Creative YouthLand

With the ideal to inspire the future generations, we formed Creative YouthLand in 2014 in the coastal town of Egio as a response to the crisis in Greece and its impact on young people and the communities. We are creative humans, with a playful and youthful spirit who want to transform people’s lives and see change in the world, on a personal, social, humanistic, cultural and environmental level. We are advocates of culture, enthusiasts of expression, travelers of exploration, embracers of sharing and cuddlers of caring. We are artists, creators, initiators, facilitators, youth workers and educators, and ultimately we are human beings. Mission With a local, european and international scope, our mission is to transform lives through a combination of non-formal education methods with artistic approaches that derive from theatre and dance, painting, sculpture, music, poetry, visual arts, etc, providing learning and creation space to young people and under-represented communities, and develop capacity among educators, youth workers, facilitators and artists. Vision Our vision is more equitable societies where communities are united and young people thrive. Values We believe in TRANSFORMATION of lives when people realize that with their uniqueness in a community it is possible to live a healthy, happy life. We stand for COMPASSION to different people, we accept their backgrounds and respect their needs and perspectives. We believe in RESILIENCE, as the art of accepting vulnerability and encouraging people to embrace mistakes and try again. We trust in the power of the ARTS to enrich young people's lives in all their aspects. We believe that LEARNING is a life-long process that should be provided to everyone. We value as vital the verbal and non-verbal EXPRESSION of feelings and thoughts for people’s communication, understanding and acceptance. We hold respect for NATURE as it is the ultimate source of life. We value MERAKI (Greek ‘μεράκι’), as vital for people’s engagement, putting ourselves into what we are doing with love, soul and creativity, whatever it may be. How we work At the center of our course of action there is a synthesis of non formal education methods and artistic approaches. We cherish the interactive, participatory, group-learning and personal growth qualities of non formal education and we believe that the experiential, expressive, and creative qualities that arts contribute, compose a revolutionary learning approach. With young people and our communities our first and foremost priority: We support collaborative, engaging, educating and inspiring European activities. We esteem methodology, content and quality. We cultivate respect: We speak respectfully and listen carefully and actively, giving space to express their needs, we encourage discussion and we ask for consent. We value their voices: We want to know what topics are meaningful to them. We appreciate their contributions. We find creative ways to incorporate them into the work and we thank them for their engagement. We make time and space for play: We encourage time for play and explore unexpected elements and materials from the environment. We value our people’s diversity: We engage with them at a large range of ages, experiences, cultures, backgrounds, interests, or ways of contributing, and we mix the groups up! We build flexibility and trust in the process: We invite them to help with the group, practice patience and trust the process. We work to be good allies: We work with ourselves to create a safe space for them. We challenge our assumptions, we choose our words carefully, we don’t take anything personally, we give our best and we are ourselves! Our techniques include: Drama, role playing and character, improvisation and simulations, physical theatre, masks and clown techniques, forum theatre and image theatre, play, viewpoints, storytelling, tango dance, movement, authentic movement, embodiment, peer learning activities, open discussions, reflections, feedback. WHAT WE DO Having seen the impact of Erasmus + projects not only on our lives but also on our communities and the world, we are continuously seeking to acquire and provide new knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes. We coordinate and are partners in Erasmus + projects for: - Mobility of youth (Key Action 1): We participate and organize Youth exchanges, Training courses, Job shadowing, European Solidarity Corps. - Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices (Key Action 2): We work with partner organizations from other participating countries and run projects to build capacity in the fields of youth, adult education and schools. - Support for Policy Reform (Key Action 3): We take part in strategic activities supporting policy reform across the EU. We also run Workshops, Courses, Shows, and Events on a local and national level to promote personal, social, cultural and environmental awareness. Due to the unprecedented times of the pandemic in order to keep our spirit playful and hang out with our communities, we offer fun Online Activities.