Getting Lost – and finding your way Erasmus Project

Project Title

Getting Lost – and finding your way

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy)

Project Summary

Youth from the drama group at Glenstal Abbey created a theatre project with Loimaan teatteri a Youth Theatre in Finland, so that they could experience a different culture, share cultural information, have a wider range of ideas, work through the language barrier and improve their social skills and confidence.

Through e-mail and after round table discussions in each country both groups of young people developed their proposal for a trans-national youth initiative to develop entrepreneurial and social skills through drama.

They created a piece of theatre about ‘Getting lost – and finding your way’. 12 participants from Finland and 12 participants from Ireland communicated using the worldwide web to explore their ideas of how young people feel lost, in their own community and as European citizens and how they can find their way by working together towards a common goal. They used the story of how Munster beat the All-Blacks in 1978 as a springboard for ideas that highlighted cultural differences, gender inequality and social and political situations in both countries. They worked towards producing the play, “Alone It Stands” that reflected their ideas and they met in Ireland to perform their play to a the public, family and friends and invited audience and to explore the themes through workshops together.

Each group then continued working on the themes in their home countries with a new, informed intercultural perspective before meeting again in Finland to share their fresh performance with the Finnish audience and reflect on the added cultural, European dimensions.

Having assessed and evaluated their learning from the experience both groups worked with a younger aged teenage drama group in their home country bringing to the group the best practice learned through the shared intercultural experience. Participants were supported by the coach and their facilitators to evaluate how mentoring a younger group honed and shaped their competences and cultural awareness, they then liaised through Facebook and working together to present their findings and best practice in a final seminar exhibiting their work in Glenstal to the public, youth workers, teachers, staff , stakeholders, young people and potential new partners as teacher from Germany was delighted that his visit to the Abbey coincided with the seminar. The Irish participants, with the support of two Finnish participants and their youth leader hosted a seminar, disseminated the results of their project and promoted planning new youth-led Erasmus+ projects.

The project had an impact that endures beyond its duration by promoting the active participation of young people in both organisations through the peer mentoring and sharing of best practice seminar, stimulating creativity and entrepreneurship throughout the organisations, encouraging strategy change and disseminating the seminar information on the web, through the Glenstal Abbey School website and dedicated Facebook page and Loimaan teatteri.

The project empowered young people to be active agents for social change and gave them an insight into how they feel about their rights and responsibilities within their own organisations as well as European citizens. The participants increased their self-directed learning, disseminated information about non-formal learning benefits and encouraged other young people, staff and youth groups to participate in European projects.

The participants have gained a Youthpass, have, ‘better/wider connections across Europe”, ‘the ability to make life-long friends’ and be inspired to learn from “the possibilities and interests’ of each other.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 27575 Eur

Project Coordinator

Glenstal Abbey & Country: IE

Project Partners

• Loimaan Seudun Teatteriyhdistys ry