Our Mission

CREËREN is a Netherlands based non-profit foundation, whose mission is to promote art – in all its forms – as an instrument for achieving social transformation. Our goal is to offer the community artistic productions and educational/art workshops, specially aimed at vulnerable sectors with no access to art. Our work is based on fostering Education through Art and we have formed a production team to create and share artistic and educational projects.

Philosophy

CREËREN in Dutch means “to create”. In Spanish, the verb “creer” means to consider something to be true or real. We believe that this word represents the spirit of our proposal as it merges the building blocks of both words: “to create” in dutch and “creer”, in Spanish.
We uphold our position that, in order to create something – a work of art, a project or reality – it is necessary to first believe (creer) in what we do.
The project is born out of our belief that art may prompt internal changes in people, which lead to “external” changes (whether visible or invisible) in their personal or social sphere. 

Nonetheless, we believe that art has been set aside from formal educational programs, giving it a superfluous status more associated with entertainment than with an inner exploration of the creative and transformational capabilities of individuals. Considering the aforesaid, this project is based on the idea that it is necessary to change the traditional paradigm and give art a more prominent role in fostering sensitivity, creativity and teamwork.

As artists and educators, we have seen how those who thought of themselves as not talented, finally  got surprised by the outcomes of their explorations during an art workshop. We have witnessed the way in which pedagogical activities trigger an internal movement, both through self-reflection and through the encounter with others. We have also personally experienced that contact with a work of art may be inspiring and empowering. All that being said, we believe that (creemos en, in Spanish) it is a good starting point for a transformational process, even if it only impacts in small environments and realities (individual and collective); and chose CREËREN as the word to depict this project.
We perceive art as the result of a creative process, based on the belief (or certainty) that such result will  be the beginning of a dialogue with others; and that the process will be “no doubt“ transformative for those who undergo it. While art implies multiple relations (creator-work, work-public, among others), we consider it essential to recover this opportunity of exchange, relationship with others, and personal and collective development.

Purpose of the project 

The purpose of this project is to create and coordinate a working group comprising educators and artists, at local and international level, and to provide free workshops for different artistic disciplines, as well as to bring people closer to artistic performances. The proposal is aimed at vulnerable sectors within the Dutch territory.

The idea is to pave the way for artistic-educational proposals to reach the most vulnerable sectors, so that art does not remain a privilege reserved only to those who can afford it.
The project is based on the pedagogy of Education through Art and on the idea that people may develop their potential, while learning to work in groups in a creative and enriching way, both individually and collectively.
The CREËREN  foundation will be in charge of coordinating and bringing different artistic workshops and productions from diverse disciplines to several places within the Dutch territory. In turn, this will favor the development of a network that will work both at national and international level, and will help sharing the processes and results of creative experiences. The proposal has been designed to adapt to different age ranges and places within each territory to perform the corresponding activities.

CREËREN aims to generate an itinerant working group composed of educators and or artists who will work both face-to-face and virtually to carry out the various stages of the project. 
Technology and social networks will be essential tools to make the project work in a communicative way.

About Education Through Art

This pedagogy is primarily based on the idea that every individual is capable of expressing him/herself in a unique way, and that the different artistic languages may be used as instruments to that end.

Respect for the freedom of the people, their personal search, and the pleasure found in creation, are fundamental. In this sense, playing is essential to collectively build an enabling environment so that everyone may develop the creativity they possess.

The activities are aimed at valuing processes over results, considering that it is during the process when the real learning takes place.  During this process, collaboration, integration and respect for the other will also be fostered. 

Goals and content of the project

We are convinced that art is a fundamental tool for personal and social transformation. Therefore, we believe in providing the necessary means for social vulnerable segments to have the opportunity to approach art from different perspectives and proposals.
CREËREN does not intend to form artists, but to foster – through art – sensitivity, critical thought, self-knowledge, expression and freedom.
Therefore, contact with art – whether through workshops or performances – becomes an excuse to know other disciplines and non-formal languages that might awaken in the audience a desire for creation, investigation, work with others, and expansion.  Workshops will be organized as a space for exploration and creation, and will be mainly practical.

Contents will be addressed through an experience-based approach, by exploring the combination of different artistic languages. The interdisciplinary nature of the workshops is essential for us, as we consider that the compartmentalization of artistic disciplines is unnatural. Exploration through combined diverse languages enriches the vision of art and the world, and encourages people to give a try, fail, discover, and create, without pretending virtuosity.

The leading idea is EXCHANGE: between participants in a territory, between students and teachers, between territories, between artists and the audience. As a result (ideally) of this exchange, we aim to expand creativity in every participant, whether to produce their own works of art, or to value their potential and bring themselves to achieve the transformation they need in the area they want.