Disabled people continue to be subjected to extensive structural discrimination in several areas of society, such as working life, education, and arts and culture (Bufdir, 2021; Østern et al., 2023). The research group ‘How to do things with disability’ (DOABLE) sees disability as a value and productive force that can bring about norm-critical change, educational innovation, and new beauty in arts and cultural practices (Donaldson & Kymlicka, 2017). DOABLE designs practical innovations combined with critical disability studies.

This project aims to document, map and visualize the history of The Dance Laboratory (Danselaboratoriet) in Trondheim, Norway. The Dance Laboratory is a unique part of the Norwegian dance field and has for a long time - 22 years - continuously fought for and worked artistically to allow disabled dancers to enter the Norwegian dance field. The work for The Dance Laboratory originates from and is rooted in the environment around DansiT Choreographic Centre in Trondheim, a centre that has grown up in parallel with The Dance Laboratory. The Dance Laboratory started as a small pilot project in 2001, and today has a 22-year long history that should not be lost. It is a history that has involved fighting against the ableist norms of dance, and which has claimed an entrance for disabled dancing bodies in a dance field with strict and normative quality criteria when it comes to what is considered 'perfect' and worthwhile bodies and aesthetics in dance.

Partners:

• Association of Finnish Childrens’ Cultural Centers (Finland)
• Kulturtanken – Den kulturelle skolesekken (Arts for Young Audiences Norway), in collaboration with DansiT Choreographic Center and Cepartment for Teacher Education, NTNU
• Pionirski Dom – Center za Kulturo Mladih (Slovenia)
• Malopolski Instytut Kultury w Krakowie (Poland)

Mind the GAP (MTG) is a project for forwarding the progress of art and cultural education with innovative development laboratories while enhancing the cultural participation of children and youth in Europe. The project answers to the objective of innovation by developing the cross-sectoral cooperation of culture and education to tackle shared European challenges regarding the well-being on children and youth.

The project consortium of four established cultural operators has recognized shared European challenges, such as decline of mental health among children and youth and continuous social division. The project conceptualizes these shared issues as gaps (gaps in the realization of all children's right to culture, gaps in cross-sectoral cooperation of education and culture and gaps in the wider society). By recognizing these issues and counteracting to them, the project answers to the priority of social inclusion. The shared challenges manifest themselves differently in different national contexts.

For that reason, all partners develop different art education laboratories. The added European value comes from sharing these methods, peer-reviewing other's laboratories and getting feedback, all the while equipping the children and youth participating in the project with tools for enhancing their well-being and self-expression. In Norway, the laboratory will be developed by Arts for young audiences Norway in collaboration with Dansit Choreographic Center in Trondheim and The Department for Teacher Education at NTNU.

Mind the GAP offers opportunities for networking and capacity building for a variety of professionals working in the fields of education and culture with the help of national and international events and publications of easily adaptable method guides in five European languages.

Mind the GAP also answers to the priority on audience development. All partners are known for their long-winded work for and with young audiences. By enabling all children to participate in artistic activities in a school environment, the project offers them a personal connection to arts.