New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Regaining a sense of belonging

Email user
j.ernst@magika.fm

Basic information
Initiative title
Kids:Magika

Full initiative Title
Kids:Magika - interactive events for the future

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
Kids:Magika is an open space for kids to explore and discover their talents. Events, where they can discover arts, science, body-oriented practices, and circus arts embedded in an interactive theater play with a shared, living story where reality and fantasy blur. Cocreating a story in which children learn about community, sustainability, and inclusion. The goal is to help them to manifest their dreams and find hope to shape their lives with a sustainable vision for their future.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
Cross-border/international

Where was your intiative implemented?
Location 1
Austria

Location 2
Hungary

Member State(s), Western Balkans and other countries
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If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
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Does your initiative address mainly urban or rural issues?
It addresses urban-rural linkages

Does your initiative refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your initiative benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your initiative won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Does your initiative has a minimum level of maturity? The minimum level of maturity is exemplified by stakeholder/ initiative promoter commitment to implement the initiative in practice and a clear methodology /approach.
Yes

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As a representative of an organisation
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project)
- Name of the organisation(s): Kollektiv Magika, Kunst - und Kulturverein zur Förderung der nachhaltigen Potentialentfaltung
  Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation
  First name of representative: Jan
  Last name of representative: Ernst
  Gender: Male
  Nationality: Austria
  Function: Chairman
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Hockegasse 37/ Haus 4
  Town: Vienna
  Postal code: 1180
  Country: Austria
  Direct Tel: +43 699 11036350
  E-mail: jan@magika.fm
  Website: https://magika.fm/
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.facebook.com/magikamagic
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): Magika on Facebook
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/magika.fm/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): Magika on Instagram
In case my initiative is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my initiative in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Friends

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
Kids:Magika is an educational project for children between 4 - 12 years. Day events, workshop series, summer camps, and festivals are the formats in which new spaces for kids & adults are created. The Kids:Magika events are a participative interactive theater. Through this method, the guests can take on new roles in a playful way. It deals with the following topics:
Category 1: Sustainability & Nature
Category 2: Community & Inclusion
Category 3: Well-Being, Sports & Circus Arts
Category 4: Arts & Talents
Within these categories we do these proposed actions:
Actions in category 1 (Sustainability & Nature): Plant workshops, Gardening Workshops, Nature Clean Ups, Cooking with Herbs Workshops
Actions in category 2 (Community & Inclusion): Communication Workshops, Introductory games, Vision Board Workshop
Actions in category 3 (Well-Being, Sports & Circus Arts): Yoga, Aerial Silk Workshops, Circus Workshops, Clown Workshops)
Actions in category 4 (Arts & Talents): Drawing Workshop, Photography Workshop, Visual Projections Workshops, Musicproduction Workshop, DJ Workshop

The aim is to connect, explore and experience new ways of education and community. A variety of arts, science, sports, well-being, and circus arts provide a new blend of environment, where the young guests can try out new things, explore and discover their talents and share them with others. They enter a world, in which the reality of everyday life is left behind and dive into a story, in which they can find a new identity.
The storytelling at Kids:Magika continues from one event to the next one, so the participants can return and find back into their already familiar environment and role, which they got to know at a previous event. The program is every time different and new. The main goal is to offer the guests a space where they feel welcome, safe, and can be just themselves. The goal is that the children go home with an increased sense of belonging to a group of people, a community.

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
Community

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Future

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Self Empowerment

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Hope

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Co-create

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of sustainability and how these have been/will be met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
At Kids:Magika we learn from the indigenous culture about a worldview where all of nature is interconnected, everything affects everything and humans are part of nature and are not separate. We use this ontology of different indigenous cultures including ancient cultures that lived in the territory of Austria and Europe that lived before us. Cultures that had a deeper sense of belonging to their environment. We inspire kids through these stories about how these people used to live to regain a sense of connection with their environment. In this way, the initiative can be a unique source of understanding and connection to nature in new ways.

