Finding Your Voice

WHAT IS IT?

Finding Your Voice" is 6 days residential training course promoted by Cooperativa Sociale Muovimente (Italy).

The training wants to firstly explore the benefits of singing both as a youth tool and methodology. How can we utilise singing for promoting self confidence and developing positive self esteem and other youth work priorities such as teamwork, problem solving and cultural expression. We will then look to explore the power and influence of the ‘protest song’ and how we can use singing for promoting democratic participation and how, as youth workers, can we encourage the young people we work with to explore and engage as active citizens in the democratic process and find their political voice.

The project will take place in Sermugnano, a small village in central Italy, from the 1st to the 7th of April 2019 (travel days included). It will involve 20 participants from 10 different European countries (Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and United Kingdom).

PROJECT CONTEXT

In a time when the traditional concept of youth work is going through some significant changes, the aim of this training course is to explore singing as a platform for youth participation, looking at  how it can support young people to be active and discover their political and social voice, thus becoming an agent of change. We want to explore other pathways for youth participation and political education and we see singing and vocal expression as one of them.

Numerous studies show how young people who take part in musical and artistic activities within the school context are more inclined to take part in school politics, acquiring the skills and confidence to express their point of view. Art and theatre programmes have long been used to help people communicate, share values, learn skills and communicate information, which are in fact the key competences required to become active citizens and politically involved individuals. The project aims to create a space for an exchange of opinions and practices for those working in the field of youth work and to offer an artistic experience that can be analysed and explored in order to understand the different possibilities of action and use. The connection between music and politics, in particular political expression within songs, is present in many cultures. Although music can influence political movements and actions, it is not clear how or to what extent the public relates to music at the political level. Music can be an expression of protest, from the "singing revolution" of the Baltic countries to the punk anti-establishment of the 1970s and, more recently, the case of the Pussy Riot in Russia, music and songs seem to have become in effect a platform for protest.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The main objectives of the training course are:

- To discover the joy of singing and using their own voice;

- To explore the power of using the voice to express, thoughts, feelings, emotions and intentions;

- To understand how singing can promote self-development and increase self awareness and confidence;

- To explore how singing can be used to encourage active listening, cooperation and dialogue in our work with young people;

- To identify approaches for dialogue, political change and active citizenship and messages through singing that can enable our youth work.