What is AtWork?

AtWork is an itinerant educational format, conceived by Moleskine Foundation and Simon Njami, that unlocks the creative potential of young people through critical thinking, growing their sense of self-awareness and self-confidence, and stimulating their changemaking attitude.

It contributes to building a new generation of creative thinkers and doers. 

AtWork is a 5-day intensive workshop for about 25 participants, conducted by a unique creative mind. The participants debate the chosen topic and produce a final creative output – getting At-Work – by personalizing a notebook, which becomes their answer to the question posed. Yearly themes of AtWork Tours stimulate collective discussion and personal reflection on issues such as identity, diversity, culture, and community. The creative outputs are first exhibited in a local collective exhibition and then in the final international Tour exhibition. The participants can then choose to donate their works to the Moleskine Foundation Collection.

All AtWork participants become part of the AtWork Community, a group of global creative thinkers who believe that creativity can be a tool for social transformation.

AtWork offers a transformative experience and is committed to providing young people (18-27 years old), who would not otherwise have access to a similar educational offer, with unconventional educational tools and experiences that help foster critical thinking, creative doing, and continuous learning.

Why AtWork?

Today, we experience a growing realization that information itself does not bring important change if not first transformed into knowledge and, second, used.  It means that our success as society will be based not only on how much we know, but mainly on our ability to think and act creatively. Within this context, young people from underserved communities are often left behind due to lack of access and opportunities to develop the necessary self-awareness and creative skills to become active players in society and to spark the social changes needed both within their communities and society at large.

The AtWork methodology is a uniquely developed methodology that is inspired by many alternative and radical schools of thought stemming from the psychology, education and arts fields. It echoes the necessity of the alternative form of education that puts such soft skills as creativity and emotional intelligence at the center, in order to achieve self-discovery and become an agent of social change. It is encompassed in the notion that education itself is a political act and aims at participants’ self-discovery of their voices. Unlocking the power of young people from underserved communities would inspire truly inclusive, diverse, and global conversations that can drive radical social transformation.

AtWork Vision and Impact

AtWork’s ultimate vision is to foster a positive social transformation, namely an inclusive society of active protagonists who have safe spaces in which to practice creativity and critical thinking within their respective communities, creating innovative solutions for social transformation.

AtWork’s impact goals are developing the self-awareness and agency of youth and support the development of inclusive communities of young people capable of thinking critically and taking action for positive change in their society.

AtWork Format

The AtWork format is composed of four main elements: the workshop, the exhibition, the community, and the collection. The combination of these elements creates the unique quality of the format.

AtWork is a format that is delivered thanks to strong partnerships nurtured by the Moleskine Foundation, mainly with local and international cultural organisations (i.e. cultural centres, museums, galleries, etc.).

AtWork is a very flexible, adaptable and cost efficient format. The one week duration of the program between the workshop and exhibition preparation can easily enter in a class program or other pre-existing education program.

So far Moleskine Foundation has implemented 18 chapters  of AtWork format in partnership with local cultural organizations in 14 countries across Africa, Europe, and North America, inspiring more than 500 students. Go here to see all the various chapters implemented so far.

AtWork Vision (by Simon Njami)

“What AtWork is proposing is not the teaching of useless abstract theories based on vertical teacher-student relationships, but the idea of knowledge as a living thing. Knowledge is not an external element that comes to enlighten us. It is indeed recognition – that is, the realization of what is already inside us, hidden in our souls, without our knowing or conceptualizing it; in other words, it is the process of becoming aware of all the things we need to make sense of the visible and invisible world. We have nothing to teach anyone: “The light that permits encountering something other than the self, makes it encountered as if this thing came from the ego.

The light, brightness, is intelligibility itself; making everything come from me, it reduces every experience to an element of reminiscence. Reason is alone. And in this sense knowledge never encounters anything truly other in the world” (Emmanuel Levinas).

This inner light that belongs to everyone just asks to come out; and provided that we have the necessary intellectual and human tools, our role is to help this light reveal itself and flourish.

…I see AtWork as a large, non-institutional university allowing the exchange of views, experiences and contexts. Our project does not intend to promote a univocal view of art theories and creativity, which is far from our intentions, but to establish a resonating environment where specific tools become pertinent even outside their original contexts. Therefore, we are not speaking of learning in the academic and traditional sense of the word, but of knowledge, exchanges and discoveries as sensible and human experiences, far from any presumption of objectivity…

AtWork intends to promote this kind of idealism that activates the solitary character of reason, helping individuals think for themselves and within themselves. We have long understood that there is no such thing as objectivity. There are only more or less explicit wills to power. The flame of reason is flickering. It is our responsibility to revive it. This is the ambition of our modest contribution.”

Read the full text here

Moleskine Foundation

The Moleskine Foundation is a non-profit organization that pursues a mission of ‘Creativity for Social Change’. Its purpose is to inspire, encourage and connect young people to transform themselves and their communities through creativity. It does so by providing unconventional education tools and cultural experiences that help fostering critical thinking, creative doing, life-long learning and a changemaking attitude. A central belief is that creativity is key to producing positive change in society, reducing inequalities, and driving our collective future.

Young people from underserved communities are often left behind due to lack of access and opportunities to develop the necessary self-awareness and creative skills to become active players in society and to spark the social changes needed both within their communities and society at large.

www.moleskinefoundation.org