In August 2018, we carried out the youth exchange “LIFE IS” which was joined with a local festival of the same name (Život je) in Brodek u Přerova - a multicultural mixed genre event promoting cultural dialogue, active citizenship, social entrepreneurship, responsibility towards the environment, social inclusion, community development, personal development and overall well-being. The integration of a youth exchange into the festival and vice versa provided the locals with an opportunity to see glimpse of NFE, European youth activities and international collaboration, all not very common in the area. The exchange gathered 7 national teams to share their creative talents and social proactivity experience with each other and with the festival, as well as taking part in cocreating the festival itself to a large extent. It enabled them to be part of creating a community event and to learn about how to make one in their own communities and in general motivated them to become more active citizens. We are happy to share that, based on the feedback of the participants, the festival attendees and our own evaluation, this project was a major success, exceeding most expectations. At the end of the exchange there was a strong sense of community, if not even family, the participants were expressing their wish to continue contributing to this festival and the locals were looking forward to the next one. Therefore we feel the exciting urge to continue the development of active citizenship in Brodek u Přerova and beyond. Having learned from the previous experience, we feel even more enabled to bring long-lasting impact to the area and to the cocreating groups involved. One of the major conclusions from the project was that participants learn, gain and accomplish more by doing what they enjoy the most. As such we call “Freedom within the frame”. This led to ideas about introducing new concept about youth participation in the festival. Taking example from other successful, progressive and socially active festivals in the world where the content of the festival is largely based on the initiative and ideas of the attendees, the organizers of the festival and the YE saw that this approach would increase the impact on the participants and their communities. This means that the pax of the project would be putting focus on their own creative expression and unite in common interests to create different ‘camps’ in the festival. The goal of this is for the participants to discover how they can use their own passions to create initiatives in their communities and to practice forming interest groups to achieve community development skills while cocreating everything together. An important addition to this is to practice implementing these initiatives in an environmentally sustainable way and including participants with fewer opportunities. Another aspect of this project is to involve local volunteers, seniors from the region and people with social obstacles and disabilities in the initiatives providing them with an opportunity to discover more of their potential and learning skills for achieving their personal goals and overcoming their obstacles. On that note - our association made an informal partnership with Rotaract Club Brno and their project Handicamp, which is 2 week long summer camp for youngsters with physical and mental disabilities (CP), and decided to do both of our activities in similar dates so we can include a visit to the Handicamp into the program of the YE and vice versa - participants of the Handicamp and their accompanying persons will visit us at the festival afterwards. This way both sides benefit from mutual learning and enrichment. Potential cooperation is drafted also with Diakonie Ostrava and their work with seniors. As a whole, this project addresses - the development of the international community of socially-active youth, their personal development, creative expression and cultural awareness, and their ability to act both locally and internationally; - environmentally-sustainable practices; - inclusion of people with fewer opps We have agreed upon several objectives to reach the goals of this project: - foster creative expression among both YE participants and festival attendees to address social issues - for participants to practice forming small self-governed interest groups based on a common social goal and to incorporate this practice in their work with local communities - for participants to practice social entrepreneurship and project management skills - show an example of environmentally-sustainable practices throughout the project that can inspire more sustainable lifestyles - strengthen the international community of proactive youth and the collaboration between partner organizations - provide local volunteers with the chance to meet the participants of the exchange and become part of international, European cooperation - promote European dialogue in the rural area of Czech Republic