Latitudes Contemporaines

Clarity Creativity Action (CCA) is a European project taking place between November 2023 and October 2025. The project is based on the Art Therapy Centre in Milan’s experience in Jordan in 2021 in a project involving Syrian and Palestinian refugee children, some of whom were severely disabled. Funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ program, the project emerges from the collaboration of six professionals in the fields of culture and/or humanitarian work. Their aim is to co-develop an embodiment and art therapy methodology, particularly designed for refugees: the Clarity, Creativity, Action method.

The origin of the project

The idea for this method was born from the experience of the Milan Art Therapy Center in Jordan in 2021, as part of a project involving Syrian and Palestinian refugee children, some of whom have severe disabilities.

Built upon professional structures working with refugees, the project introduces an innovative approach through the CCA method, integrating body and artistic therapies to address trauma. In partnership with organizations from European and non-European countries, the project seeks to collaborate, share skills, and promote international cooperation. Partners include Latitudes Contemporaines (France), CAT Centro Arti Terapie (Italy), Nadiya (Finland), Future in Our Hands (Armenia), Al’Aadoun (Jordan), and Project School (Italy).

European countries are welcoming refugees from war-torn areas. Some organizations are taking care of them by providing services such as housing, food, and legal assistance. The CCA project aligns with the approach of providing care through the body and the arts. Alongside professionals in refugee support, local institutions and communities, and the beneficiaries themselves, CCA aims to offer an innovative resource using body and movement-based art therapy, driven by the urgent need to address the traumas created by exile.

 

Un groupe de personnes souriantes devant des bâtiments en briques rouges

Kick-off meeting of the CCA project in Lille, January 2024

International Academies: with our partners

“International Academies” are working sessions organized by each partner organization to test the CCA method in practice, after several months of theoretical co-construction.
The Latitudes Contemporaines team participated in two International Academies.

The first one took place from November 9 to 11 in Nuuksio National Park, Finland, organized by the Nadiya association. During this session, artist and researcher Leidy Luz Jalk Barrios, invited by Latitudes Contemporaines, led a drawing workshop based on her research and fieldwork in art-therapy for 20 participants, including artists, humanitarian workers, and healthcare professionals.

The second International Academy took place from December 10 to 12 in Abovyan, Armenia, organized by Future In Our Hands. During this academy, choreographer and dancer Pol Pi, invited by Latitudes Contemporaines, led exercises focused on body and movement.

 

International Academy team in Finland

FRENCH ACADEMY IN LILLE, JANUARY 29 > 31

CCA – INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY
29 – 31 January
Le 188, Lille

From January 29 to 31 2025, the CCA team invites individuals working in the support of people in exile to explore art therapy workshop formats, which can be used in their work with beneficiaries.

The workshops will take place over three days, focusing on the theme Link, Unlink, Reconnect. They will interweave three practices: body grounding (Clarity), artistic and creative expression (Creativity), and drama therapy (Action). These three areas will be led by three expert artists invited by Latitudes Contemporaines, who will share their practices with the project’s international teams.

What’s on:

Invited expert artists:

LEIDY JALK BARRIOS

Leidy Jalk is a visual artist and researcher born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She graduated from the Fine Arts program at Universidad del Atlántico in 2008. In 2015, she moved to Lille, France, to pursue a two-year Master’s degree in Intercultural Mediation: Art and International Social Responsibility (ARSI) at the University of Lille. In December 2023, she defended her doctoral thesis in Fine Arts, titled: “Poetics of Hospitality and Knowledge Exchange Through the Drawn Narratives of Immigrants: Towards an Artistic Hospitality?” In 2017, she won the “Your Talents for Refugees” award from Amnesty International-France, and in 2019, she was selected as a recipient of the “Scholarships for Colombians in the Process of Artistic and Cultural Training Abroad.” Currently, she lives and works in Lille, where she balances her academic research, artistic practice, and professional work. She primarily works in her personal studio at the independent creative space Le Nouveau Lieu and holds a part-time position at Sauvegarde du Nord – Espace Claude Chassagny, where she leads a drawing workshop. She is also active as an independent artist-author.

POL PI

A dancer for more than 10 years, a musician since early childhood and a choreographer as a field of study, Pol Pi is a transmasculine Brazilian dance artist based in France since 2013.
With the company NO DRAMA, Pol Pi has created the solos ECCE (H)OMO (2017), ALEXANDRE (2018), ME TOO, GALATÉE (2018), (2019), Schönheit ist Nebensache ou la beauté s’avère accessoire (2021) and la grotte (2024), as well as the trio daté·e·s (2020) and the quartet IN YOUR HEAD (2022 – in collaboration with the Berlin music ensemble Kaleidoskop). His work has been presented in venues and contexts.
Pol has been sharing his dance practices for over 20 years, working with amateur groups, the medical-social sector, the queer community, art schools and dance training courses. He is currently interested in intuitive listening as a mode of creation, altered states of consciousness, care as an artistic practice and creation as an approach to care. He is currently learning to dance with horses near his home in Dordogne.

SOLÈNE RACLOT

Solène Raclot is a drama therapist and puppeteer. She trained as an art therapist specializing in drama therapy during her two years of Master’s studies at the University of Psychology Paris Descartes. Her work focuses on the relationship between mediation and resilience with adolescents and social workers. She is currently working with several institutions and groups: child protection services, excluded middle school students, and mutual aid groups.
She leads workshops using various forms of mediation: writing, kamishibai, body awareness, storytelling, theater, puppetry, photography, and short films. She also works in schools, conducting cultural and educational workshops.
In parallel, bridging the gaps between artistic spheres, Solène Raclot is a puppeteer trained at the Théâtre aux Mains Nues (2019-2020). She is both a visual artist (painting, drawing, sculpture) and a performer. She is currently collaborating with magician Edi Rudo on his show The Daydreamer, which is currently on tour.