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Transforming Youth Workshops: Co-creating Learning Spaces for MY.GENERATION

This resource book provides ideas and examples on how to transform workshops for young people, promoting co-creation and positive youth involvement in projects, services, and city matters. It also explores the perspectives of young people on Europe, cities, education, and work.

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Transforming Youth Workshops: Co-creating Learning Spaces for MY.GENERATION

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  1. MY GENERATION URBACT II THEMATIC NETWORK is about promoting the positive potential of the young generation in cities – WITH THE YOUNG AND FOR THE YOUNG In order to achieve this we need to TRANSFORM the way young people are involved in projects, services and city matters • We need to move away from “target group” thinking to CO-CREATION • We need to transform our workshops, activities, projects to new kinds of LEARNING SPACES, NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT CO-CREATION, BUT ACTUALLY CO-CREATING • This is a RESOURCE BOOK that gives you ideas how to transform your workshops and tells you what young people think of Europe, Cities, Education and Work • Read more: http://urbact.eu/my generation

  2. WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE WORKSHOP? Young people and city contact persons from MY GENERATION cities: Rotterdam (lead city), Antwerp, Birgmingham, Gdansk, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Patras, Riga,Tirgu-Mures and Valencia • Read more: • http://urbact.eu/my generation

  3. This resource book gives you examples how this TRANSFORMATION was done in the MY GENERATION ROTTERDAM YOUTH WORKSHOP 1- 4.5.2009 It takes you step by step through the event, ILLUSTRATES what happened, HOW it was done, what METHODS were used and what was explored and produced You can take a video peek at what happened at the workshop in: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaseoxfYrbs

  4. THE YOUTH WORKSHOP IN A NUTSHELL: First day: Energizing, Warm up, Using your Senses: Speed dating, Thinking in pictures, Making Performances Second day: Exploring MY GENERATION themes from a youth perspective: Discussions, Learning Cafe, Thinking Hats, Making Videos Third day: Digesting: Overview of videos, what can I contribute to MY GENERATION?

  5. WARM UP AND ENERGIZING CREATIVITY • You want to avoid (especially with the young!) the people of falling • into a torpor by pouring on lectures and keeping people passive • It is critical to set up the right tone and spirit • for a workshop from the very beginning • Example: Speed dating: • Aad (Daniel van der Broeke, daniel333@gmail.com) • from Rotterdam in a funny hat arrives. • Everybody is given a sheet of paper with a set of questions like • “If you were an animal in the wild, what would you be…?” • ”What are you most proud about?” • Aad starts playing rhythmic music and • people must move around • Suddenly the music stops, people must sit down and • quickly ask each other questions from the sheet

  6. Music comes on again, with more rhythm, people move around again, music stops, more interviewing… Same goes on, people start dancing to the music, more interviews… The outcome: People were energized, started to relax, to relate to each other, and were in a curious mood what will happen next…

  7. USING ALL YOUR SENSES: THINKING IN PICTURES AND ENGAGING IN CREATIVE ACTION Graham and Fiona Ogilvie started sessions of making thoughts into pictures and engaging in action Why? In order to facilitate creativity by using all your senses, not just words, and further energizing the participants – and getting them to relate to each other Read more about the work of Graham and Fiona Ogilvie: www.ogilviedesign.co.uk/

  8. POSTCARD OF YOUR CITY Every city made a postcard, as a cartoon, with Graham’s help when needed, and then each city introduced it to the others See the city postcards at the end of this powerpoint and at: urbact.eu/my_generation It was remarkable how proud the young were of their cities It was also remarkable how relaxed and energized the young started to be at this stage

  9. GRAHAM & FIONA IN ACTION WITH THE YOUNG

  10. USING YOUR SENSES: RELATING WITHOUT SPEAKING To keep up the good energies, during a break, Fiona asked the participants to form a queue according to their birth date – WITHOUT SPEAKING The same was done according to height, without a word Why? Omitting speech, the participants had to use other means of communication – movement, gestures – and this again facilitated relating, creativity and humour

