The project « European Youth Engagement Network - EYE.net »
The project « European Youth Engagement Network - EYE.net » was funded with the support of the European Union under the Programme "Europe for Citizens"
Strand 2 – Measure 2.2 "Networks of Towns"
Lead partner
Fondacija "Novi Sad 2021"- Evropska prestonica kulture - Novi Sad, Serbia
Partner organizations
Kulturno umetnisko drustvo Moment - Maribor, Slovenia
Mestna obcina Novo mesto - Slovenia
Udruga CEKER - Centar kreativnog razvoja - Varaždin, Croatia
Mladinski kulturni center Maribor - Maribor, Slovenia
Municipality of Sremski Karlovci - Serbia
Dom kulture "Studentski grad" - Belgrade, Serbia
GEA - SOCIETA COOPERATIVA SOCIALE - Padova, Italy
Montazstroj theatre - Zagreb, Croatia
Apollo Kulturális Egyesület - Pécs, Hungary
Trupa Drz ne daj - Novi Sad, Serbia
Kerekasztal Társulás - Szada, Hungary
CONSORZIO AGORA' SOCIETA' COOPERATIVA SOCIALE - Genova, Italy
Rijeka 2020 d.o.o. - Rijeka, Croatia
LICEULICE - Belgrade, Serbia
7 international events have been carried out within the project:
Event 1
Participation: The event involved 86 citizens, including 6 participants from the cities of Varaždin and Rijeka, Croatia, 10 participants from the cities of Padova and Genova, Italy, 10 participants from the cities of Maribor and Novo Mesto, Slovenia, 10 participants from the cities of Budapest and Pecs, Hungary, 50 participants from the cities of Novi Sad and Sremski Karlovci, Serbia.
Location / Dates:
The event took place in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia, from 12/10/2018 to 15/10/2018
Short description: The first project activity was organized in Karlovci High Grammar School. Partner organizations were represented by artists, managers and young people. The aim of the activity was networking among partner organizations and coordination of project tasks. Each partner had a short photo / video presentation of their previous work and 2 project topics they wanted to work on, with a presentation of the planned approach and methodology. During the workshop simple individual and group games and tasks for icebreaking and intercultural communication were also realized. During the final session, the partners decided on distribution of topics for the performances. Italian group will work on Refugee crises, Hungarian group on Solidarity, Serbian group on Euroscepticism, Croatian group on Women's rights, Slovenian group on Anti-fascist tradition. The partners defined the production process and the dates for the completion of production of the performances; a session on administrative issues and partnership agreements was conducted. Two informal activities were organized - hiking through Fruska Gora and visiting Novi Sad. As a follow-up to this workshop, groups in each country had 6-7 months to work on producing the performances. As part of the production, the young people researched topics and had lectures, presentations, teambuilding and creative sessions.
Event 2
Participation: The event involved 85 citizens, including 44 participants from the city of Varaždin, Croatia, 8 participants from the city of Padova, Italy, 10 participants from the city of Maribor and Novo Mesto, Slovenia, 8 participants from the city of Budapest, Hungary, 15 participants from the city of Novi Sad and Sremski Karlovci, Serbia.
Location / Dates:
The event took place in Varaždin, Croatia, from 27/04/2019 to 30/04/2019
Short description:
The first EYE.Net festival was realized in the city Varaždin in Croatia. Varaždin is a historic city, one of the main cultural, economic and educational centers in the region north of the capital - Zagreb. With its 50.000 inhabitants and long and rich history (it served as the seat of Croatian government in 18th century). Varaždin has a vivid cultural scene concentrated around its largest institutions such as Croatian National Theatre augmented by various non-institutional artistic associations in all fields of human creation: theatre, music, visual arts, modern dance etc.
In association with Art Organization GLLUGL from Varaždin the EYE.net festival was hold at their small theatre with seating capacity of 100 persons. GLLUGL is an artistic organization aimed at creating various types of stage and performance art forms such as theatre, music-stage play, concerts and multimedia productions. It is a collective of young professional actors, puppeteers, musicians and cultural educators that have thus far (in five years of existence) produced 15 socially, emotionally and politically engaged theatre plays, organized annual jazz festivals, hosted a various open tables and debates.
The GLLUGL theatre is a part of Varaždin's Youth Centre. Youth Centre hosts various youth organizations: artistic and cooperative and functions as a creative hub. Within the annual program of the Youth Centre, Gllugl's theatrical and musical repertoire provides performing arts content, aimed at bringing up important social, political and cultural subjects in innovative artistic way.
All five EYE.net performances were played in front of a full audience, mostly young people. After each performance, an international interactive debate was held. A tour of the city and evening party were organized as an important accompanying program of the festival. Local young people were very good hosts and provided support to their peers from partner cities.
