New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Reconnecting with nature

Email user
emilija@mesdarom.lt

Basic information
Initiative title
Let's Do It by the Sea

Full initiative Title
Let's Do It by the Sea: Environmental Protection, Education, Culture

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
Let’s do it — let’s connect with nature. Let’s make a change and have fun.
"Let’s Do It by the Sea" is an open environmental festival, where we combine environmental protection, education, and culture. Hundreds of volunteers take action and protect the coastline by fixing the dunes. Participants engage in playful learning experiences and celebrate the positive change with good music.

Everyone can do it with us - just come up with an idea and act for nature together.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
National

Where was your intiative implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Lithuania

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
The main municipalities involved - Klaipėda city municipality, Klaipėda district municipality (because of the location of the festival).

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): Let's Do It Lithuania
  Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation
  First name of representative: Emilija
  Last name of representative: Biterytė
  Gender: Female
  Nationality: Lithuania
  Function: Director
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Naugarduko str. 3-301
  Town: Vilnius
  Postal code: LT-03231
  Country: Lithuania
  Direct Tel: +370 617 87892
  E-mail: emilija@mesdarom.lt
  Website: https://www.mesdarom.lt
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: https://www.facebook.com/mesdarom.lt
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #mesdarom #darom #letsdoit
- URL: https://www.instagram.com/mesdarom/
  Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #mesdarom #darom #letsdoit
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?
Social Media

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
"Let’s Do It by the Sea" is an open environmental festival, organised every year since 2021. We encourage people to rethink their relationship with nature from a life-centered perspective rather than a human-centered one by creating learning experiences that stimulate strong positive emotions.

We combine environmental protection, education, and culture.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION. Hundreds of volunteers from all over Lithuania take action and protect the coastline by fixing the dunes along the seashore.
EDUCATION. Participants engage in playful learning experiences: experiential sessions to empower all the senses, creative workshops, climate games. People get to know how now and here they can make a change.
CULTURE. We celebrate the positive change with live concerts, movies under the stars, and other forms of entertainment.

Preservation and restoration of the environment are common tasks for the whole community. EVERYONE CAN DO IT together with us—build a sustainable and inclusive future that is beautiful for our eyes, minds, and souls. The festival unites different organisations that contribute to positive environmental change. We create the festival together with the local community, municipality, artists, athletes, business, NGOs, and media. The diversity of engaged poeple is a proof, that everyone can make their contribution no matter from what background.

Without pressure, without criticism, with a smile, good music, and a positive mood, we invite society to tame life with nature in small steps.

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

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Cultural Education

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Connecting with Nature

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

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Action-oriented change

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.
OBJECTIVE I: become a role model for organising sustainable public events in Lithuania.
Implementation:
- choosing local suppliers when possible
- creating a comfortable infrastructure for recycling and providing additional education on how to do it correctly
- refusing single-used materials from 2023
- taking priority to vegetarian and vegan food from 2023
- counting and offsetting generated CO2 from 2023
- since we change event's location to a different place with better access to electricity, we will be able to definitely refuse with no diesel generator)
- integrating educational messages about the importance of responsible consumption into the scenario of the event

OBJECTIVE II: Stay close to the loop while organising & implementing the festival
Implementation:
- Organising regular meetings with implementing partners to hear the feedback;
- Giving credits to partners for making contribution to the festival;
- Collecting resources for a common-well: sharing physical materials, expertise, access to target audiences; this way we save money and time;
- Choosing local suppliers as much as possible: supporting local businesses;
- Using a local access to electricity as much as possible;

OBJECTIVE III: Develop a societal transformation of mindset and behaviour by promoting regeneration.
Regeneration is a new priority in our festival, this year we are planning to:
- create an infrastructure for composting;
- integrating tree planting and restoration of wetlands into other "Let's Do It" projects to offset the CO2 that will be generated during the festival;
- promoting the philosophy of regeneration when implementing communication campaign.