  11. RELATING WITHOUT SPEAKING Another exercise in relating without speaking was to form a human ”knot” and then transform it to a human chain and circle First it was done as a whole group in random – which turned out to be a jumble! Second by forming small groups, making small circles and THEN into a human chain and circle Why? Again to energize and promote engagement – but also giving a sub-message about how it might be easier to tackle ”knots” via smaller groups

  12. Making the human circle…

  13. BETTER EUROPE –AS THE YOUNG SEE IT • EXPLORING WORKSHOP THEMES • Next assignment was to make a picture of BETTER EUROPE • What was BETTER EUROPE like? • ”The young bring the soul back to cities • in post-war Europe” • Young have passion and strength • No walls, building bridges • ”Colour blind” (no discrimination) • Tolerance: Everybody different but equal • Ecological, Peace, Work… • Why? Getting the young (in mixed groups) • to express their thoughts on where • to go in Europe…

  14. THEN STEPS TOWARDS A BETTER EUROPE WERE MADE… Why? To start thinking about the important milestones… like: listen>use role models >empower…

  15. ENACTING WHAT BETTER EUROPE IS AND WHAT ARE THE STEPS TOWARDS IT Mixed city groups were asked to produce a 3-minute performance enacting their vision of better Europe – and they were creative!

  16. MAKING SUSHI In the evening the participants made their own food – sushi – with the guidance of a special food company – Urban Guerilla Cooking!! Why? True to the whole idea of the workshop, also the dinner was transformed from passive consumption to action! It was also a multi-cultural event by introducing you to Japanese ideas about environment and food Read more: http://ugcooking.blogspot.com/

  17. Making sushi – and also transforming a piece of urban landscape!

  18. Day 2 Exploring MY GENERATION THEMES OF EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND OUTREACH The first day was devoted to energizing, creating a good atmosphere and exploring the visions on Europe The second day was devoted to exploring the key themes of MY GENERATION city network We needed input from the young to the project We needed commitment of the young to contribute to the future of the project

  19. The first theme explored was the transition from EDUCATION TO EMPLOYMENT Helen Arfvidsson from Gothenburg (helen.arfvidsson@stadshuset.gotegorg.se) asked the young to identify key words on education and employment What did the young say? : There is a lot of pressure very early on young But we need passion and confidence, possibilities of exploring, second chances, gaining work experience through practice – but not being ”slave labour” We can learn everywhere and education and employers should recognize also informal learning

  20. OUTREACH The second theme explored was the OUTREACH theme – reaching those who are difficult to reach Each city group was first asked: ”Where are the disconnections of the young in your cities? What to do to connect/ reach out to them?”

  21. From disconnections to solutions via Outreach • Disconnections between youth groups • Territorialism • Hermetic organisations, bureaucracy • Youth not feeling a part of society • Ethnic disconnections • Lack of knowledge of what is happening and opportunities • Migration, • unemployment • anti-social activities • Arranging spaces and events for connections • Changing images of each other • Ownership and opportunities for youth • Letting youth give new ideas • Transforming ways of working • Promoting understanding • Knowing the needs, listening • Mediators and positive role models • Local activities, street work

  22. The disconnections and solutions were explored by the LEARNING CAFE Every group had a big paper on their table (like a ”table-cloth”) where they could write and draw One ”ambassador” of the group remained at the table to explain, and by rotating the others went to visit other tables to hear the explanation and to pose questions and suggestions Why? By explaining to others you learn yourself. Rotating the tables you get to know the situation and ideas of other cities Read more about the LEARNING CAFE method: www.theworldcafe.com/

  23. The proposed solutions were then explored by the THINKING HAT method In the method you listen to what six different ”hats” have to say First the hats were made and then listened to: Yellow is the optimist: ”This is how this succeeds…” Black is the pessimist: ”This is how it will fail..” Green: ”Here is a creative solution…” White: ”Do we know the facts..?” Red: ”I have a good/bad…feeling about this now” Blue: ”Now that we have explored this with different hats – let’s make a plan of action!”

