2013 / 2014 – Streets: Mapping and Connecting Young Creative Scenes in Europe

What do you know about underground artistic scenes in Den Haag (Netherlands), Vukovar (Croatia), Vranje (Serbia) or simply here in Erfurt? What do they share, what are there differences – who are their underground artists and what do they do?

All over Europe we are witnessing the tendency to limited resources and opportunities in the cultural field. This phenomenon affects even more strongly those who are just starting to develop themselves as artists. Without the adequate resources and opportunities the existence of young creative scenes as a progressive force in arts and culture as well as an important motor for societal chance are at risk.

The project Streets aims to develop and support a sustainable network among young artists, cultural entrepreneurs as well as organizations and institutions on a European level, coming from Den Haag, Vukover, Vranja and Erfurt. Streets has been developed by four organisations who have all been involved intensively in the past years in several projects of arts and culture, involving comic designers, story-tellers, musicians, dancers, graffiti makers. In the framework of Streets Platform Spartak (Netherlands), Generator (Serbia), Youth Peace Group Danube (Croatia) and CGE Erfurt e.V. take the chance to give diverse young artists the opportunity and space for dialogue. They are given the chance to deepen their knowledge on other fields of artistic expression. A diverse network will be developed, combing musicians and comic writers, story tellers and animation artists on a European level, encouraging them to continue cooperating in the long-run. This project is designed to support the artistic production of young creative scences all over Europe and to connect them so that they will be able to contribute with their creativity and innovative approaches to the European cultural environment.

Common exhibitions, workshops and artistic performances based on the use of a mixture of diverse methods, combining graphical, musical and physical expressions will be planned within a trainings course to be held in April in Erfurt as well as in different art jams to be held in all four cities. Their results will be publicly shown in all four cities giving young artists the opportunity to express their own creativity and ideas about art. In paralell fellow artists and local youth are invited to join and to be inspired to connect and develop their own ideas. Essentially, through means of non-formal education and the establishment of an informal network of artistic scences a self-sustainable European infrastructure of young artists will be created.

In specific, Streets will be set up of the following events:

• Trainings Course in Erfurt, Germany in April, 18th to 25th 2013 bringing together 15 young artists from Germany, the Netherlands, Serbia and Croatia as the initial step for triggering exchange of knowledge and experience
• Four art jams in four towns with 5 locals and 5 internationals, bringing together different arts coming from diverse artistic scenes to get inspired from each other and to cooperate in the creation of completely new and original products
• 4 showcases in 4 towns in framework of local existing festival, presenting the project
• 1 final public debate in Den Haag in 2014

RESULTS OF THE TRAINING COURSE IN ERFURT

As we speak, 16 international participants and experts have gathered in the re4hostel in Erfurt, Germany, to discuss, prepare and testdrive the upcoming Art Jams within the new project Streets: Mapping and Connecting Young Creative scenes in Europe. This training is an extension to the earlier meeting in Vukovar, Croatia; whereas that preparatory meeting mainly concerned practicalities and finances, this time the main focus is on (artistic) content, setup and the production of the various events.

After a short group building-period, the participants are conducting workshops to tackle different issues: the facilitators discuss the programme of the jams, the promotors financial and practical issues, and the insiders of local underground art scenes of The Hague, Vranje, Vukovar and Erfurt discuss the methods, disciplines and potential candidates for participation. To further emulate an actual Art Jam – a new concept – the participants have decided to organize a ‘mini-jam’ as part of the training.

One of the results of this TC is the following motivation trailer:

And here you can find the link to homepage of the project:

http://streetsconnectingscenes.org/