Inclusive Storytelling

Azam Mazoumzadeh, born in Isfahan (Iran), is an award-winning storyteller. She has a background in speculative narration (L’ERG, Belgium), and is a trained comic artist (LUCA – School of Arts, Belgium) and digital storyteller (KASK, Belgium). Her work has been shown in South Korea, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. In 2020, her virtual reality project based on the poetry of Omar Khayyam – “Glad that I came, not sorry to depart” – received a special mention at the Anima Festival. Also, in 2020, Azam was invited to be part of the international jury of the Mooov Film Festival in Belgium.
"I create layered worlds of alternate realities using different media such as line drawings and comics. In my work, I dig into my memories of childhood and represent them as a collision of culture and spirituality." Azam Mazoumzadeh, https://www.azammasoumzadeh.com

The continuing education programme of the Institute of Arts and Design Education aims to broaden participants’ perspective of their own artistic work and shared creative endeavours with others. Participants will be introduced to creative educational strategies, and acquire the ability to make creative debates effective for social processes. Both the weeklong continuing education courses and the optional one-on-one coaching sessions integrate methods from the fields of education, the fine arts, arts education, performance and other participatory practices. The improvement of artistic, creative and communication skills can help pave the way for more equal opportunities. Social inclusion, as one of the main conditions of equal opportunities, requires good communication and cultural competences – and it is these competences that artistic and creative educational strategies can do an excellent job at cultivating. By strengthening artistic and creative competences, we not only increase the realms of possibility for design, but also for communication, social interactions, the strengthening of social structures, personal expression and the experience of self-efficacy.

Participants will
- gain experiences navigating their own forms of artistic expression,
- acquire the ability to structure artistic and creative processes,
- acquire skills that prepare them to deal adeptly with various methods, digital and otherwise, for teaching art and design and their application in social practice,
- learn to kick-start debates on creative processes in various social structures by way of artistic and educational strategies,
- deepen their knowledge of various communication and digital skills,
- acquire know-how about networking art and education with a variety of target groups,
- gain experiences that help integrate artistic and cultural processes as open and experimental processes into their work.

No prior artistic or technical experience is required. The workshops are open to all people who work in social contexts: people who teach, mediators, social work professionals from the healthcare sector, healthcare assistants, coaches, team builders, and people interested in art, design and culture.

When participants complete five workshop weeks, each worth 2 ECTS credits, paired with subsequent one-on-one mentoring on their own project worth 5 ECTS credits, as well as five one-on-one 90-minute coaching sessions, they qualify for the “Kunst kann” Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) from the HGK FHNW.

Registration fee per workshop season: CHF 40.–

Booking during a workshop season:
1 week: CHF 900.–
2 weeks: CHF 1,700.–
3 weeks: CHF 2,400.–
4 weeks: CHF 3,000.–
5 weeks: CHF 3,500.–

Mentoring project programme to obtain the “Kunst kann” CAS: CHF 3,500.–
Reduced tuition fees for students upon request.