The Facing the Gap project aims to develop and advocate the use of arts in youth work. The project sees the importance of opening spaces through artistic creation where young people have the freedom to face the burning problems of our times and reach new understandings, to take responsibility for their thoughts and action. We believe there is an immense need for this space and working on problems socially in times when most of Europe is radicalizing, and populism and political apathy take their toll. The partnership created from organizations from the UK, Malta, Hungary and China builds on similarities of methodology and theoretical background and the common wish to develop and spread this methodology. The project will start with a meeting and continue with a seminar which will help define and articulate the common approach. We will continue with trainings for youth workers in all four countries, based on a jointly edited course material. The partners will work with young people on artistic initiatives based on the same text written specifically for the project in their own countries, and then bring together young people in a youth exchange to define the working methods further, create artistic products that can be used in advocacy and help the young people become capable of leading youth work for their peers. A final conference with a number of international presenters will showcase the achievements of the project and play a central role in the advocacy work. This advocacy will continue through videos spread online and also the direct approach of policy makers in the field by the partner organizations.
The Facing the Gap project aimed to develop and advocate the use of drama and theatre in youth work. The project build on the importance of opening spaces through artistic creation where young people have the freedom to face the burning problems of our times and reach new understandings, to take responsibility for their thoughts and action. The project partners believe there is an immense need for this space and working on problems socially in times when most of Europe is radicalizing, and populism and political apathy take their toll. The partnership created from organizations from the UK, Malta, Hungary and China worked through similar methodologies and theoretical background and developed their understanding and training tools and advocacy during and through the project. The project started with a meeting and continued with a seminar that played an important role in defining and articulating the common approach. It continued with trainings for youth workers in all four countries, based on a jointly edited course material. The partners worked with young people on artistic initiatives based on the same text written, Humana Fragmenta, written by Chris Cooper specifically for the project. The four fragments of the play reflected the situation in each partner country through events happening in the future. Young people from the four countries were brought together for a youth exchange which explore the play and the concepts further, and as a part of the youth exchange young people were coached to be able to deliver workshops themselves for teachers and youth workers at the conference at the end of the project. The final conference drew a varied and truly international crowed from 15 different countries to Budapest. The acclaimed international presenters and a theoretically based, but primarily practice focused structure made the approach and methodology developed in the project accessible to many. Both the training and the advocacy work will continue through the wealth of material available on the website of the project (www.facingthegap.eu) and specially the videos created in the project. While the Facebook page offers possibilities for everyone to connect and communicate internationally as well.