The project basics
Europeans are deeply worried about corruption – Eurobarometer survey results show that 76% of Europeans think that corruption is widespread and more than half (56%) think that the level of corruption in their country has increased over the past three years.
How to stimulate greater involvement among Europeans in building a fairer society in that context? Given our economies of knowledge and innovation, how to develop creative tools to question integrity, a major strategic priority?
Here are some of the questions that the European Integrity Games (EIG) project intends to provide answers.
Since 2010, Transplanisphère developed several European cooperation projects crossing art and burning topics, in association with the public. The European partners of these experiences have exchanged their practices and co-built activity programs. They also shared their knowledge throughout workshops. Together, they became aware of their role in the field of non-formal education in relation to formal education. Some common values have been identified: autonomy and socialization, participation in social life, search for personal emancipation, the fight against exclusion.
Together, they realized that the Integrity topic is one of the most sensitive for the EU citizens, as it deeply affects their perception of the European societies and how they may imagine their future role in this world.
They also measured we had few tools to question this topic through art, creativity and gaming.
In conducting their first European projects, they also have taken note of these surveys (EACEA, Eurodesk, Salto youth,…) who consider citizens certainly as learners and citizens, but also as practitioners, creators, players. These are the dimensions that the partners want to help boost. Do we need to recall that artistic practice plays a major role for citizens to support the raise of their identity and social integration?
Beyond the access to culture, the practice allows us to gain knowledge, skills, the capacity of expression and personal achievement.
European Integrity Games (EIG) aims at raising awareness of corruption and integrity issues in a creative and innovative way. The EIG consortium bridge the gap between technical expertise and the daily lives of Europeans by developing games. Experts from different organizations and backgrounds will design, test and disseminate these games in a co-creation process.
The games will cover recent developments and topics of integrity and also more “classic” matters that create a distrust feeling for European citizens.
The games will consist of two versions of the same story of corruption or fraud :
• one will be an escape game that may be played as a citizen theatre workshop in a ground experience
• the other will be an Interactive Video Game for a single user, that can be accessed via any smartphone, tablet or laptop
What is corruption? Where and why does corruption happen? Why is it so hard to succeed in anti-corruption programs? What makes corruption a transnational and cultural issue? What can governments and active citizens do to fight corruption? Applying a non-formal education approach, the project European Integrity Games will shed light on questions that are not easy to answer.
This work will involve theatre entities bringing their experience in theatrical situations and characters needed for the games. They will also offer their knowledge in running creative workshops stimulating active participation among participants. EIG project also involves as associated partners GOs and NGOs bringing their knowledge on the integrity topic and capable to feed the whole experience with expertise from the citizenship point of view.
To reach a large audience (and beyond them facilitators and teachers), the project will appropriate an innovative vector of knowledge sharing: the Escape Game and the Interactive Video Game. With its different variation (theatrical workshop and online experience), it seems the most contemporary to address a broad audience and offer an attractive range of tools.