Our festival can be exemplary in a sustainability context for being open to changes - accepting the feedback we get, making improvements each year, using collaboration and co-creation, and collecting contributions from different fields.

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.
DESING OF THE INITIATIVE
All the educational messages are communicated through innovative methods, engaging activities, games, and the arousal of emotions. Last year, we had a mindfulness session, participants learned about Baltic Sea challenges, overconsumption, and other problems through a participatory process. The initiative is designed through a co-creation process.

CONNECTING TO THE QUALITIES OF THE PLACE
One of our educational objectives is to raise public awareness about the impact of human consumption on the Baltic Sea and develop ecological awareness by revealing how every resident of Lithuania, regardless of distance from the coast, contributes to the sea's degradation. This year it is going to be done by creating an art installation from the waste on the beach. After the festival, the installation will travel through various Lithuanian cities.

CULTURAL BENEFITS
Since the festival the first two years was happening in the fishers village, participants from other regions were able to get to know the place not only as an attractive location for leisure time, but also its' history, traditions, culture. This year we are organising the festival in another place, where shipping challenges are relevant, more fields collide: the port, local residents, business, vacationers, and surfers. When organising the festival, we will include everyone who sees the sea differently.

FOSTERING THE SENSE OF BELONGING THROUGH MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCES
The key activity of the festival - fixing the dunes - unites everyone, independently of age, gender, experience, and interests. Participants are present, giving their hands and hearts for the common goal. It creates a feeling of solidarity with each other and with nature. Experiences, such as celebrating positive changes when dancing in the live concert, experiential sessions create common emotions, which lead to sense of belonging to all ecosystem.

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.
ACCESSIBILITY AND AFFORDABILITY
- The festival is free of charge for everyone.
- Since most of the NGOs don't have budget for going to other organisations initiatives, we compensate travel costs and food for NGOs, which take part in organising educational programme in the festival.
- Everyone can take part in the festival: in case participants have special needs, they contact us, organisers, and we find a solution

OBJECTIVE: Promote inclusion & diversity by engaging various groups and ensuring accessibility for people with special needs:
- designing the programme of the event to be suitable for all age groups
- promoting a possibility to take part into the co-creation of the festival;
- collaboration with local authorities, organisations, working with people having different abilities.

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
"Let's Do It" activities are based on engaging civil society.

We EDUCATE society about environmental challenges, possible sustainable services, products, inventions and ECO initiatives. Education is a key to vision on societal change by behavioural change. We promote new ways of living together - by sharing, collaborating instead of competing.
We EMPOWER people to make a change with their own hands - by fixing the dunes.
We ENGAGE society to a community, acting for the same goal.

Local community - NGOs, institutions, businesses, local residents benefit from the event: more people, who come to the seaside, acting responsibly from the perspective of the environment, we promote the location as an attractive place to live, work, rest. We support local businesses so they get economic benefit.

To sum up, everyone, who takes part in the festival - by organising, supporting, participating, becomes part of the sustainable, diverse community, gets a chance to rethink the way of living, values and express it in the safe, positive environment.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
LOCAL
In the first two festival years, the event happened in a small fishing village called Karklė.
Staff from Seaside Regional Park and representatives of the village community were involved in the development of the event.
The traditional village celebration was integrated into the festival program. The participants were introduced to fishing and village traditions, and the event was crowned with a traditional bonfire convocation. Locals engaged in leading the program, from morning yoga to educational workshops. The Seaside Regional Park organised the logistics of the dune fixing works and trained our festival volunteers on how to coordinate the involvement of the event participants in the shoreline management.

REGIONAL
The district municipality also got involved in the organization of the event and supported the implementation of the logistics of the festival.Regional organisations helped with the project's dissemination, e.g., the promo video of the festival was broadcasted in the Lithuanian Sea Museum.