Concrete actions:
1. Nature Clean Ups: Groups of kids clean up a certain area to restore the natural state of that region and properly dispose of waste.
2. Gardening Workshop: At this workshop, kids are shown how to grow food, herbs & flowers. They can do their first experiments.
3. Plant Workshop - How to learn to recognize plants & herbs.

The goal is to teach kids certain tools, which they can use to understand nature better and also to build a stronger connection to plants and animals. We aim to give the the children trust to believe, that their actions make a difference and that the cocreation of a sustainable, healthy society is possible. Most of the time after the events we have noticed increased interaction between kids, joy, higher self-esteem, and motivation to realize their ideas.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
The guests of Kids:Magika are introduced into a storyline through a special stage design, actors wear costumes and the space is arranged in a specific manner. The aesthetics are well chosen, to amplify the experience of all participants. The aim is to introduce all participants to the storyline, in which the educational program is embedded. The kids gain new perceptions. The goal is that the kids get excited to take on their roles in the theater play and also understand the roles of the actors and the other participants. The aim is that they are positively surprised and can open up. Learn and share their emotions.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Kids:Magika is all about community. The main topic is that all participants feel part of the group, which is present at the events. The main target is that all guests feel welcome, no matter which social and ethnic background they come from. No matter which skin color they have, no matter how rich or poor they are. A social pricing model is designed to also welcome guests, who wouldn't otherwise afford a ticket to the Kids:Magika events. The pricing scale model enables those to join.
Inclusion also plays a big role in the storytelling of Kids:Magika. Everybody can become part of the story. Costumes, face painting, and fantasy characters facilitate the spirit to truly leave all fears, preconceptions, and doubts behind. The guests get the chance to slip into their new roles, with a fresh way of perceiving all characters openly.
Concrete actions to accelerate inclusion topics which the event are:
1. Communication Workshops: Introductions into communication models, how to communicate needs, dreams and goals, problems, etc. within a big group.
2. Introductory games: Get to know each other playfully, and learn to release prejudices.
3. Vision Board Workshop

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the initiative and civil society have been/will be involved in the initiative and what has been/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative
The goal of Kids:Magika events is to elevate a new sense of perception of how to handle life positively. The aim is that the next generation learns to deal with the big issues of our lives in a playful and fun way. Motivation follows. Civil society not only benefits from the individuals who participate in the events and bring their teachings back to their environments. Also, specific actions are planned to contribute to the greater good on a local level. Nature clean-up - days, repair cafés, panel discussions, workshops, and lectures about themes that occupy the local communities will benefit all. At the events themselves, new solutions to urgent questions are looked for in an experimental playful way. The results can be published and distributed to civil society through videos, photos, press articles, art pieces, and other publications.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
The chosen topics which are embedded in the program at Kids:Magika events are a reflection of the issues from the local, regional, and even the wider international spectrum. The aim is to bring real-life topics to the events, transform them into the storyline and play with them. Experiment solutions. Offer useful tools, with which new ways of interactions can be found.
Experts from all categories (1.-4.) are addressed and invited to bring in their expertise. Through their input, the curators and art directors create the program and storyline of every interactive theatre play.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your initiative. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
The following disciplines were reflected while designing and implementing our initiative: Sustainability & Nature / Community & Inclusion / Well-Being, Sports & Circus Arts / Arts & Talents. Experts from all these topics worked out their core ideas, of how to tackle and bring their topics to the action field of the Kids:Magika events. 5 meetings, where the art director, curator, and experts met and exchanged their ideas. In this meeting, the screenplay of the interactive theatre was put into form. The stage design, costumes, and the exact program followed. Exchange and participation between all people involved added big value to the process of finalising the Kids:Magika concept.

