Evanescence
Start date: Jun 1, 2015,
End date: Oct 31, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
The idea of the project arose from the fact that the birth rate in Europe is getting down alarmingly. The population of elderly people is still rising. The research shows that this process is noticeable in all of the European countries. As a result of the demographic processes European countries are going to face up very important and difficult problems, like a medical care for seniors, their place and role in society and many others. One of the main reason of the population decline is very high, and still rising, unemployment among young people. In some European countries the unemployment rate among that group of unemployed persons is still rising. Due to the difficult demographic situation in Europe a wider debate should be initiated in order to draw attention to the problem and find solutions. The aim of the project is to initiate intercultural dialogue between generations in order to make them aware of the above mentioned process. Elderly people are are often treated dismissively by the younger part of the society, and their troubles seem to be unnoticed. The project is prepared for young people from six European countries, aged 15 -18. The countries involved are: Poland, England, Estonia, France, Sweden and Germany. The participants of the project will take part in many discussions regarding evanescence, they will meet with a few interesting persons, who will tell them about their own experiences connected with their old age and will be a kind of inspiration to younger generation. The participants will take part in artistic workshops under the care of a professional theatre director. The director will help them to prepare a final performance. Before they come to Poland they will prepare short artistic presentations in their own countries. After that they will write their final performance together. The young people will look at the old age from many different perspectives. They will visit Senior's House, meet active seniors of the University for Seniors. A result of the project will be both the artistic performance and a local TV programme called Seniorada devoted to the situation of seniors. The project results will be communicated to local authorities, because they can really change the situation both the seniors and the young parents. During the project a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum is planned in order to show young people and make them understand the scale of tragedy that happened during the Second World War. The visit will also give a reflection that the future of Europe is up to people themselves. An interesting final effect of the project will be a calendar for 2016 containing photos and memories from the project. The project will contribute to setting up a long standing cooperation between youth organisations active in the field of youth work in Europe. Such cooperation will certainly end up by other interesting initiatives initiated in Europe.