As writer Stephen King tweeted: “If you think artists are useless, try to spend your quarantine without music, books, poems, movies and paintings”. The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly shaken all spheres of life. In particular, cultural and creative sectors have been heavily impacted, as highlighted by this noteworthy EU study. The report of UN’s Special Rapporteur on that matter is also devastating: “Arts workers and cultural practitioners are among those hardest hit by pandemic-related unemployment crises worldwide. Some might argue that culture is not THE priority, but it is without a doubt a PRIORITY. Culture and creativity do not only enrich people’s lives, they are our societies’ pillars, our heritage and legacy. It allows us to make peaceful bridges between societies, to create a sense of togetherness, of belonging, of understanding. Culture is part of our identity. It allows us to be us. The crisis has also affected artists (jobs lost, bills unpaid, and daycare or school put on hold, studio space becoming unaffordable, creativity plummeting to new lows, etc) "Youth in ART" was a youth exchange directly involved 40 youngsters from 8 different EU countries in a multicultural experience where they developed their artistic skills and learned how to use arts and creativity to channel emotions. Since all the partners of the project love and do art in one or the other form ( dance, handmade jewellery, painting), we decided to implement a project about Art and youth. Art can be powerful tool for youth to become active and make the change in their community, or to raise awareness about environment protection. The project offered a creative space for intercultural dialogue between young people in order experiment together how arts and artistic expression can be effective in empowering young people and engage them in active citizenship. Main themes focused on art and non-formal education linked to the possibilities to develop social and cultural entrepreneurial initiatives. OBJECTIVES -To empower young people by encouraging them to express themselves through arts. -To show how art can be used for youth activism and discussing important topics with the focus on environment protection. -To create safe space where youth can explore their creativity and try different forms of art and share their culture and values with others -To give tools to youth from 8 different countries, empowering them to make the change in their local community. -To raise awareness about the social power of artistic expression -To connect young people that have the same passion by sharing a common creative process -To use art and culture to raise awareness about topics such as social exclusion, discrimination, racism, sexism, poverty, frustration, etc. -To present several ways for raising their voices and taking an active role in society. The aim of the project was to bring together young leaders and youth from different cultural backgrounds in order to promote environmental responsibility, encourage a circular economy and fight employment through art. The Cultural and Creative sectors are among the hardest hit industries by the pandemic. COVID-19 and its related consequences, such as lockdowns, negatively affected people working in these industries. People working in the Cultural and Creative Sectors (including artists, performers and those who supply a range of trades) have faced reduced income and even, in some cases unemployment. "Youth in ART" project enhanced the competencies and skills of artists and individuals working in culture and creative sectors and secured their inclusion to the labour market and society in general. To achieve this, the project focused on the following capacities: 1. Entrepreneurship, Employability, and Business Administration Skills (Goal setting, business setup, networking, communication, collaboration, negotiation). 2. Psychological Capacities (character strengths, empowerment, stress management, emotion regulation). 3. Digital media skills (digital skills, marketing, social media promotion, advertising and selling). The project bring together the disadvantaged young people (unemployed youth, refugees and people living in the villages) through the culture and art activities, to develop their creativity by experiencing the culture and art activities of the villagers in the area where they live, to enable them to express themselves through their cultural and artistic activities, to encouraged their entrepreneurial spirit and creativity. As well known art carries each communities identity, believes and lifestyle. Because of the fast global development, no matter their country or culture, youth tend to gather around popular music and . We aimed to rise their awareness on art which lead them to remembered and preserve their culture, customs and values. By doing so, tolerance, understanding will also be implemented and the number of people listening to folk music will have been increased.