What can we do for a more tolerant society? How can we equip young people with the social skills needed for the job market? How can we include innovative, creative methods in trainings and classes?

These are the three main questions which The Erasmus+ VISUALIZE Project wants to answer.

Answers could be many but if we had to choose one to cover all of them, that one would be ART.

In fact, the overall idea is to promote the young people’s visual literacy, using pictures, graphs ,and images, going to museums and bringing the creative world to them and, of course, to build tolerance and to improve soft skills.
This project assumes a significant meaning when considered within the current European context. In a Europe of widespread populism, intolerance and fear of migrants on the one hand and a crisis in the job market on the other, it has become more and more important to equip the young people with tools to confront these challenges. By using transversal learning methods, as the Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), the participants in the Visualize-Project will be able to start a process of re-thinking their own and others view, improving not only tolerance but also the communication, self-confidence, self-reliance, and self-esteem. Moreover, working in groups is an important factor in VTS, which is particularly relevant if we think about the importance of teamwork nowadays. In VTS, everyone acts as multipliers and colleagues, combining the creative art context with the educational context in a non-common way, improving one’s autonomy, flexibility, and the ability to care and organize (the importance to pay attention to others’ point of view and details). It is all about continuous learning to pursue objectives, manage information and develop a resourceful/initiative spirit.

The Visualize-Project is a great opportunity for young people (and not only, just think about educators and trainers) to increase their relational skills, to grow professionally, to be able to make a difference despite the challenges the globalized world faces. Moreover, the use of innovative methodologies, linked to art, helps in a world increasingly connected to the internet and less connected to the reality of appreciating the wonders of art and of the exchange with the others.


“If we could look into each other’s hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care.”

-Marvin J. Ashton