Art has always served as a tool for social and cultural change. It defines and shapes social habits and behaviour, and has been used throughout history as a form of protest against the status quo. Art is both the cause and effect of cultural change; the emergence of new artistic currents shape societies and the idiosyncrasies of those societies give rise to new artistic currents. In recent decades, Hip-hop culture has followed this pattern. Hip-hop, understood broadly as a form of oral, visual and physical expression, has secured itself as an essential element of contemporary culture, with particular influence among the young, urban demographic. It has proven to be an incredible tool of empowerment for those whose voice is often unheard. However, as a byproduct of hip-hop becoming mainstream, its message of solidarity and empowerment has become diluted with the glorification of materialism and gang culture. This project was born in response to this; from the need to reaffirm hip-hop as a form of artistic expression capable of stimulating social change. It is from these concerns that the name and concept of the project emerged: #Voices4Weapons. Whilst spoken word is an intrinsic part of hip-hop culture when we speak of "voices" here we do so in a broader sense - our ability to express. The name has a double interpretation: 1) That we are using our voices INSTEAD of weapons; using expression (whether verbal or visual) as a way of channelling frustration and as a method of conflict resolution. It is an armistice and a recognition of the value of peaceful democratic processes in opposition to the violence present in our societies. 2) Nevertheless recognising that expression can instigate change (voices AS weapons); just as a gun might do so forcefully, speaking about our experiences and opinions is how we make valuable contributions to society, and can function as a catalyst for social change. As youth workers, the empowerment of young people is our central mission. This project focused on young people from conflictive urban areas who were otherwise unlikely to be involved in international projects of this kind. By encouraging the participants to share their daily life and social reality we increased their intercultural and intersocial awareness, and instilled a sense of common experience and solidarity. Hip-hop was used as a medium to address the frustration caused by such issues as social exclusion, discrimination, racism, sexism and poverty, and encouraged young people to take more active participation in society. With Voices4Weapons we returned to hip-hop its original power; giving voice to the voiceless, by using the arts as an instrument of expression and self-affirmation. In particular, for those young people who’ve been left behind by the globalisation process, and who have been pushed to the marginality typical of the urban and suburban areas of large post-industrial cities. Objectives of the activity: 1- Empowering young people by encouraging them to express themselves through arts 2-Raising awareness about the social power of artistic expression 3- Connecting young people that have the same passion by sharing a common creative process 4- Using hip-hop culture to raise awareness about topics such as social exclusion, discrimination, racism, sexism, poverty, frustration, etc. 5- Presenting several ways for raising their voice and taking active participation in society. 6- Empowering young people and improving their foreign language competencies through an intercultural learning experience using the tools of non-formal education 7- Raising more awareness of the European projects and the EU values Moreover, it had the following links with the specific KA1 Objectives: -Increased self-empowerment and self-esteem (1, 5, 6) -Improved foreign language competencies (2, 6) -Enhanced intercultural awareness (3, 5, 6) -More active participation in society(1, 2, 4, 5, 7) -Better awareness of the European project and the EU values (4, 7) -Increased motivation for taking part in future (formal/non-formal) education or training after the mobility period abroad (6, 7) The issues and needs that this project addressed were: -The proliferation of gang culture among young people from marginal or semi-marginal socio-economic backgrounds -The dissemination of violent, hateful, unsupportive and generally unhealthy messages -The lack of tools for channelling emotions and frustrations of young people