Stichting CWM Education

Culture.World.Me Education is a foundation based in Amsterdam. Our main focus is youth led and youth participation activities in our communities in the Netherlands, as well as international youth and youth worker-centered activities. Performing arts go as a red line through our active practice in our communities. We love to use performing arts to inspire others to be better versions of themselves and bring desired transformations in their communities.

Check our Website for More: https://www.cultureworldme.com/

OUR VISION: The World where there is respect for human dignity and cultural diversity!
OUR MISSION is to run non-formal artistic educational activities that would open a space for dialogue and learning about ways we could come together to create environments in our communities where inclusivity and diversity thrive.

The main objectives of the organization are:
- Creating awareness among young people about their role in the society and the need for the youth to act in a positive way;
- Training of youth workers and educators in theatre methodologies;
- Empowering young people to change the world equipping them with various skills such as social and civic competence, the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship;
- Encouraging the young people to develop their potential and creativity
- Increasing our network of partners and contributing to their capacity

We have been in Theater Artistic Human Rights Education since 2015, starting as grassroots youth workers and a non-formal group of young people. We want our story to inspire more youth workers, youth leaders and youth trainers.

Our main activities relevant to this project are:
Organizing youth exchanges in 2015 and 2016 about cultural diversity and human rights:
Culture.World.Me in 2015 was the initial encounter (funded by ministry of foreign affairs), which dealt with cultural diversity as one of the most important values in EU using theater methods to explore and express different mentalities
Culture.World.We in 2016 was a follow up youth exchange, which was held in Ukraine dealing with human rights and using as well theater and movie making as creative tool of expression.
Culture.World.Us. in 2018 was a first Erasmus plus youth exchange we organised (about theater/performing methods and discrimination).
Stories of Human Rights(2018-2019) is a set of three youth exchanges (funded by EVZ and Robert Bosch Stiftung) in Germany, Ukraine and Russia. During three of the exchanges we worked on creating campaign to share stories of celebration and violation of human rights in participating countries through methods of storytelling, creative writing and theatre;
in 2019 our main Erasmus+ projects of focus were “Culture.World.Diversity” about LGBT+ rights and theater of the oppressed and the training for youth workers “Dramatize!” about theater methods in Human Rights education.

In December 2021 we have organised an online Youth exchange “Storytelling challenge” to master storytelling skills and share stories about domestic violence during lockdown.

In 2020 we are coordinating an International KA2 Project ActingYouth which aims at creating an innovative program using methods of theatre to work with young people with different cultural backgrounds.

In 2020 we have partnered and currently successfully implementing a KA2 Culture of Solidarity project which aims at exchanging best practices between organizations which use methods of theatre from all over Europe. We have schools, organizations working in the field of duly education and various theatre NGOS as a part of the project.

In 2021, aside from being busy with the KA2 project, we have implemented: The second edition of our iconic Dramatize! Theatre training for youth workers and youth trainers; And a youth exchange Speak up! Human rights on Air in Germany about racism and podcast making as a tool to raise awareness.

In 2022 we have been active with several projects to spread the awareness about human rights with methods of theater on multiple levels:
On an international level we have been busy with: KA2 to research best practices and tools in theater methodologies in order to educate youth workers who work with youth with different cultural backgrounds in theater methods that are very efficient for that target group. In March 2022 we hosted an LTTA in Rotterdam as a part of the project, inviting youth workers from all over Europe to learn about theater methods.
We have also been involved in Culture of Solidarity KA2 to share best practices in theater education among the participating organizations.
We have implemented a Speak Up! YE in Germany to raise awareness about human rights through creation of drama games. and YE United Against Domestic Violence in the Netherlands to raise awareness about domestic violence and connected to it human rights through methods of theater and storytelling.
On a local level we have been busy organizing weekly theater and storytelling workshops with local refugee centers in the Amsterdam area. Additionally, we have been active in engaging more than 50 youth workers in our network who are interested to learn together, collaborate and exchange best practices in non-formal education.

In 2022 and 2023 we are also hosting our first Interns who are willing to learn about engaging local communities and managing social impact projects.