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
The innovative character of Kids:Magika is the combination of arts, science, well-being, and education. The theatrical staging of the story is making the surrounding in which the program of the events is presented unusual and new. The mixture of many diverse art forms is creating a special, inspiring surrounding for kids. Our aim is that the presence of artists, instead of teachers and patronizing adults is liberating and inspiring. Children and adults meet at eye level. They take on new roles, in which adults learn from children and also the other way around. A sense of openness is created by the storyline.

Please describe which elements of your initiative could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
The approach of a playful way of learning in an unusual space could be replicated and transferred to other places. The developed theatrical storytelling could be copied. The roles of the actors and the whole plot are imagined and after they will be ready to spread locally and internationally. The vision of Kids:Magika tour europe to showcase this new event format to a wider international audience. The goal is to inspire others to do similar projects or take over a new local group in order to start a individuel Kids:Magika event series in their region.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
Every Kids:Magika format (Dayevent/Summer Camp/ Festival) follow the same methodology. The participants are welcomed through actors to the storyline. Through that process, they shed their everyday persona, with their habitual behaviors. At Kids:Magika all participants dive into a new role. An exciting self-image, with new ways of expressing and engaging. In this new mindset, the program is presented. A mix of program elements that address body, mind, and spirit. A blend of yoga, meditation, circus, music classes, painting, creating sculptures, lectures, discussions, theater shows, performances, and stations where they can co-create art, and leave a message behind. Connect with themself. Find peace within and find calmness to clarify and gain new strength. All of this is in the context of the storyline, where all participants can truly take on a new role. Amplified with a costume, a face painting the young and older guests become part of the storyline. They learn, cocreate, express, and share with others, they form a community of like-minded interested people. At the end of the events is the celebration, in which all participants come together, dance, and listen to music. After the celebration follows the official closing of the imaginative world of the storyline. All "magic" beings who were guiding the kids thew the world of Kids:Magika is welcome to leave the space again.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
Kids:Magika is creating a community for adults and children who participate in the Kids:Magika events. In this order, the global issue of separation, which got amplified especially during the recent Covid Pandemic, is addressed. This is the main benefit of the Kids:Magika project. Additionally the main topics of Kids:Magika: Sustainability & Nature / Community & Inclusion / Well-Beeing, Sports & Circus Arts / Arts & Talents are addressed. The goal is to show the children possible solutions, so they get a positive outlook and knowledge about how to implement the solutions in their environment.

Please detail the scope of progress in the implementation of the initiative. This can include already demonstrated results/outputs related to the chosen Prizes category, and the already achieved benefits from the initiative for direct and indirect beneficiaries. This can also include a development plan of the initiative, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application, and including envisaged results and benefits from the initiative
Past projects:

14.08. 2022 Kids:Magika - day event // Usus am Wasser, Vienna
17.07. 2022 Kids:Magika - day event // Usus am Wasser, Vienna

Outlook 2023

20.05.2023 Kids:Magika / Manner Villa, Vienna
17.06.2023: Kids:Magika / Zukunftshof, Vienna
22.07.2023: Kids:Magika / Usus am Wasser, Vienna
20.-27.08. 2023: Kids:Magika Festival-Camp / Kompasz Kemping, 9181 Novákpuszta, Hungary

The plan for 2023 is to make 3-day events in Vienna and a week-long Festival Camp in Hungary. The goal is to bring the guests from the city to the rural area and spent a week in nature to deepen the educational program. The aim is to create a community over the summer months to let the project grow organically.

Please provide documents that demonstrate the maturity level of the initiative and commitment to implement the initiative in practice (e.g.: evaluation report, final or mid-term initiative report, certification, publications, building permit, grant agreement, letter of support, partnership agreement, etc.)
Web link
Web link
- https://vimeo.com/743229177
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
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Please attach at least 6 high resolution images or visual representations of your initiative to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below.
- KidsMagika.pdf
By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed initiative has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the initiative and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their initiatives, initiative, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted initiative, initiative is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes