students of the art course of the University. Projects implemented through mandatory community volunteer services, our Youngsters spend time together with students from the local secondary schools and high schools. The “Integrated Drama and Theater” group, where we cooperate with dramateachers and amateur acters with different backgrounds. 5th task group – the volunteers are delivering a very popular program called “Project in Project”. The essence of this project is that volunteers choose a project that they manage and implement themselves. This can be outlined in the middle of the project, when they get to know the operation of the Daycare Centre and the skills of the Youngsters, and they are able to communicate in Hungarian to manage the project independently (supported by professionals). The project itself is usually carried out by the volunteers towards the end of their activity. Some of Yana and Liza’s work was spent in the workshops, at the beginning of the project they tried to get to know the workprocedures, and after awhile they took part in this as well, enriched the product range with their own ideas, and helped to train the Youngsters with intellectual disabilities to these jobs. Volunteers organized and implemented a number of afternoon leisure activities to color the everyday lives of the Youngsters with intellectual disabilities, improve their skills and improve their quality of life. These occupations also motivated professional colleagues to carry out similar activities themselves. Yana regularly participated in our Art Brut trainings (she also carried out research with the participating students), she made and held artistic and therapeutic activities for the mentally disabled Youngsters. Liza was a supporter of these sessions. The volunteers made Christmas workshop, which was organised and implemented once a week. At these times the interested mentally challenged colleagues could learn about different activities and prepare christmas gifts for their family. Yana organized and hold each time the Amor club for the girls. She prepared thematics for this project, and she also worked out a methodology for these sessions. The girls, who participated enjoyed them very much, and they felt these were very useful. Both volunteers implemented their own project with great success, and they also had a separate ppt report about their projects. Yana organised and carried out art therapy classes for the interested Youngsters. It was very popular. With Yana’s organisation we managed to implement a regional european volunteer meeting at our place in the Daycare Centre, we invited coordinators, mentors and volunteers from organizations, who are implementing E+ projects in the area. For this meeting, Yana prepared a presentation, including a presentation of our Foundation, the Daycare Centre, her project and their own projects with Liza. The meeting was so successful that the next one was organized and held by another organization and launched a strong and effective  collaboration between the organizations. Liza worked out thematics for Special Fashion, in this project she worked with one of the intellectually challenged youngsters, in these sessions she learned about colous, skin and body type, and of course clothes and accesssories. Yana and the coordinator visited two prominent Gymnasiums in Pécs, and they held presentation about voluntary work and EVS. Also talked about ERASMUS+ programs.