AMASS Project

In February 2020, the Department of Communication and Media Theory of the Institute of Communication and Sociology of CUB started the realisation of AMASS – Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture project of the EU HORIZON 2020-SC6 Framework Program. This project is related to the Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformations in the Context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution subprogram, and intends to develop cognitive and affective skills of disadvantaged youth through arts-based interventions.

The project team involves eight countries who will collaborate under the co-ordination of the University of Lapland until January 2023.  Partners of CUB, research centre for the Hungarian project are the Ludwig Museum Budapest, the Hungarian Museum of Fine Arts / National Gallery and the Hungarian Association of Teachers of Art (HATA). The Head of the Hungarian research group is Prof. Dr. Andrea Kárpáti, the Senior Investigator is Prof. Dr. Petra Aczél.

Research and development tasks include the provision of communication training to develop effective self-expression, a basic workplace skill for young Romani women. Their digital literacy will also be enhanced as they acquire the development of online media, to be used for their enterprises or to strengthen their cultural identity. The museums and their partner schools will provide sensitising training and cognitive development to support learning liberal arts disciplines for socially disadvantaged children and youth in state care.  HATA and its partner, the Genuine Pearl Foundation provides in-service training and mentoring for teachers of isolated, small schools who teach students with mental and behaviour problems. The new online journal, Visual Culture, will support this professional community with the introduction to inspiring research and practice.

In line with the highly prestigious research program of the European Union, HORIZON2020, the research group at CUB will conduct developmental skills studies on communication skills, creativity and resilience. Collections of research reports in English and Hungarian, a monography and several journal publications are expected from the seven members of our Institute of Communication and Sociology, and our graduate and undergraduate students.