Coordinator: Social HUB 🇧🇬 Bulgaria

Partners: 

ASOCIATIA IMPRESSUM 🇷🇴 Romania

Brisa Intercultural 🇪🇸 Spain

Instytut Przeciwdzialania Wykluczeniom 🇵🇱 Poland

SCAMBIEUROPEI 🇮🇹 Italy

Nowadays, the underestimated environmental problems for years must receive the necessary attention. Educational institutions rarely pay attention to how serious and relevant the risk to nature is. The Eco Art project aims not only to acquaint the participants with the danger, but also to discuss with them ways to eliminate it. We emphasize the actions that each of us can take to save the environment – the change begins with ourselves! The other aspect of the project, art, aims to provoke participants to break down environmental issues through their own prism and to create beautiful and captivating literature pieces that will provoke the audience to support the environmental cause they convey. Literary activities will give participants useful practical and theoretical knowledge that will help them in creating their own poem/ short story.

 

 

D1: On the first day, the Romanian group led physical team building activities to help participants wake up. They also led the joint creation of a contract outlining the rules for the youth exchange, and familiarized participants with health and safety regulations. The participants prepared short presentations on ecological problems in their countries and proposed solutions. In the evening, there was a cultural exchange with multimedia presentations, national costume presentations, and typical dish tastings led by the Romanian group. Lastly, participants anonymously shared their expectations for the project which were read aloud and discussed. 

D2: On the second day of the Eco-Art project, the participants will engage in physical and integrational activities to wake up and build their teams. The Italian group will lead this session. The participants will work in mixed nationality groups to create posters with indirect messages that personify one or more ecological problems. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the problem before attempting to solve it, and to encourage creative thinking. The participants will then present their posters to the other groups, followed by a discussion. Next, the participants will share their experiences and views on the influence of art in today’s society. They will consider the freedom of speech in different countries and explore ways to overcome the obstacles to this freedom. The session will be led by the Italian group. 

D3: On the third day of the youth exchange, participants will engage in physical and integrational activities, led by the Bulgarian group. They will discuss the role of ecology in modern art and explore whether art can effectively express societal problems. In mixed nationality groups, participants will analyze and perform literature pieces related to ecological issues and brainstorm short stories and poems on the topic. The day will end with multimedia presentations, national costume presentations, typical dish tastings, quizzes, and games led by the Bulgarian group. 

D4: On the 4th day, the participants will start with physical/integrational activities led by the Spanish group. Then, they will visit the National Art Gallery in Sofia to discuss the connection between nature and humans in some paintings. In mixed nationality groups, participants will conduct a street survey to ask locals of different ages about their opinion on ecological problems. Later, they will share and compare their findings. The day will end with cultural activities led by the Spanish group including multimedia presentations, national costume presentations, typical dish tasting, quiz, and games. The day will also end with a reflection session in mixed groups and a leaders meeting to discuss the project’s progress and potential problems. 

D5: On the 5th day of the youth exchange, the participants will engage in physical and integrational activities, led by the Polish group, to start the day. Afterwards, a trainer from Social Hub will review the short poems and stories written by the participants and provide guidance on how to develop their writing styles. The participants will share their opinions and experiences from the previous activities, followed by a rest period. Later, they will have a discussion with an ecological artist about how nature inspires him and how art can influence ecological issues. The participants will continue to write short poems and stories in mixed nationality groups. Finally, the day will end with mixed nationality groups exchanging comments and observations, followed by group leaders meeting to discuss project progress and resolve any potential issues. 

D6: On the 6th day, the participants will start with physical and integrational activities led by the Bulgarian group. They will then continue working in mixed groups on their short poems and stories related to ecological issues, introducing final improvements and preparing some graphic elements. Later, there will be a session of multimedia presentations, national costumes presentations, tasting typical dishes, and games led by the Polish group. In the end, participants in mixed groups will exchange comments and observations about the day, followed by a meeting of group leaders to discuss the progress of the project and solve any potential problems.