TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Linda Ulane
The main goal of the project was to explore the attitude of clowning and circus arts in the youth work, with focus
on youngsters with fewer opportunities.
The objectives of the training course were:
+ To explore the clowning attitude and meet the inner clown;
+ To explore the concept of failure;
+ To explore how the clowning attitude can help in dealing with emotional well being of both, youth workers and youngsters;
+ To explore the topic of inclusion through the glasses of intersectionality;
+ To develop circus related skills and explore how to transfer them to youth work.
The hosting organization Creative Connections Norway (CCN) is passionate about fostering artistic projects and cultural exchange.
At the heart of CCN's mission lies its unique approach known as ARTicipation which harnesses the power of artistic expression to promote inclusion and active participation. This training course was a part of association's Erasmus+ accreditation and it served as another exploration of how arts, in this case clowning and circus pedagogy, can serve as tools in work with youngsters.
This training course brought together 23 youth workers from Norway, Latvia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, France, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany and Romania.
During the TC the participants explored circus pedagogy and principles cooperative learning. After getting to know how circus lessons are made, they experienced how this could be transferred to youth work, organizing social and community circus. Beside that, there was also exploration of the concept of failure and clowning attitude and how it could be used in youth work individually or working with groups. This program also offered a chance to find one's own approach and usage of these tools.
This training was shaped with the non-formal education approach, with group dynamics and creative activities that promotes active participation during the activities. The process was based in experiential learning, also giving some theoretical input and space for individual/group reflection.
Creative methodologies such as Clowning, Creative Writing, Participatory and Social Theatre, Circus disciplines were used to dig deeper in the topics of this training course. Besides that, the we worked on creation of a Safe (enough) Space where every participants could feel more free to express their ideas and proposals.
Moreover, ETS Competence Model for youth workers to work internationally was used as a framework to reflect on the learning journey in relation to participants' competences.
According to morning learning harvesting circles and in presence and online evaluation of the participants as well as monitoring the process some highlights of the outcomes are:
+Participants equipped with tools to support youth involvement in their communities;
+Participants equipped with tools from clowning world to create lightness in their work with youth;
+Participants encouraged to fail and let their communities fail in a safe way as opposition to the stressful culture of performance;
+Strengthened network of organisations that use creative tools in their work;
+Thanks to the Theater of Oppressed activity participants explored a new tool to get an insight in emotional well-being of a person involved in a conflict;
+Many games shared by trainers and other participants enriched participants' baggage of methods to use in their daily work;
+Circus promoted as a healthy alternative tool in the youth field;
+Participants developed their understanding of Erasmus+ programme and possible funding opportunities for their future activities.
+ Communication with organizers;
+ Shaping the objectives of the training course according to the strategy of hosting organisation's Erasmus+ strategy;
+ In companionship with partner trainer to create and facilitate the program according the set objectives and the needs of participants;
+ Evaluate the experience and write parts of the report accordingly.