Its deeply rooted in S.M.A.K.’s believes that as a museum it should seek to create meaningful connections between artists and society as a whole. Through the development of made to measure programs S.M.A.K. aims to provoke the interest in art and culture with difficult to reach people in society. With the support of ENGIE S.M.A.K. can grow active and critical engagement with difficult to reach youth.

The program was created in collaboration with the CLW School Ghent aimed at a specific profile of student.They have often dropped out of school, come from poor families or faced an addiction problem. As a last resort they work three days a week and go to school for two days.

Art is far alienated from their own world. For them a museum seems a place where they don’t belong. By lowering the threshold and through encouragement S.M.A.K. made them feel at home. Three projects were created as try outs for the blueprint: Rappers of Art, Generation S.M.A.K. and The Paintshop.

The focus of the workshop will be on the learnings of developing a program for difficult youth and the approach of a blueprint.

• What are the advantages of a blueprint instead of a scripted format?
• How did the approach move from 10 to 250 participants and what were the consequences of that evolution?