PartArt4OW

“Participatory Art for Society Engagement with Ocean and Water (PartArt4OW)” is a 30-months Horizon Europe coordination and support action funded by the European Commission under the HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-11 (Ocean & water and arts: the contribution of creative sectors to Mission Ocean and waters). The consortium is led by Chiara Certomà, Dip.Memotef, University Sapienza Rome and partnered by T6 Ecosystems (Antonella Passani), Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (Maria Hadjimichael), Regenera Network (Carolina Dopico), Fundacion Epica La Fura dels Baus (Fran Javier Higlesias and Helena Martì) and Raw-News (Federico Fornaro).

PartArt partners during the Kick-off Meeting@Sapienza (photo E.Christoforou)

The project has been endorsed by the United Nations Ocean Decade Programme as a Decade Action and it is included in the  “Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters” Charter.

In line with the objectives of “Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030” and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, PartArt4OW aims to (1) strengthen the emotional attachment between society and the oceans and waters; (2) raise awareness of challenges these face; (3) develop a strong transdisciplinary and trans-European network of artistic and creative communities to protect and restore oceans and inland water; (4) support policymakers in working towards sustainable ocean and water policies. To this end, PartArt4OW focuses on participatory art and creative processes on the belief that participation can bring about a deeper engagement of people with the problem of ocean and water health by performing arts themselves. Building upon the belief that art and the creative sector can contribute to the EU Mission Starfish 2030 priorities, PartArt4Ocean mobilises artists, citizens and other stakeholders in realising 19 multi-stakeholder Participatory Art Initiatives (PAIs). All modes of artistic expression and synergies with EU-funded projects are welcome. Selected PAIs receive physical resources, human capital (training, experience, mentorship, relationships and feedback) and organisational capital (structure, planning, monitoring, and internal relationships) through a PartArt4OW Accelerator Program. To support PAIs, PartArt4OW also organises stakeholder engagement and ecosystem-building activities, including the Ambassadors Network engaged in mutual learning exercises and the operationalization of ParArt Sailing Lab equipped with sustainable sailing and artistic production facilities on board to visit and connect creative communities engaged in PAIs. Matchmaking events
and PartArt Festivals bootstrap the possibilities of artistic communities and creative sector stakeholders to significantly contribute to citizens’ connection with the ocean and the waters.

PartArt qualifying points include:

The project workflow is described below:

Breve descrizione (italiano):
In linea con gli obiettivi della “Missione Ripristinare i nostri oceani e le nostre acque entro il 2030” e il Decennio delle Nazioni Unite sulle scienze oceaniche per lo sviluppo sostenibile, PartArt4OW mira a rafforzare l’attaccamento emotivo tra la società e gli oceani e le acque; aumentare la consapevolezza delle sfide che questi devono affrontare; sviluppare una forte rete transdisciplinare e transeuropea di comunità artistiche e creative per proteggere e ripristinare gli oceani e le acque interne;sostenere i politici nel lavorare verso politiche sostenibili sugli oceani e sull’acqua. A tal fine, PartArt4OW si concentra sull’arte partecipativa e sui processi creativi nella convinzione che la partecipazione possa portare a un coinvolgimento più profondo delle persone
con il problema della salute dell’oceano e dell’acqua attraverso le stesse arti dello spettacolo. Basandosi sulla convinzione che l’arte e il settore creativo possano contribuire alle priorità della missione Starfish 2030 dell’UE, PartArt4Ocean mobilita artisti, cittadini e altre parti interessate nella realizzazione di 20 iniziative artistiche partecipative multi-stakeholder (PAI). Tutte le modalità di espressione artistica e le sinergie con i progetti finanziati dall’UE sono benvenute. I PAI selezionati ricevono risorse fisiche, capitale umano (formazione, esperienza, tutoraggio, relazioni e feedback) e capitale organizzativo (struttura, pianificazione, monitoraggio e relazioni interne) attraverso un programma di accelerazione PartArt4OW. Per supportare i PAI, PartArt4OW organizza anche attività di coinvolgimento delle parti interessate e di costruzione dell’ecosistema, tra cui la Rete di Ambasciatori impegnata in esercizi di apprendimento reciproco e l’operatività del ParArt Sailing Lab dotato di strutture sostenibili per la vela e la produzione artistica a bordo per visitare e connettere le comunità creative impegnate nei PAI. Gli eventi di matchmaking e i festival PartArt aumentano le possibilità delle comunità artistiche e delle parti interessate del settore creativo di contribuire in modo significativo alla connessione dei cittadini con l’oceano e le acque.

PARTART4OW is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101058677. Views and opinions expressed are, however,  those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. UK participant in Horizon Europe Project PartArt4OW is supported by UKRI grant number 10136713 Raw-News.

