M.E.Σ.Α., Μουσείο Ελεύθερης Σκέψης Ανθρώπων (Museum of People’s Free thinking), is a collaborative and interdisciplinary museum outreach program aiming at empowering the social inclusion of socially vulnerable youth groups. It was formed during “the museum week” project, designed and implemented during the academic year 2014-2015 in the 2^nd School of Second Chance in the city of Trikala.

ΜΕΣΑ is a Museum that wishes to promote art as a tool of social inclusion, but also underline the social role that Museums many times forget to undertake. It is the Museum of People’s Free thinking as in this context there are no prisoners and drug addicts but simply collaborators working and expressing themselves together. Last but not least, it is the Museum of People’s Free Thinking, as it is a platform with rules set collectively and democratically and where the freedom of our thoughts exceed the limits of prison or of an addiction.

«MΕΣΑ» in Greek means “inside”. Although it can be related to being inside prison or inside an addiction, we prefer to think that it means inside the society, inside life.

 

The main aims of MEΣΑ are:

• Empowerment of socially excluded youth. Give the participants different stimuli which can be utilized in the inclusion process

 

• Creativity and artistic expression. Valorize their work and give them self-confidence about their thoughts, agonies and emotions

 

• Enforcement of the educational and transformational process.
  Contribution to alphabetism, gain new values, believe that they can actually integrate.

 

• Collaboration beyond stereotypes and nationality. Use this common goal as the link element for their in between collaboration.

 

• Contribution to the research and dialogue about museum outreach programs. Creation of documentation material as well as a toolkit to be used by educators in Greece and abroad.