Bridge the gap, museum edition: art healing educational programs for mixed aged groups, focusing on elderly and youth participation and inclusion.

During the profound times that communities are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, social groups appear to have more intense psychological transitions like occurrence of loneliness, anxiety, and depression, due to both overwhelming events and disruption of their routine. Museums and culture organizations in general not only provide educational or informative awareness, but they are also healing traumas trough psychotherapeutic objects dynamic, or by addressing concerns for mental and/ or physical health awareness through the exhibitions and programs that they offer to the public. At the Museum Collections of the Ionian University, we developed an educational program to assist our visitors in their healing process. This ongoing project (currently in implementation phase), called Bridge the gap brings together our most involving group (students) with a group that we would like to support more, namely the elderly. Having as a guide an award-winning learning scenario, we designed hybrid activities for the Collection of School History and Education, focusing amongst others on connecting (online and offline) artifacts in learning activities, providing new tools to participators who are amateur users of technology, helping them to develop their skills and knowledge, to reconnect to their experience and memories and to co create art with others. Our objective is to underline the need of art, supporting its healing effect, assisting culture awareness, empathy, stress relief and community empowerment.