Youth festival for connecting with nature in urban areas through creative arts, sports and music
The 'Youth haps against the flow' meets the youth spirit and nature, offering an opportunity to transform the urban places along the riverbed into a field of youth ideas, possibilities and interests, combining the ecological way of thinking, art and the sense of social belonging. This gives a chance to build fundamental connections between nature and youth, creates continuity between generations and turns the city into an attractive place offering opportunities and perspectives.
Regional
Bulgaria
Gabrovo region
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Youth center Gabrovo Type of organisation: Other public institution First name of representative: Stanislava Last name of representative: Yaneva Age: 29 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Gender: Female Nationality: Bulgaria If relevant, please select your other nationality: Bulgaria Function: Youth worker Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Vazhrazhdane sqr. # 3 Town: Gabrovo Postal code: 5300 Country: Bulgaria Direct Tel:+359 89 442 6789 E-mail:yc@gabrovo.bg Website:https://youth.gabrovo.bg/en/
The event is aimed at young people and at every moment of its happening it aims to challenge them to think outside the box. Youth events against the current is an event that gives young people the opportunity to realize their potential and satisfy their needs for expression, development and entertainment, transforming a natural terrain into an accessible and shared space. The urban terrains along the riverbed have not been integrated into the life and activity of the city until now. Although they are seen as a rather unusual place for the development and expression of the youthful essence, it turns out that they are quite an attractive place for the youth because they express the love of nature, curiosity and adventure of the new generation.
The river is an important factor because it runs through the entire city and was key to its creation and development in the past. Both the place and the rich program of the initiative, including various themes and activities - sports, arts, creativity - combine the spirit of youth, the desire for freedom and independence, the philosophy of environmental protection and the transformation of various urban terrains. This transformation gives them a new look and purpose and in this sense legitimizes their recognition as an important and valuable environment for the city and the people. Experiencing these natural places as one's own, and at the same time shared, creates a sense of community and social engagement and responsibility towards individual and collective well-being, which places life at the center of the human-society-nature relationship and inspires its preservation.
young people
art
community
rethinking spaces
close to nature
The main goals of the concept in terms of sustainability are related to build connectivity at different levels and the opportunity for expression, volunteerism and creativity inherent in Generation Z. Connectivity is especially important for youth, also the opportunity to show their personal qualities, to express an opinion and to be useful to themselves, the community and the environment, is highly valued by them. Building an emotional attitude towards the city and life in it, peers and fellow citizens, nature and its resources lays the foundations for the sustainability of the idea and its realization. When the prototype of the event was implemented, which aimed to test people's attitudes towards it and predict the degree of success it could achieve, it was found that the idea was well received and approved by young people. Through formal and informal ways of checking opinions and impressions, it became clear that the initiative was liked by young people and they would like it to happen again. This is a good indicator of the future of the event in time. Apart from the innovative nature of implementation and the variety of activities that the program offers, the event is also unique in that it becomes an intersection of interests, generations and needs, which it successfully satisfies. Thus, it creates for young people a sense of a safe and comfortable space in which they can express every aspect of their personality, and on other hand, it offers an environment for easy and accessible communication, opportunities to gain social capital and build relationships , engendering a sense of belonging and togetherness and thereby creating a general positive attitude towards the city's endowments and what it can provide young people with natural and urban terrains, resources and ideas. These factors improve the connection of both the youth to the city and to each other and work towards achieving the goals through which sustainability is ensured.