Event 3
Participation: The event involved 83 citizens, including 7 participants from the city of Varaždin, Croatia, 41 participants from the city of Padova, Italy, 10 participants from the city of Maribor and Novo Mesto, Slovenia, 9 participants from the city of Budapest, Hungary 16 participants from the city of Novi Sad and Sremski Karlovci, Serbia.
Location / Dates:
The event took place in Padova, Italy, from 31/05/2019 to 03/06/2019
Short description:
A city definable as student-friendly, Padua hosts over 60,000 students within a population of little more than 210,000 inhabitants, where student and city life coexist in close proximity on a daily basis. A welcoming city where students can spend time in places full of history, art and beauty. Many different languages can be heard when walking around the city streets, not least as a result of the continuous flow of international tourists.
The second EYE.net festival was realized in Padua as part of the Summer Student Festival / Je t'aime. All five performances were played for an audience of more than 150 young people, who actively participated in the debate after each performance.
Summer Student Festival is one of the main events of contemporary and independent music in the North East. Nine days of concerts by carefully selected artists from the national and international independent scene for an offer among the most attractive, but at the same time innovative and refined. In seventeen years of life, the festival has expanded, establishing itself as a reference appointment not only for students who animate the city.
The Je t'aime is the combination of a cultural and musical proposal of excellence with the desire to enhance a jewel of artistic and cultural heritage unfortunately still little known in Padua. It continues to claim, also through the choice to keep the entrance completely free, the absolute accessibility of use for these spaces and a different management policy, to make possible the realization of cultural initiatives managed from below, events of music and independent culture, located outside the established official circuits related to the production logic of major events.
Event 4
Participation: The event involved 84 citizens, including 8 participants from the city of Varaždin, Croatia, 10 participants from the city of Padova, Italy, 10 participants from the city of Maribor and Novo Mesto, Slovenia, 8 participants from the city of Budapest, Hungary 48 participants from the city of Novi Sad and Sremski Karlovci, Serbia.
Location / Dates:
The event took place in Novi Sad, Serbia, from 19/09/2019 to 22/09/2019
Short description:
Novi Sad has built its uniqueness on foundations of its multicultural character, and numerous cultural and educational institutions it has. Novi Sad is modern, university, cultural, tourist, scientific, political and administrative centre of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. A home for 26 national minorities. In 2021. Novi Sad will hold a title of European Capital of Culture.
The third EYE.net festival was realized as part of the "Kaleidoscope of Culture" program implemented by the Foundation "Novi Sad 2021" as part of the preparation for the European Capital of Culture project. The performances were realized in the Karlovac high school, the high schools "Laza Kostić" and "Svetozar Marković" and the special school "Milan Petrović".
The significance of the festival is reflected in connecting young people from Novi Sad, primarily high school students, with peers from several European Union member states. The festival was an opportunity for young people from Novi Sad to debate with their peers on important socio-political topics and to be informed about the values and current problems of the European Union. An indicator of success is that young people participated in the debates organized after the performances, and the conversations continued after the performances in the school halls. The young people hung out, helped each other with staging performances, went on a tour of the city, which all contributes to the preparation of Novi Sad for the European Capital of Culture in 2021.
A particularly important aspect of the festival is that the performance "Why Are We Really Guilty?" from Croatia was played for young people with disabilities in the special school "Milan Petrović". The play was watched by about 70 young people with various disabilities who are students of the secondary special school, together with their teachers and companions. A lot of them participated very actively in the debate after the performance.
In addition to these four high schools, with which a great cooperation was achieved, 4 guest performances were performed in the Cultural Station "Svilara" for the general audience. This cultural stations are a new space of culture in Novi Sad, opened as part of the preparations for the European Capital of Culture.
Event 5
Participation: The event involved 84 citizens, including 8 participants from the city of Varaždin, Croatia, 9 participants from the city of Padova, Italy, 43 participants from the city of Maribor and Novo Mesto, Slovenia, 8 participants from the city of Budapest, Hungary 16 participants from the city of Novi Sad and Sremski Karlovci, Serbia.
Location / Dates:
The event took place in Maribor, Slovenia, from 09/10/2019 to 12/10/2019
Short description:
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia of the traditional region of Lower Styria, which is surrounded by green forests of Pohorje and a sunny wine-growing region and beautiful Drava River running through the city. It is a economic, administrative, educational and cultural center of eastern Slovenia. The city hosts the University of Maribor, established in 1975. The university's roots reach back to 1859. The University of Maribor has cooperated in European Framework Programs since 1998 and the number of international research projects is increasing each year. The Mladi Maribor Festival is an annual festival of the Maribor youth sector, at which all local youth organizations present their activities. All activities are aimed at local youth. Youth Festival Maribor, which started on September 30th and ended on 15th October, has included more than 20 events for young people – from theatre, to sports, music to voluntarism. The festival also hosted EYE-Net performances in 2019. A number of theatre performances containing young performers from Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia were performed at SERŠ Maribor – a high school for computer science and electronics in a format of having performances and discussions.
