Journal: New Presence – Journal of Intellectual and Spiritual Issues Vol. XXII, No. 2, 2024, pp. 377-394,
Izdavači: Naklada Jesenski i Turk i Hrvatsko sociološko društvo
Year: 2024.
ISSN 1334-2312 (print)
ISSN 1848-8676 (online)
Abstract
The involvement of people with intellectual disabilities in the fields of services in culture and art, as well as their artistic expression and creativity, is very little present in the Republic of Croatia. This is slowly changing, especially through projects of non-governmental organizations co-financed by EU funds or foreign organizations. The direct contact of artists with people with intellectual disabilities has proven to be an invaluable source of support for people with intellectual disabilities to express themselves creatively and artistically and to participate by themselves in the creation and consumption of art. At the same time, the added value of the creative and artistic expression of persons with intellectual disabilities involved in the activities are benefits in the physical, psychological and social fields. Described and analyzed project is an invaluable source of support for the educational and rehabilitation profession, which is the dominant professional bearer of the idea of inclusion of people with disabilities. Also, the artists enriched their experience by participating in a completely new field of artistic creation. In the synergy of people with intellectual disabilities and artists, beautiful performing works of art were created that were publicly presented and showed that there is public interest, but also that it is necessary to invest efforts in different sectors to make such activities a public interest. A big contribution to that would certainly be additional research.
Key words
Creativity, inclusion, Republic of Croatia, intellectual disabilities, empowerment, performing arts, educational-rehabilitation practice
