"Speech less - act more"

Our international youth exchange “Speech less – act more” takes place at the House Accros Borders in Lommel, Belgium, next to the biggest German war grave cemetery in Western Europe.
From the 19st untill 28th of August young people from 5 different European countries (each 5 participants) will meet in Lommel and discover each other’s cultures and habits.
When we take a look at the world today, we notice that our freedom of speech is getting under pressure although the importance of it.
By taking a quick look at the cemetery, we are confronted by the results of a lack of this freedom. In this project we want to challenge youngsters to express their selves by using art.
Because of the importance of glass in Lommel, we have chosen to integrate it in the program by working together with the House of Glass. It is a museum of contemporary modern glass art, which is celebrating his 10th anniversary in 2017. It has a rich history of bringing different cultures (artists and visitors) together.
We want to achieve an open and critical view concerning (the lack of) freedom of speech. Not only by using glass, but also by integrating music and theatre in our program.
At the end of the exchange the youngsters will get a stage to show their work at the local community of Lommel. A part of the work will also be taking home to the participating countries, and will be shown in their local communities.
The aim of this encounters is to foster European understanding and reinforce awareness of democracy, by working with historical facts and experience other European cultures.
For this exchange we want to work with youngsters between the age of 18 and 25.