The city dreams out loud. Public-space performances for hope, imagination and youth empowerment

The project explores how to encourage young people to become active creators of reality rather than passive observers of social problems.

Through movement, music, and symbolic public actions, participants will explore how positive messages can transform public space and inspire local communities. They will also discover how powerful these methods can be as tools in youth work.

Participants from different countries will learn by doing. They will work in international teams and create short performances in public spaces together with local young people.

These performances are not classical theatre. They are creative public actions using movement, symbols, music, words, and interaction with the audience. They also have a strong educational background.

The project explores how to encourage young people to become active creators of reality rather than passive observers of social problems.

Participants will become a part of the 43rd International Street Theatre Festival in Jelenia Góra

Participant Profile 

• have experience in working with young people, or a strong motivation to begin;
• be interested in using creative methods in youth work, especially public-space performances, movement, music, symbolic actions, storytelling, and audience interaction;
• have a practical connection to performance, art, movement, music, theatre, dance, street actions, facilitation, or other creative forms — not only as spectators, but also through creating, performing, leading, or using them in practice;
• have previous experience in educational, social, youth work, artistic, or community contexts, or be strongly motivated to develop in this field;
• be interested in exploring how positive messages, creativity, and public actions can inspire local communities and encourage young people to become active creators of reality;
• be ready to work in international teams and cooperate with local young people in designing short public performances;
• speak English at a communicative level;
• be open to teamwork, collaboration, experimentation, and creative group work.

Main Objectives  

• To explore public-space performance as a method of non-formal education.
• To show how movement, music, symbols, words, and audience interaction can be used in youth work.
• To develop participants’ confidence in leading creative activities with young people.
• To encourage the use of positive messages, hope, imagination, and motivation in educational and community work.

Main Methods and Activities

• Group-building and trust-building exercises
• Creative workshops using movement, music, rhythm, storytelling, symbolic actions, and improvisation
• Exercises on how to work with positive messages in youth work
• Public-space exploration in the city
• Teamwork in international groups
• Cooperation with local young people
• Creation of short public performances and creative actions
• Audience interaction and communication in public space
• Participation in the 43rd International Street Theatre Festival in Jelenia Góra
• Reflection circles and group discussions after activities
• Evaluation of the learning process
• Sharing ideas on how to use these methods in youth work after the project
• Preparation of follow-up ideas for local communities and organizations

Travel days are 7 and 13 of July.