Project diary

• July 2024 University Sapienza of Rome is recruiting 2 assistant researchers and project management collaborators for  “PartArt4OW”, at the University Sapienza of Rome – Dep. Memotef.
• July 2024 University Sapienza of Rome recruited 1 ethics advisor for  “PartArt4OW”.
• 19-20 Aug 2024 First “immersive” meeting of PartArt coordinator and Sapienza research assistants Luca Bertocci and Caterina Pozzobon

• 9 Sep 2024 First online Operative Meeting of PartArt partners with EU Project Officer
• During the PartArt kick-off meeting, the photographic exhibition “An Intimate Connection. Society and the Ocean in Water Photography” by Giuseppe Lupinacci/Raw-News will be available to visit in Aula Fanfani – Fac. Economics, via del Castro Laurenziano 9, Rome.

• Oct 2024 University Sapienza of Rome is recruiting 1 assistant researcher and project management collaborator for  “PartArt4OW”, at the University Sapienza of Rome – Dep. Memotef.
• Sept-Nov 2024 Sapienza delivered the “PartArt4OW Management Plan” and the “PartArt4OW Data and Ethics Management Plan”, further than the “PartArt4OW PAIs package”.
• Dec 2024 University Sapienza of Rome is recruiting 1 assistant researchers and project management collaborators for  “PartArt4OW”.
• Official project website is now out! https://partart4ow.eu/
• Jan 2025 Chiara Certomà presenting “Participatory Art for Society Engagement in Citizen Science” at the Technische Universität Berlin webinar (online) organised by Andreas Held and Olena Scuibida

• 23 Jan 2025 CO>SEA presenting team activities from SeaPaCS to PartArt4OW at TidalArts event “Where Art/Ocean/Science meets” (online meeting)

• 3rd Feb2024 First Call for PartArt4OW Participatory Art Initiative out! (also available on CORDIS)
• 4 jan 2025 Sailing Lab preparatory meeting @Memotef Dep. Sapienza Univesity of Rome

• 18 Feb 2025 First Call Webinar

• Apr 2025 PartArt4OW out on the UN Ocean Decade Events website!
• 22 Apr 2025 Celebrating EarthDay

• 17 Jun 2025 Caterina Pozzobon discussed PartArt4OW resources at “Mediterranean Synergies: Towards Integrated Collaboration in the Basin” organised by BlueMissionMed 

• 9 jul 2025 Sapienza team participated and briefly presented the PartArt project event BlueMissionMed Innovation2Society hackathon aimed to inspire, empower and support stakeholders and practitioners actively involved in awareness and education activities targeting the large public and young generations.
• Jul 2025 Chiara Certomà interviewed by Antonella Passani for the Ecosystem Exchange series of podcast by T6 Ecosystem: In this episode, Antonella Passani, Head of Research at T6 Ecosystems, interviews Chiara Certomà, currently researcher on social geography at the MEMOTEF department of La Sapienza University in Rome and Project Coordinator of PartArt4OW is a EU project funded under the Horizon Mission Ocean program that link art, science and citizen engagement for the promotion of ocean literacy. They reflect on the potential of creativity and the role of participatory art in enhancing public awareness, building emotional connections, and inspiring action for protecting and restoring our ocean. The episode offers an in-depth discussion at the intersection of art, science, and citizen engagement, exploring social innovation in the marine environment and the cultural narratives that shape our relationship with water Available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Hb3ma9e3QYSRU1zDpx2sQ

• 5 sep 2025 Caterina Pozzobon presented at the Congresso Geografico Italiano University of Turin, the contribution “Deep sight. On the heuristic value of Visual Research for Marine Social Geography” on the use of visual methods in the participatory research of CO>SEA

• 8 Nov 2025 Chiara Certomà, Caterina Pozzobon and Federico Fornaro presented the European project PartArt4OW and the CO>SEA research group; organised the laboratory “Cut and paste the Anzio Sea”; screened the documentaries “SeaPaCS. Participatory Science against Plastic in the Sea” and “FishArt. Participatory Art for the Ocean at the Port of Anzio“; showcased the photo reportage exhibitions “Explorations in the Plastisphere. New Hybrid Ecologies of the Mediterranean” and “The Anzio Sea. Resilient Ecologies in the Mediterranean“.

• 18 nov 2025 Chiara Certomà presented at the Roundtable “Engaging people with the sea; creative and innovative pathways to Marine citizenship“, U.N. COP30 Virtual Ocean Pavillion

Blog News

Media and web connections

Official project website: https://partart4ow.eu/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/partart4ow/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569571536838

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/105721438/admin/dashboard/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNfkmmGWeZCjqMXAKkDC-EQ

Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/communities/partart4ow/records?q=&l=list&p=1&s=10&sort=newest

PartArt4OW on Sapienza webpage

PartArt on CORDIS webpage

Contacts

contacts@partart4ow.eu