NATIONAL
The Ministry of Environment, National Radio, and Television, and national youth organisations, such as Lithuanian Scouting, support the initiative by contributing to its dissemination. People from all around the Lithuania every year are making their contribution by actively participating in the festival, the variety of participants makes a significant impact on festival's success. Volunteers from various municipalities help in festival's implementation - they help in preparing the location, guiding all the participants during activities.

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
NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES.
- Environmentalists participate in designing and organising the process of fixing the dunes;

SOCIAL SCIENCES.
- One of our main partners - Lithuania Sea Museum - together with us creates the design of educational festival part;
- Other NGOs, educating about climate change, world ocean, recycling and other topics, related to environmental sustainability, make their contribution into creating interactive, positive learning experience for participants;

HUMANITIES
- We have the experienced music and events producers on our team, who help to create high-quality cultural experience during the festival. We collaborate in looking for more sustainable practices to organise the logistics part.
- Our partner - National Cinema Awards "Sidabrinė gervė" organises the cinema program in the festival. Festivals' tradition - screening of award-winning Lithuanian films under the starry sky together with a famous creator or actor.
- Arts. From the first festival, we include educational art installations to the program. This year we will have an artist, who will create an installation from the waste together with the participants.

BUSINESS.
Communications and marketing. We involve communication professionals, as well as National Radio and Television, regional media into planning and implementing communication campaign.

All the partners bring their expertise from different fields. We have planning meetings while organising the festival, one partner invites to join other (snowball effect, co-creation, participatory process in management)

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
CREATING STRONG POSITIVE EMOTIONS.

Having fun when making positive changes.
Sustainability should be part of our daily lives and the foundation of our mindset. We combine the idea of a sustainable world with the way we celebrate, unite with each other, consume, and travel, e.g., to our favourite band's concert.

Creating a feeling of belonging to nature.
Spending a night by the sea under the starry sky, listening to the roaring sea, protecting coastline with your own hands, and empowering all your senses—the environment of the festival and its programmes arouse feelings and make participants feel like they are part of nature.

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.
METHODOLOGY
Empowering to take an action: "Let's Do It by the Sea", as well as all the initiatives of our organisation, is based on action-based learning. We empower society to make a change here and now. This is how we are unique to compare with other organisations.

Multidisciplinarity - in order to make sustainable lifestyle and environmental activism more attractive, we combine it with fun. Also, we show that you can become more sustainable in every single area - from the daily habits to the way you think.

Creating an emotionally strong learning environment - one thing is to learn about our Planet challenges while sitting in a classroom or reading scary articles, other thing is to learn by connecting with nature, facing the challenges of the Baltic Sea when you walk barefoot across the sand of the coast and into the rolling sea, when you are surrounded by positive, inspiring people.

CO-CREATION PROCESS
There is a lot of work to create a festival, but we can everything when we work together with various partners. Every year we engage local organisations, suppliers, volunteers, business companies, which involve their employees from all around Lithuania to make their contribution. This saves us a lot of resources, makes the event more diverse and creates the common feeling of unity.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
1. Crossover learning in informal settings. Participants learning about Baltic Sea problems while spending time in the beach - with the sound of the waves in the background and the sand underfoot. This way we link educational content with issues that matter to learners in their lives.

2. Culturally Inclusive Learning. We promote the idea that everyone is responsible for protecting our environment and everybody can make a contribution independently from age, gender, citizenship or other factors. People from different backgrounds unite for the common goal during the festival.

3. Action-oriented learning. All initiatives of "Let's Do It Lithuania", including this festival, are based on taking practical action for environmental protection.

3. Approach that even things are serious, they don't have to be boring. We talk about reality, which can be scary, but we also talk about hope and possible solutions, which are in each of ours hands. We celebrate our common power to make positive changes. We combine environmental & climate activism with attractive activities, which make people feel happy.

