The development of a qualitative and innovative methodology that can be used by youth work organizations was central to this project. Ethnographic documentaries, made by young people themselves, have been developed as a method within this project. We approached this step by step: (1) we researched, together with young people, the techniques that we need (2) we looked at how we could create interesting documentary material with our own mobile phones, in other words how we can record our activities (3) we realized documentaries (4) we showed the documentaries to other partners during 'rural youth cinemas'. Each step was taken in parallel at each partner. After each step there was a moment where the partners met. This is how we shared knowledge. By implementing the project, we have achieved a well-developed guide that was created and tested in practice within various youth work contexts. The documentaries serve as artefacts of this process.
There is a need to think about youth art work in rural areas. Youth work organizations that focus on arts education are mostly absent in rural contexts. Those that are present are located in urban areas. We wanted to provide arts education activities to young people living in rural areas. All partners in this project are located in rural areas. Through this project the partners have organized art educational activities. The project outcomes can be a source of inspiration for other youth work organizations in rural areas who would also like to focus on arts education. We have focused on documentary making as an arts educative method that fosters a more sustainable world view. Through arts education, an ecological approach (within and outside of youth work) can be maintained and transferred to the youngsters. Throughout our activities we have developed a guide for ethnographic documentary making as an ecological, arts educative medium for youth workers without previous experience in the arts. We have applied for this project to address the need of better rural youth art work in a hands-on, practice based research that benefits both the participating partners and the community at large.