Changing the world with art and creativity: for twelve days, the local group from Krea Youth Club in Bergisch Gladbach (Germany) welcomed young artists from Italy and Greece to a youth encounter. As part of Generation Europe – The Academy, the international group explored how young people can make use of their power in democratic systems. The result of the intensive work is a set of spectacular artistic performances, which was presented to the public at the end of the programme. The title of the project: “Feel Use Keep Power”.
The participants were accompanied by professional coaches from the fields of contemporary dance, street dance, music production, spoken word and visual arts. The topic was not chosen by chance: Young people today are exposed to a multitude of complex and interrelated challenges. Crises on a global scale not only jeopardise the future of democratic systems, but also mental well-being. More and more young people feel overwhelmed and are pessimistic about the future. Many have doubts that democratic systems are able to cope with current and future challenges. As a result, right-wing parties are increasingly successful in winning favour with young people.
The project therefore combines non-formal civic education with artistic self-expression. It encourages participants to become aware of their own civic and social strengths and shows them that they have the power to play an active role in shaping a better society. In doing so, the international group counteracts the feeling of being at the mercy of others with a feeling of collective self-efficacy, encouraging each other to network with like-minded people and take action together.
An exciting project that attracted a great deal of attention: on site, the young people were visited by Ms Gabriele Aabaslama, Youth Policy Officer from the NRW Ministry of Family Affairs and the Deputy Mayor of Bergisch Gladbach, Josef Willnecker, among others.
Generation Europe – The Academy is an international network of youth work organisations and a funding programme for European cooperation, initiated and coordinated by the International Association for Education and Exchange (IBB e.V.). The project is being realised by the Krea-Jugendclub Bergisch Gladbach in cooperation with its long-standing project partners Centro di Creazione e Cultura (CCC) from Florence, Italy and the Synergy of Music Theatre (SMouTh) from Larissa, Greece.