ARTFusion

 This is a reconstruction.

So it’s been some time since we left beautiful Busteni. We spent a week working together, learning together, sharing ideas , having fun together, we all got used to each others, and I’m quite sure that we all enjoyed the PBA.

In  all that intensity of communication, ideas, emotions my concerns was to capture the moments that were important but it could be totally possible that I was wrong, I picked the moments that seemed essential to me. What we want from you is to tell us what you think was important, challenging, new, good or bad.

We gathered in Busteni and by we I mean 21 people from Romania, Spain, Greece, Moldova and Serbia (Valters I’m sorry but you are in the Romanian section), 21 people that wanted to talk, share, discover, build partnerships. But what was the reason that gathered us in the small, beautiful Busteni?

We identified a problem in our community.  And even though we come from different countries, with different backgrounds we realized we all share the same problem. On the other hand the way we approach things is different, the ways we solve the problems are different too, the methods we use are different as well and this is what brought us together – we challenged our assumptions with our differences.

So here is the problem: People from ethnical disadvantaged groups struggle with the same problems all over Europe but there is a lack of communication and collaboration between these groups. Ethnical disadvantaged groups tend to be close to social structures that don’t express much interest in adjusting to new changes or are in danger of losing their cultural heritage and being completely integrated in the ethnical majority.

In the isolation from their own ethnical roots, there is always a similar struggle to fight for integration, equal rights, anti-discrimination attitudes, tolerance and inter-ethnical support and acceptance.

The goal of the PBA was to bring together youth organizations from different countries, working on the same topic of integration for ethnical disadvantaged communities for practice sharing and partnership building.

 So what we did was to bring 21 bright people that work with Roma communities or other ethnical disadvantaged groups and give them

• the opportunity to share best practices and create future partnerships,
• and to disseminate the methods of participative arts as useful tools in the struggle for ethnical integration.

With the help of the Partnership Building Activity “Difference challenge assumptions” we were able to reach:

• Active participation of a group of young people from different countries that have had responsibility in implementing projects related to Roma communities and supporting them for creating a long term intervention plan, for their communities and for developing future partnerships on this direction;

• Cultural diversity by bringing together not only participants from different countries but even participants with similar ethnical origins and different cultural background and providing enough time for cultural sharing within the project sessions;

• Creativity and innovation by introducing participative arts methods (such as forum theatre and street animation) as successful tools for the social integration of the Romanian Roma communities and by giving the participants the opportunity to share their tools and find new creative ways to combine them or even create new ones adapted to their own Roma community needs;

Let us now reconstruct the puzzle:

1^st day / 12^th of November

•    we played some games to get to know each other,
•  and then when we felt more comfortable with ourselves we talked and shared our Fears, contributions and expectations
• then we made our NGO presentation in the most creative way we could,
•   after talking to about ourselves and the NGO we represent it was time for some Team-building activities

2^nd day / 13^th of November

• we shared the methods we work with
• first was the brave Greek team with cool energizers and ice-breakers
• then it was the Romanian team Appolo with communication exercises to see how well and efficient can we communicate with each other.
• and there was the Serbian team who shared with us theater, movement exercises that helped us get closer to each other, to trust in other people.
• And finally the Spanish team challenged us to become a character, to get into their skin and explore the limits and the liberties of that specific character
• Then there was the A.R.T. Fusion Presentation that provided Information about projects in Roma communities, pictures and videos
• Also  we did a little bit of Impro-theatre and Living library.

3^rd day / 14^th of November

•  We had Open space – participants propose topics which they want to propose. Topics are arranged in 3 sessions of 30 minutes each. 3 topics in each session. People can chose which topic they want to discuss. They can choose more topics in each session and move from one to another. Rules of Open Space:

1.Whenever it starts, it is the right time to start.

2.Whoever comes are the right people to come

3.Whatever happens is the right thing to happen

4.Whenever it is over, it is over

• We had free time after the open space and we used it to explore our cultural backgrounds by playing the guitar, talking, dancing etc.

4^th day / 15^th of November

• “Youth in Action” presentation – group divided in 3 smaller groups, each group needs to choose one action from “YiA” and make a presentation to other teams about it. Actions choused – Youth initiatives, Youth exchanges and Youth Democracy projects
• Project management presentation – presentation about how to define aims, objectives and activities of the project. After presentation group is divided in 2 teams. Each team needs to arrange steps of project development in right order. Steps – idea of project, aim, objectives, activities, midterm evaluation, evaluation, monitoring, dissemination.
• “Speed dating” Aim of activity – to find people with whom to develop further idea of a project. Each person draws a clock on his/her paper with 8 hours. Then walking around the room everybody needs to write the name of a person with whom he/she would like to discuss the project idea. In the end everybody has 8 “dates” or meetings with 8 different persons. Each “date” lasts for 5 minutes, during which in each pair people share their ideas about the project or projects they would like to develop. After 40 minutes, when everybody has met 8 people ideas of projects is written down on a flipchart and teams are formed. 6 teams were formed, 6 different projects were developed.

5^th day / 16^th November

• We showed some other financial possibilities – presentation about other programs and funds, besides “Youth in Action”, where projects can be applied.
• Presentation of projects using flipcharts, theatrical sketches, installations in the room etc. Feedback on the projects.
• And then the evaluation the sad sad goodbye.

 Now what is left for us to do is keep talking and sharing, give feedback and when there will be an opportunity we will work together but for that we have to stay  CONNECTED.

This project was made possible by A.R.T. Fusion Association, with the support of the European Commission through the Youth in Action Programme.