Take part in the projects of the Areté Foundation and create with us a space for change through art.
Areté Foundation runs diverse artistic, cultural, educational, and social projects promoting social inclusion, where everyone can find their place — regardless of background, age, ability, or experience. Our projects are open to all: people with disabilities, marginalized groups, minorities, and those at risk of social exclusion. We collaborate with educators and artists committed to change through culture.
Who do we work with?
We are active in various fields of art and culture. For young people, adults and seniors. We work with people with disabilities, marginalized groups, minorities and those at risk of exclusion and with fewer opportunities. Our mission is to connect people through creativity, culture and interaction.
What Do We Do in Our Projects?
We run original workshops, artistic activities, and social initiatives aimed at including people through art, developing their skills, fostering agency, and enabling the experience of art as a tool for participation and social integration.
Who Leads Our Projects?
Areté Foundation projects are led by an interdisciplinary team of educators, artists, and art therapists who combine creative practice with expertise in social inclusion. Our team specializes in working with diverse groups, creating a safe, open, and inspiring space for engagement. We also collaborate with experts, researchers, and local leaders.
How Do We Work?
In our work, we focus on:
Individualized approach for each group
Creating a safe and supportive environment
Integrating art with education and social development
Cross-sector collaboration
Assessing participants’ needs and evaluating activities
OUR PROJECTS:
„BEYOND –Art Without Borders"
Project BEYOND – Sztuka bez Granic (BEYOND – Art Without Borders) is the first mobility project of the ARETÉ Foundation implemented in the adult education sector within the Erasmus+ programme. Its aim is to develop the competences of educational staff and to increase the accessibility and quality of the Foundation's educational offer through the use of inclusive, innovative and art-based working methods, with a particular focus on movement and dance.
Programme: Erasmus+
Sector: Adult education
Implementation period: 1 September 2026 – 31 October 2027
Project number: 2026-1-PL01-KA122-ADU-000431174
Project objectives:
The BEYOND project strengthens the competences of the ARETÉ staff in the field of educational work with people with fewer opportunities and increases the accessibility and quality of our offer through inclusive, art-based and innovative methods focused on well-being.
We place special emphasis on meaningful inclusion – including people with disabilities, neurodivergent people and people with migration experience, supporting the development of their social competences and cultural expression.
As part of the project, we will implement two types of educational mobilities: group mobilities of adult learners and individual mobilities of staff. Our participants will take part in international group trainings, and our educational team will go for specialized trainings and job shadowing in partner organizations in Portugal, Italy, France and Greece. The methods and practices acquired will be directly implemented into the classes conducted by the foundation in Poland.
The idea of the project is:
What will be the result?
Thanks to the project, the staff of the Areté Foundation will strengthen their competences in working with people with fewer opportunities, using new, inclusive and innovative educational methods. Our offer will become even more accessible and better tailored to the needs of people with disabilities, migrants and neurodivergent people.
And most importantly – at the heart of the project is learning inclusive dance techniques. Our participants will learn in practice methods in which, through movement, body and common dance, they develop social competences, cultural expression and self-confidence, experiencing integration in a diverse, international group.
We will share reports from the mobilities on an ongoing basis!
ARETÉ Foundation Team
Co-Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Foundation for the Development of the Education System (FRSE). Neither the European Union nor FRSE can be held responsible for them.
Harmony Space – Art for Health and Inner Balance
A series of classes supporting overall psychophysical well-being, aimed at improving health, restoring inner balance, and promoting calm.
Classes use Qigong, an ancient Chinese art of self-healing and self-regulation developed over 5,000 years. It focuses on conscious work with life energy through slow, fluid movements, breath, and mindfulness.
Participants learn sequences from two classical medical Qigong forms: Flying Crane (He Xiang Zhuang) and Yi Jin Jing – a style originating from the Shaolin monastery. Each session includes warm-up, self-massage, Qigong sequence practice, and closing meditation.
Efekty zajęć:
Registration and information: harmony.space2@gmail.com
News and updates:
Link: https://www.facebook.com/PrzestrzenHarmonia
Instructor: Dorota Batorska
Protokół Leśniego Wytchnienia
The Forest Respite Protocol (Protokół Leśnego Wytchnienia) is Katarzyna Pawlak's practice-based research project, developed in the protected Puszcza Napiwodzko-Ramucka forest. It grows out of her art-therapy diploma work "Space of Respite" — a regulation model for women in chronic overload — and asks how the natural world can co-regulate an overloaded nervous system without the cost of social contact. Bringing together polyvagal theory, enactivism and expressive arts therapy, it maps the different "registers" of an ecosystem by how they act on the body. It draws on attentiveness and perception, breath, movement, and the Oddaj Ciężar (Give Weight) partnering method of Karolina Kroczak — carrying the tools of working with another human body into relationship with a more-than-human being: tree, stone, ground, water.
INSTRUCTOR: Katarzyna Pawlak
Movement Classes for Adults (18–100) – Oddaj Ciężar Method
“Laboratory of the Breathing Body” is a space where technical body work meets deep exploration of internal impulses.
Classes combine physical fitness with partner-based exploratory work, incorporating conscious breathing, tension-passivity spectrum exercises, voice, touch, and sensory work.
For anyone wishing to develop movement skills through physical contact with a partner. The method ODDAJ CIĘŻAR promotes both technical development (learning specific exercises and movement patterns) and exploratory growth, allowing participants to follow curiosity and develop their movement potential.
Schedule: Tuesdays, 20:30–22:00 at CoDa Movement Studio, ul. Kijowska 11
Registration: Registration: laboratoriumoddechu@gmail.com
Program co-created with the Oddaj Ciężar collective
INSTRUCTOR: Katarzyna Pawlak
Space of Repose – Workshops for Women Experiencing Overload
A program for women who carry many responsibilities daily — caring, organizing, supporting others — while feeling fatigue, tension, and the need to pause. Space of Repose workshops provide a moment to rest and reconnect with oneself.
Workshops include gentle movement, breath, somatic improvisation, and creative processes — supporting nervous system regulation and offering a break from daily obligations.
Dates: 6 December 2025 and 17 January 2026
Registration: arete.inclusive.art@gmail.com
Program co-organized with the Academy of Social Skills Association
INSTRUCTOR: Katarzyna Pawlak
ContaKids – Movement, Play, and Parent-Child Bonding (2–6 years)
Join ContaKids workshops, a special space where parents and children connect through shared movement, play, and mindful physical contact. The method deepens bonds, builds trust, and enhances communication — often nonverbal — through movement, touch, and shared experience.
During classes::
Benefits:
Schedule: Sundays, OSIR, Długa 44, Józefów, 11:00–12:00 (last session: 7 December 2025)
Registration: arete.inclusive.art@gmail.com
INSTRUCTOR: Katarzyna Pawlak
Graffiti Design Workshops for Children and Adults (10+)
On 23 November 2025, at Teatr Baza, we held the workshop “Your Sielce”,where young people and adults created a collaborative graffiti project inspired by their neighborhood. The aim was to give Sielce a voice — expressed through color, letters, symbols, and style..
Participants worked on what most moves them about their district: everyday life, social interactions, green spaces, and emotions.Through creative exchange, they produced a collective composition telling the story of Sielce through the eyes of its residents.
INSTRUCTOR: Katarzyna Pawlak