  24. Yellow optimist thought: Outreach will succeed by investing in local people, the local community, Black pessimist thoughts: The young will be ignored and not engaged, too may problems tackled at once, too much time for planning, too little for action Green creative thoughts: Really involve the young, make multicultural events where people meet, by using art and sport to connect… Read more about the method: www.edwdebono.com/ www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats

  25. GETTING A SYNOPTIC VIEW: POSTING THE WALLS WITH PICTURES OF WORKSHOP THOUGHTS • All through the exploring the EDUCATION-EMPLOYMENT and OUTREACH themes cartoonist Graham moved around listening and making pictures of what he heard – crystallizing the ideas and concepts in picture form, and posting them on the walls of the workshop for all to see • People were asked to move around, look at the pictures and by a ”thumbs up” tag indicate a message they particularly can relate to • Why? ”One picture is worth a thousand words” • Cartoons are available in • www. urbact.eu/my_generation

  26. MAKING VIDEOS Robert Jan Glas (robertjanglas@gmail.com) gave a crash course for the young in making videos – and then they went for it! The general theme was young and the city – either as fact or fiction See what was produced: www.youtube.com/user/MyGenerationTV Why? Again this was about action, exploring the key themes, co-creation, learning new methods and fun – all at the same time!

  27. There was also a bicycle tour for the city contact persons to a couple of Rotterdam city youth projects and Central Youth Office A card game was used presenting the services in Dutch and two teams first had to pronounce the Dutch words before getting the explanation in English! All material of the workshop is posted on the MY GENERATION URBACT website http://urbact.eu/my_generation

  28. On the next day the 7 videos were presented. Before each movie there was a performance by the group who made the movie, connected to the subject There was a salsa lesson conducted by Andrea, the youth mayor of Rotterdam – and then it was time for goodbyes – and a wonderful farewell dinner at an Indonesian restaurant! All material of the workshop is posted on the MY GENERATION URBACT website http://urbact.eu/my generation

  29. The young were asked to write down for themselves what they can contribute for MY GENERATION when they go back home, here are examples: “Being a personal ambassador” “Building bridges among young and between generations” “Spreading the word, snowballing” “Bringing the message/needs of the young/ the realities of the street” “Using art and sport to connect” “Intensive work in subgroups” “Activating schools to the youth issues”

  30. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST! GIVE US FEEDBACK, ASK QUESTIONS JOIN US IN TRANSFORMING WORKSHOPS AND INTERFACES! CONTACT: City of Rotterdam, Project leader Cleo Pouw c.pouw(at)obr.rotterdam.nl Lead expert: Robert Arnkil robert.arnkil(at)armas.fi

  31. Appendix I : Preparations Do you think good workshops come out of thin air? Certainly not! Good workshops call for good preparations! There was a lot of thought, connections and action that went to make this workshop happen! The venue in Rotterdam was a former photo museum, with plenty of room for both big and small group activities and with movable tables to provide flexible working space

  32. Lead city Rotterdam, via project coordinator Cleo Pouw and her colleagues used personal connections to get different creative professionals involved: Aad (warm-up) Graham and Fiona (cartoons and actions), Robert (videos), Taji (sushi-cook), Floor (preparing foor on-site), Wahid (sound systems), Liesbeth (decorating the venue)…and many others… Thought was given also to to the venue itself – it had to be flexible and conducive of action and dialogue!

  33. APPENDIX II: TOUR OF THE CITIES IN THE NEXT SLIDES, TAKE A TOUR TO MY GENERATION CITIES VIA CARTOON POSTCARDS FIRST PRODUCED BY THE CITIES IN THE WORKSHOP USING CARTOON ”PROMPTS” AND THEN FINALISED BY GRAHAM FOR THE WEB Available at: http://urbact.eu/ > project list > my generation > useful documents

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