Description
"The main idea of this project is to enable high school students to organise a “Multicultural Małopolska Region"" Travelling Festival for children. The festival will visit 6 communities. Students will receive training on national minorities and will travel to culturally diverse locations (e.g. the Lemko land) and will stage a shadow theatre show. Participants will engage in creative, technical and project management activities. The main goal of the project is to whip up the participants' personal feelings about the cultural diversity, traditions and history of the region. Secondly, it is about building the personal resources: entrepreneurship, ability to work with others, responsibility, social sensitivity and tolerance. The project rests on a belief that an alternative to the national perspective must be identified for the narrative about local history. Also, it responds to mounting evidence of growing racial conflicts in Małopolska. Approximately 900 individuals will take part in the festival."
Summary of project results
"Małopolska consists of several ethnographic regions of various social and cultural content. It is manifested by numerous folk groups and various regional traditions. On the other hand, in many places the ethnic diversity results in conflicts continued by successive generations. For example: in Andrychów, a conflict has been going on for many years between the Poles and the Roma community; in Tarnów, where half of the population used to be Jewish, there prevails a problem of anti-Semitism; in the Gorlice municipality, there appear vulgar inscriptions against the Lemkos community. At school, young people learn that Małopolska region always was and still is multicultural, but this does not change the fact that stereotypes and prejudices concerning various nations and ethnic groups are being passed on to the next generations. The aim of the project was to shape tolerance and openness of young people by getting them acquainted with multicultural reality, tradition and history of the region and through better understanding of the issues. Thanks to the project implementation, three theatre youth groups from Wadowice, Olkusz and Kraków are now capable of preparing artistic activities which show multicultural character of the region. Workshop scenarios on multiculturalism for children and youth were prepared and the programme of Multicultural Travelling Festival was worked out. The Festival addressed to the children, youth and adults from the region was organized 7 times. The programme included shadow theatre show, concerts, telling fairy tales, exhibition and an educational board game. 5 videos were made on the project implementation. The project beneficiaries were mostly young people from Wadowice, Olkusz and Kraków and children and youth from the towns and villages where the Festival was organized. The project partner was Małopolski Instytut Kultury which provided organizational support (venues and materials for workshops and conferences) and professional support (including development of some programme components, conducting workshops)."
Summary of bilateral results