H.E.I.M.A.T. takes place in the panorama of the project
As Tide Network, partnership program of Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, DeBuren, Hangar, next – fine arts club, St. James Cavalier, in collaboration with Love Difference with the support of the Culture Program of the European Union.

“Home is the place, where I’m understood without language. Home are the people, whom I don’t have to explain who I am. I don’t have to offer any explanation to justify my existence. Home is to be able to listen and see, aimless and undisturbed. Home is the feeling of a big silence and stillness, which allows me to be myself.” – Lore Heuermann

The school is in the district of Graz known as Gries. The word Gries means river stones and they can be found in our main river – the Mur. The Gries area was at first on the outskirts of Graz outside the city walls. All agricultural products and merchandise that had to come into Graz passed through the Gries district, mainly because of the easy routes along and next to the river Mur. That meant that many people came and went through the area, not only locals but also those from much further away. They came from all parts of the old Austrian Monarchy. Some decided to stay.

Nowadays, for various reasons, many immigrant families have made their home in the Gries district – one reason being that here the homes are affordable. This results in Graz having a diverse cultural community.
For our school it means that nearly all the children who come to us have a different first language.

During the war in former Yugoslavia at the beginning of the 1990’s, many children came to our school who could not speak German and naturally had also experienced terrible times. They shared a classroom with children whose fathers had been enemies during the war. The situation was managed by our teachers who in a short space of time showed their ability to deal with such difficulties and were not afraid to ask for outside help. Today these are standard procedures. I am, however, proud to know that our school has pioneered such work.

Today a Primary, a Secondary Modern and a New Middle School can be found in our school building. The Austrian school system consists of only four years of elementary education, at the age of 10 according to the pupils’ progress and  capability, they complete their secondary education at either a Secondary Modern School, a New Middle School or a Grammar School.

I am the head of the Secondary Modern and New Middle School and therefore can only speak about this school.

At the moment we have 174 pupils. 160 of them do not have German as their first language.
In a class of about 22 pupils, children from on average 5 different countries of origin are taught.
Let us look at the situation. Depending on one’s point of view, if I choose to be negative, then I will see many “foreigners” at our school. But when I look at things positively I see the wonderful diversity of our students.
It is obvious that the teaching in our school has to be different. Once again I would like to acknowledge the professionalism and capabilities of our teachers.
We know that the acquisation of another language is only truly possible when knowing the mother tongue really well, and because of this we try our hardest to persuade the parents of our children that learning German will only be successful when the vocabulary in their native language continues to grow. The child should attend lessons held in their mother tongue , unfortunately these lessons in Austria are not compulsory. Our school also needs translators to help us when we need to discuss the everyday issues that affect our children with their parents or guardians.
Ideally the native language teachers should be at school at least once a week.
Some of our children come to us at an older age, often traumatised because of what they have been through. Some are not able to read and write because they have spent years trying to escape from the terror in their country. Of course I need not say what an enormous challenge this is for our teachers.

Since then it has organized 12 international “artists in residence” projects in and around Graz. Artists from different disciplines are invited to work with various locations and topics. The combination of young and experienced artists from different cultures leads to a very creative atmosphere.

www.nextkunst.at

Love Difference promotes and supports:

Creative Projects for an Intercultural Society:
Love Difference is a network of institutions, organisations and individual people who are committed to providing society with a new model of cultural integration through art and creativity.
We selects the most interesting and sustainable projects which, through creative means, are able to make a contribution towards resolving present-day social problems and open new areas for thought and research on multiculturalism.
Projects which focus their research specifically on the socio-cultural effects of globalization in the Mediterranean basin.
Love Difference networks projects in which art interacts with the various areas of society (politics, economics, production, education etc.).

Free Knowledge Network; Studies and researches: we develop together with our partners studies and researches, mainly about the relation between creativity and intercultural dialogue.
The association also participates in ongoing researches by offering its network.
One of the main researches Love Difference carries out is METHODS, a
project dedicated to gather the best practices of creative processes for social transformation.

Glocal Workshops for Intercultural Activators:
Love Difference, through artistic workshops of shared interdisciplinary project planning develops a method of cultural production for the socially responsible transformation, that is transferable and shared.
The programme initiates from the research on methodologies of relations between art and society, “Methods”, and is developed in collaboration with the Love Difference partners, amongst whom are: Artway of Thinking; Asiles, actions et solidarités interculturelles; GAMB+I Groupo Autoditata de Metodologias Bem + Inteligentes, Gudran Art and Development; Out and Isola Art Center; Post Programmed City Territory and many other groups, entities and institutions.
The workshops organized since 2005 involve interdisciplinary groups, and have been developed as creative processes through the sharing of diverse talents and skills. The workshop programme transfers an interdisciplinary methodology model that is horizontal, based on the practices of learning by doing towards the regeneration of social contexts and the activation of new creative processes for the common good.
The talent and skills acquired by the participants during the workshop are important and useful work tools for the organisation and management of cultural initiatives in diverse disciplinary, interdisciplinary and intercultural fields.

The workshops are conceived with the aim of making alternative points of view emerge on the territory and of creating new relations through art, activating transformations and producing changes of points of view on reality: all base elements within the process of cultural growth.

Conventions, Meetings, Seminars, Concerts, Performances, Exhibitions around the Mediterranean Seas of the World:
we organize and participate in seminars, conferences and meeting, focusing on the contribution that creative processes can give to the intercultural dialogue.
The Love Difference message and activities are presented through Michelangelo Pistoletto’s work and through the projects developed by the movement.
A regular appointment is the members’ meeting, an occasion to exchange knowledge and experiences and to develop new strategies for the association.

The Love Difference initiatives have a creative, interdisciplinary approach. They are innovative, transparent, sustainable and participatory.

www.lovedifference.org