In times of ongoing global crises, international encounters have great potential to make the many voices of intercultural and transcultural dialog tangible and understandable. Many young people, are noticeably affected by issues such as racism and discrimination. The consequences of the pandemic are having a tangible impact, and wars and climate change are causing profound uncertainty about young people's future prospects. The German government's latest Children and Youth Report and the current Shell study detail these findings. In the transcultural youth participation project, young people from the Czech Republic, Turkey and Germany came together using theater in an exchange on the topics of community, participation and democracy that was organized and led by the young people themselves for large parts of the project. The highlight of the project was a 6-day exchange meeting in Hanover. Using theater methods, the young people, supported by experienced theater educators, developed and tested innovative ways of accessing social participation in order to sustainably increase young people's opportunities for participation. The project focused on the rediscovery and creation of (international) community, i.e. exchange and encounters, combined with the questions: What conditions are necessary to be able to form community(ies) - sustainable, inclusive, transcultural? How are commonality and difference effective in this process? How are communities created and social change initiated in the social practice of theater? How does working on an equal footing work in different social and global contexts? To what extent do the young participants articulate and negotiate needs, goals, fantasies, wishes and ideas? The focus of the project was to empower young people with the help of cultural education, in this case theater, and to show them diverse opportunities for active social participation and shaping and to develop and test implementation formats and approaches together with them. Participatory formats were therefore developed for the encounter together with the young people to create a shared awareness of global and local contexts and social and economic relationships among the participants. During the meeting in Hanover, various formats for joint experimentation and action were offered. In joint rehearsals, workshop reports on their own theater work, in lectures, workshops and in a variety of feedback and reflection formats, the participants tested how theatrical formats and methods offer young people a space in which they can experience participation and try out different, even unusual, ways in order to subsequently transfer concrete experiences to their own life contexts. The participants explored the differences and similarities between their respective life realities and perspectives and learned with and from each other. The primary goals of the project were - Empowerment and activation of the young actors - Strengthening the ability to reflect, act and make judgments - Reduction of prejudices and a differentiated perception of how young people deal with their issues, hopes and challenges as well as their ideas for a just future - Inclusion of young people who previously had little access to cultural education/theatre - Inclusion of young people who have to grow up under economically difficult conditions - Inclusion of young people with a history of migration and refugee experience - Creation of stimulating learning spaces that contribute to a motivating educational experience - Exchange and discussion of the different living and working conditions and perspectives of young people as well as the overall social framework in the sense of a transcultural dialog - Exchange about theater work at the interface of artistic, political and social work