Interesting theses on diversity and accessibility

Riia Niemelä and Heidi Palmu (Turku University of Applied Sciences): On the pathways of dancing - towards more accessible folk dance through dialogue and digitalization

”Fundamentally folk dance is for everyone. However, social, experiential and wellbeing creating possibilities of folk dance have not yet been widely brought to attention or used. We hope that our development project awakens and increases the interest and knowledge in teachers’ and instructors’ working in the folk dance scene to bring folk dance to more diverse groups, to new or different environments and to consider the needs for special support and the diversity of the participants in leisure activities.”

More information and the thesis in PDF-format in Finnish available in Theseus.

Reija Elminen and Annika Sundqvist (South Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences): Theatre club for children and young people with special needs – guidance model supporting participation

”The purpose of this functional thesis was to form a model of guidance that supports the inclusion and communality for the theatre club for children and young people with special needs operating in Kuusankoski Taideruukki. The model is based on the idea of equal opportunities for everyone to participate in art and cultural activities and to promote inclusion, communality and well-being through cultural activities. The objective was to make a clear and easy-to-move model that can be used by actors interested in cultural activities and social work professionals working with groups with special needs in their guidance activities.”

More information and the thesis in PDF-format in Finnish available in Theseus.