Project description

The main aim of the project „youthfolklore.com” was to empower organisations working with young people in the creative sector in sustaining in challenging times while using these times for increasing the quality of activities offered for youth by equipping them with adequate, innovative tools and providing training for them.

We reached the aim following the objectives below:

1. To create sustainable cooperation between various organisations from the fields of folklore education, intercultural learning, non-formal education and creativity, which will be growing into a network of such organisations.

2. To offer the space for sharing good practices related to the work of the creative sector in challenging times (i.e. the Covid-19 pandemic) when regular working methods are excluded.

3. To develop tools for strengthening the competences of youth workers, instructors, and educators working in the creative sector in the field of conflict resolution, intercultural learning, project management.

4. To promote the usage of NFE among folklore groups in order to use the full potential of their impact on young people.

5. To strengthen the development of soft skills such as: creativity, communication, collaboration; their sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, intercultural learning among young people engaged in folklore groups.

6. To stimulate European awareness and empower youth to be successful innovators in their local environment using their creative approach, passion for expressing their own culture and open-mindedness for other cultures.

The main result of the project is youthfolklore.com – a website which creates not only an online space for learning, inspiration and networking and encourages live initiatives whenever possible. The project and its main outcome–online platform youthfolklore.com serves both: young people and professionals working with them associated with various organisations such as folklore bands and ensembles, dance groups, cultural organisations, people simply passionate about world folklore. It is full of inspirational stories, tips and guidelines, workshop scenarios and resources of non-formal activities.

In order to achieve the aim and objectives and to create the Intelectual Output, we organised the following activities in the project:

  • 3 Transnational Project Meetings in order to manage the project
  • Training course on creating audiovisual materials, promoting and disseminating results for 20 participants coming from 5 countries (Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy and Hungary)
  • Training course on the usage of non-formal education methods (NFE) among folklore groups for 19 participants coming from 5 countries (Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy and Hungary)
  • Blended Mobility of Young People “Let’s folk!” for 34 participants coming from 5 countries (Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy and Hungary)

All of the project activities were inspired by the principles of NFE (participant-centred approach, flexibility of the training program, group as a mutual learning resource, trainers as facilitators of the learning process, holistic approach) and experiential learning.

Our project proposal was strongly linked with Erasmus + Strategic Partnership in response to the COVID-19 situation: it helped young generations and professionals working in the cultural sector of folklore to acquire skills and competences, including digital competences, boost quality, innovation and recognition of youth work (…). Our project could potentially contribute to job creation, inspiring youth through success stories of folklore-inspired businesses and initiatives published on our website. It promotes a sense of entrepreneurship and initiative by encouraging youth groups to apply for grants and funds by themselves. Last but not least, thanks to the website created and translated into several languages, which will serve as a networking platform, but also a source of knowledge, it strongly fosters participatory and intercultural dialogue approaches between organisations representing non-formal education sector and organisations in the cultural sectors (such as folklore ensembles and bands, but not only). It was important for us to carry out this project in international partnership to facilitate European awareness, spot common challenges, compare solutions and insights and share as many good practices as possible.