We performed at the Secondary Electrical Computer School in Maribor, which is attended by students from the entire region, mostly from rural areas. We decided for this school because it does not have much cultural and European content as a grammar school, which turned out to be a good decision. The students accompanied all the performances with great interest, and after many of them, a heated discussion on certain topics ensued.
Event 6
Participation: The event involved 85 citizens, including 8 participants from the city of Varaždin, Croatia, 9 participants from the city of Padova, Italy, 10 participants from the city of Maribor and Novo Mesto, Slovenia, 43 participants from the city of Budapest, Hungary 15 participants from the city of Novi Sad and Sremski Karlovci, Serbia.
Location / Dates:
The event took place in Pesc, Hungary, from 06/11/2019 to 09/11/2019
Short description:
In the Hungarian city Pécs, the last, fifth festival was realized. As one of the largest university cities in Central Europe, with many greenery and about 30,000 students from about 30 countries, Pecs was a convenient venue for this youth theater festival.
"Shift Change" was the first play on the festival, realized at the "Kodaly" Philological Gymnasium and in the Kozpont Cultural Center. The performance was based on the topic solidarity and produced by the Hungarian organization "Kerekasztal Tarsulas" from Budapest. During the discussion after performance, questions were raised about the care of patients' health and the care of the society towards those who care for the vulnerable.
Croatian play "What is our crime?" on the topic of women's rights, produced by the association "CEKER" - Center for Creative Development and Art Organizations "GLLUGL" was played in the Croatian School Center "Miroslav Krleža", which has a kindergarten, elementary school, gymnasium and student dormitory. After performance, issues related to violence against a woman were discussed - whether a woman who is mentally and emotionally abusive or economically dependent on a man who lives, suffers less than a woman who is physically abused ...
The performance "108.1 Mhz" from Slovenia on topic anti-fascist traditions, co-produced in cooperation of the cultural and artistic society "Moment", the youth cultural center Maribor and the municipality Novo Mesto was played in the Kozpont Cultural Center.
The performance "Push-Pull" from Novi Sad on the subject of Euroscepticism, produced by theater troupe "Hold on," the municipality of Sremski Karlovci and "Novi Sad 2021" Foundation was played in the Kozpont Cultural Center. This play shows the historical development of European Union and the problems that are facing today.
As a guest at the festival, the youth theater troupe "Theater du Pelican" from Clermont-Ferrand from France presented their performance on the topic of refugee crises. The play was played at "LEŐWEY KLÁRA" Gymnasium.
Event 7
Participation: The event involved 60 citizens, including 4 participants from the city of Varaždin, Croatia, 5 participants from the city of Padova, Italy, 5 participants from the cities of Maribor and Novo Mesto, Slovenia, 4 participants from the city of Budapest, Hungary, 20 participants from the cities of Novi Sad and Sremski Karlovci, Serbia, 5 participants from the city of Subotica, Serbia, 2 participants from the city of Prague, Czech Republic, 2 participants from the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, 2 participants from the city of Lisbon, Portugal, 2 participants from the city of Oulu, Finland, 2 participants from the city of Athens, Greece, 2 participants from the city of Drachten ,Netherlands, 2 participants from the city of Toulouse, France, 2 participants from the city of Clermont Ferrand, France, 2 participants from the city of Dortmund, Germany.
Location / Dates:
The event took place in Subotica, Serbia, from 28/11/2019 to 01/12/2019
Short description: The EYE-net final international conference was realized as a part of the international theatre festival DESIRE. Instead of planned participants from 10 countries at the end we had participants from 13 countries. Except the official project partners from 5 countries, representatives of new partner organizations from 8 EU countries participated.
The conference consists of 4 panels with moderator and 5-6 speakers at each panel. The scheduled panel duration was 150 minutes - speakers presentation with open discussion with the audience.
I Panel: YOUTH ENGAGED THEATER
Examples of good practice of youth engaged theater from several countries were presented within this panel. The panel also presented experiences in working with young people on engaged performances within the EYE-Net project.
II Panel: WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THE EU?
The purpose of this panel was to open a debate among young people on different visions of the future of the EU. We presented the experiences, attitudes, expectations and doubts that young people from several countries have about the European Union as a political project.
III Panel: YOUTH ENGAGED CULTURE
Within the first panel, we opened a debate on engaged theater, and with this panel we expanded the field and present examples of good practices of youth engaged culture in music, film, visual arts, literature, new media and other.
IV Panel: IS IT TRUE THAT YOUNG PEOPLE ARE POLITICALY PASSIVE?
There is a clear trends of young people's lack of interest and misinformation on current political topics. The purpose of this panel was to open a debate about the causes and consequences of such trends.
Also, conference participants had the opportunity to see several performances at the DESIRE festival.
