Greetings from environmental art lovers! The youth exchange "Art for the Environment" took place on 9-15 November in a very beautiful and cosy environmental center "Kapraluv Mlyn". 25 young people from 5 different European countries took part in the project: the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Albania, Spain and Portugal.

The project team started working on the youth exchange more than one year ago at YEE Annual Meeting 2014. During this time, we planned the activity and sessions but also the follow-up and future projects connected with this youth exchange.

The project was created for young people who are concerned about the environment and would like to find new ways of reaching the public and raising environmental awareness. The specific focus of this youth exchange was using art in environmental projects. All national groups had to prepare for the youth exchange by choosing one environmental issue and preparing an art workshop for other groups.

The youth exchange was organised to create a space for active young people to share their knowledge, skills and attitude and ideas of creative environmental projects.
The project started with more theoretical focus on organising a project – the participants discussed the specifics of environmental and art projects. We also shared our experience of working with local communities and came up with tips to remember before organising a future project.

Several days of the youth exchange were then given to practical workshops – the participants from each partner prepared one workshop for other groups. It was nice to discover our creative potential in all kinds of environmental art workshops: making mud graffiti, taking photos in the nature, coming up with theatrical performances, making up our own costumes, making mobiles with different ecosystems, discovering upcycling and exploring the grounds around us by making models of the nature.

The youth exchange finished with the discovering of opportunities of the Erasmus+ programme, planning the follow-up and evaluating the project.

We celebrated the successful youth exchange by organising a small exhibition – the national groups worked the whole week to make some art installation to show other groups.

As a follow-up, we are going to work on the blog which will include various articles about environmental art. The online publication will also be created with the help of the participants.

You can follow the blog here: ecoartseurope.wordpress.com

Find more information about the project here.

The project was co-funded by the European Union: