Examining the Art Festivals as an Informal Learning Environment for Educators of People with Disability: A Case Study

The aim of this this study is to explore art festivals as places of informal learning for the educators of people with disability, who participated at Menteatral and Bounce art festivals in 2019. Therefore, it aimed to discover if the participants had experienced any informal learning during the festivals and, if so, if this learning has contributed to their personal and professional development. Case study with holistic multiple case was used in this study. The data were collected from 24 educators of people with disability who had attended two festivals, in the Czech Republic (Menteatral Festival) and Northern Ireland (Bounce Festival) in 2019, during an Erasmus+ project. Data collection tools were semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, and video recordings. The findings indicated that participants mostly saw art festivals as a means of inclusion of people with disabilities and a chance to learn. It was concluded that educators of people with disability showed empathy, gained a new perspective, became more patient, saw the positive effect of education and art, became more tolerant and open-minded, understood other cultures, and improved social skills while attending those art festivals. Finally, participants mostly stated that they had learnt new methods and techniques. Therefore, educators of people with disability should search for more opportunities for informal learning to exchange best practices and new implementations and ideas.