SOMPO : “Tokyo University of the Arts x Sompo Holdings” Industry-Academia Collaboration Diversity on the Arts Project (DoA) Contribution to Inclusive Society through“Art x Welfare”Human Resource Development(PDF/132KB)

January 18, 2017 Tokyo University of the Arts Sompo Holdings, Inc.

Tokyo University of the Arts (President: Kazuki Sawa, hereinafter "TUA") and Sompo Holdings, Inc. (Group CEO & President: Kengo Sakurada, hereinafter "Sompo Holdings") will launch Diversity on the Arts Project (DoA) (Director: Katsuhiko Hibino, Dean of The Faculty of Fine Arts) from April 2017 that aims, from a perspective of "art x welfare", to train personnel who contribute to social inclusion* and to create a social environment in which diverse people can live together. Superimposing a sense of values in which individuality is respected, a characteristic of art, onto welfare's concept of acting from someone else's position, DoA trains communication creators who create an environment in which a variety of individuals accept each other and live together. A base will be created in a renovated private house in the TUA Yanaka suburb as a place to research information necessary for DoA and to conduct trials and give practical training, which will also serve as a hub to disseminate information about DoA .

Through DoA, TUA and Sompo Holdings will contribute to the creation of a social environment in which diverse people can live together through training of communication creators.

*Social inclusion refers to the concept of increasing social participation opportunities for the elderly and physically-challenged, etc. and of mutual support as members of the local community.

1. Aims and Background

   We live in an age in which the participation in society by the elderly and physically-challenged is required, and we need personnel and systems to bridge "people and people" and "people and communities". TUA and Sompo Holdings aim to create a new role for art in the modern era and to build a society in which people from a variety of differing backgrounds can live together as the basis for developing and building a rich culture. The aim of the project is not merely to provide knowledge on art or welfare but to create an environment that allows socially vulnerable people such as the elderly and physically-challenged to participate in society using their own abilities while respecting their individuality, and to train human resources capable of realizing such an environment.

2. Outline of Specific Initiatives

3. Series of lectures at TUA that give practical training on "art x welfare"

   A series of lectures that give practical training on "art x welfare" will take place at TUA from the 2017 academic year. The course will include lectures that teach the basics of art communication at TUA as well as lectures by highly specialized employees from Sompo Holdings nursing care business subsidiaries and practical training at the nursing care and training facilities. There will also be lectures that link to the art community building project co-organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and TUA.

   These lectures will be held as a Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology designated credit program based on the School Education Act, and attendees that fulfill prescribed requirements such as participating in lectures for 120 hours or more, will be issued with a credit certificate. Details of the lectures are due to be posted on the TUA website on January 27.

4. A base for DoA as a place to implement and research "art x welfare"

We will set up a DoA base in a renovated private house in the TUA Yanaka suburb as a place where various people can interact. TUA staff and communication creators will reside at the base, providing a place where local people-from children to the elderly-can come and go as well as implementing and searching for DoA's vision.

[Reference] Trial workshops at a facility

The course will include practical training on art communication that respects the individuality of each and every resident at a Sompo Holdings nursing care business subsidiary's facility. In preparation for starting the course in April, we organized trial workshops last November and December at the facility. At the trial workshops, based on psychotherapy, the participants looked back on their life by sharing their memories about Christmas and New Year, while making origami snow crystals, which created a new style of communication with the residents.

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[Katsuhiko Hibino]

Director: Katsuhiko Hibino, Dean of The Faculty of Fine Arts (artist) at the Tokyo University of Arts

Born in 1958 in Gifu City. Earned a master's degree from TUA Graduate School of Fine Arts. Awarded the Grand Prix, Japan Graphic Exhibition in 1982, exhibited works made from cardboard in various media. Participated in the Venice Biennale in 1995. Appointed as assistant professor at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1995. Since 1998 has launched the HIBINO HOSPITAL project focusing on Moriya City in Ibaraki Prefecture, since 2003 has expanded the Asatte Asagao (day after tomorrow morning glory) project across the country focusing on Niigata, and since 2015 has been working on the TURN project.

Currently Dean of The Faculty of Fine Arts and professor of the Department of Inter-media Art at the Tokyo University of the Arts.

[DoA Symbol]