4. Inner development matters. We believe that sustainability starts in our mind, so we bring people' attention to reflecting our own values and behaviour.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION & CLIMATE CHANGE
- Baltic Sea Pollution and danger to the World Ocean: we create a friendly environment to connect with the sea and start caring and acting for its protection. We engage the community not only by involving them in dunes protection but also by providing interactive education about marine life.
- Overconsumption and its impact on climate change: we change people's habits with no pressure, just by including sustainable practises in their daily environment. Also, we’re seeking to organise the festival infrastructure as sustainably as possible.

NEED FOR EQUAL EDUCATION / RICH - POOR GAP
- "Let’s Do It by the Sea" is the only free festival in Lithuania.
- We create a learning environment suitable independently from age, gender, cultural background, etc.

HUMAN RIGHTS
- "No one left behind" is one of the key ideas in our understanding of education. Last year, we had a group of participants with intellectual disabilities. We took care of additional assistance, and these people were able to take part in the festival equally with others. This year, we‘re bringing even more attention to diversity & inclusion as the festival‘s values: we‘re prepared to ensure that all project partners implement their programme parts in an accessible way and also provide better infrastructure for individuals with physical disabilities.

VALUES, POWER AND INCLUSION. Discrimination, racism, social isolation.
By creating a safe space for diversity, building community and uniting for a common goal, we raise public awareness, patience and empathy for each other.

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
LET'S DO IT BY THE SEA 2021
60 participants took part in coastline protection process; 400 people participated in festival' activities in general.

LET'S DO IT BY THE SEA 2022
Around 300 participants took part in fixing dunes; more than 500 people participated in festival' activities in general;
Increased attention to the emotional reconnecting with nature in festival's programme;
More educational activities, related to marine life - R. Petroff art installation presented the connection between overconsumption, waste problems and danger for marine animals.

LET'S DO IT BY THE SEA 2023 - DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Developed co-creation process: more partners already are making their contribution to the creation of the festival from the very first steps;
More attention to the life below water: Lithuania Sea Museum is going to provide interactive educational content for participants;
Strengthening participants' connection to the nature through variety of activities, using more natural materials for event infrastructure.
Implementing regenerative philosophy.
Continuity of the campaign - the artistic installation that will be created during the festival will travel through Lithuanian schools, museums, and libraries. In addition, a campaign will be organized in different cities of Lithuania, reminding people that the sea begins here - where each of us is, by creatively conveying messages in various places - like next to the rain gutters in the streets.

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.)
Both
PDF
Web link
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
EMBODYING SUSTAINABILITY VALUES
- Valuing sustainability: during discussions, educational workshops and mindfulness practices we invite participants to critically reflect on personal values, align it with sustainability ideas, understand variety of values among people and over time.
- Supporting fairness: every individual, who contributes to protecting environment, makes significant change. We engage kids, teenagers, adults, pensioners and make a space to create a dialogue, share experiences and learn from each other, act for the common-well.
- Promoting nature: through creating a space to spend purposeful time in the nature, stimulating positive emotions, we acknowledge that humans are part of nature and we must respect the needs and rights of other species and of nature itself, as well as humans'. We promote an idea that everything in the nature is connected and we have to take care of all the ecosystem.

EMBRACING COMPLEXITY IN SUSTAINABILITY
- Systemic, critical thinking and problem framing: we approach a sustainability problem from different sides: we show interrelation among diffeent problems - like overfishing and overconsumption, leisure habits, climate change and coastline protection, plastic waste and marine life. Also, we create a programme of the festival by combining different fields: environmental protection, music and arts, cinema industry, sports.

ACTING FOR SUSTAINABILITY
- Collective action: the festival and its key element - coastline protection - is based on collective action.
- Individual initiative: participants get to know various steps, how everyone individually can make a contribution to sustainable change.

ENVISIONING SUSTAINABLE FUTURES
- Futures literacy and adaptability: identifying the steps needed to protect Baltic Sea and coastline, adapt our way of living.
- Exploratory thinking - showing the perspectives of multidisciplinary and benefits of co-creation.
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.
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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