A key element of our concept for the creation and experience of the event is its location. The river runs through the entire city and is the basis for the emergence and development of crafts and the industrial boom in Gabrovo. Over time, and with technological progress, the river became less necessary and removed from the active life of the city. It is also perceived as a danger - there has been a major flood with a lot of destruction in the recent past. Therefore, it is important for us that the river is again recognized as important for the city and used - as a beautiful element of its appearance, as a tourist attraction, as a non-standard place for art. This would have the effect of breaking the mindset and helping to activate other spaces in the city - green spaces, abandoned factories, roofs of buildings, etc. Each of them is different, interesting and beyond the conventional notions in its own and unique way, and can contribute to diversifying and enriching life in the city. Also an important theme in our concept is the contact of young people with art. The tendency is that fewer and fewer young people actively participate in the classical cultural life of the city. The theater, galleries, museums, concert halls are not among the places that attract young people and are traditionally perceived as boring or frightening. Even when the product they offer is interesting to young people, they are afraid of big buildings with unfamiliar rules and etiquette. That is why it is important for the culture to go out and come down to the people. To be proactive and present art to them in a place that they feel as safe, their own, interesting, accessible, pleasant, provocative. This is how they are introduced to the world of art. This is also a way to achieve our third important goal - creating a sustainable youth community. The transformation of the place also becomes a transformation of the society.
Inclusion is at the core of civil society and community building. That is why it is extremely important for the formation of any small group of people and determines the collective nature of man. The experience of inclusion is embodied and multiplied in every aspect of human activity, guaranteeing success. Its importance sets major goals including achieving accessibility, inclusiveness, collaboration and communication. The terrain is an atypical space that has so far been ignored and not integrated as a useful and usable part of the urban environment. Rethinking it as a possible and suitable terrain for youth activities leads to a change both in the functionalities of the entire urban environment and in its content. This gives opportunities not only for riverbeds, but also for other natural objects to acquire a new appearance and purpose, which in itself leads to greater inclusion of ecosystems, their care and social inclusion. Their physical accessibility helps the successful inclusion of every citizen in the event, minimizing various discriminatory factors such as ethnic, racial and gender inequalities and limiting the exclusion of vulnerable and marginalized groups. The activities, themes and interests that meet within the event in the form of various art workshops, debates and discussions, music and theater performances, competitions and games also contribute to the realization of the idea of inclusion because everyone in the community is important and meaningful and should have access to the event. The sense of wholeness and communication as a tool have the possibility to build a bridge, both between peers and between people of different generations, which allows the exchange of traditions, experiences and knowledge, forming activity in the expression of the point of view and active citizenship. This involves the community in collective responsibility and empathy for the members of the whole, among which is nature.
The participants of the event have the opportunity to compete with bicycles or scooters, to take part in the creative graffiti workshop and have their work preserved on the retaining walls of the river, to appear on stage, to communicate with famous Bulgarian influencers who participated in the debates, to find like-minded people for their ideas during the lectures, to create their own T-shirt design, to create decorations - wooden boats.
The event is an opportunity for a start-up business in our city to be promoted and serve as an inspiration /a caravan for homemade sweets, hot drinks and sandwiches/. This is still a new niche for Bulgaria and Gabrovo, and the owners are young people who have returned to the city and started their own business.
All this gave the feeling of success and modernity to the event and ranked it next to the events in the city not of local, but of national significance.
Many volunteers, with all the energy of their youth, many institutions and non-governmental organizations participated in the event. Due to the non-standard location, it was necessary to agree and consider many details and consultations - such as one with the energy supplier in Northern Bulgaria - Energo-pro, Regional Health Inspectorate - who make sure that the food offered meets the requirements for safety, Police department and Fire department, which participated in the work meetings and shared their safety requirements at the site, National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, whose information about river water level and weather conditions was important for visitors safety.
Gabrovo Municipality secured the financing of the pilot edition. The Department of Education and Sports Activities took up the organization of the sports competitions.
Youth Center Gabrovo organizes the program, recruitment of volunteers, creative workshops, PR and advertising of the event, communication with the media, decoration of the venue, coordination of the various participants in the program and artists, coordination of all involved in the organization, transport and logistics.
The 'Collective Foundation' were brought in as mentors in the organization, as they work over revitalizing river spaces in particular, and their expertise and guidance were extremely useful to us.
The Municipal enterprise for landscaping provided the initial major cleaning of the riverbed from vegetation and debris, and then set up the stage.
Gabrovo Municipality financed the first edition 'Youth haps against the flow' and was the mentor in view of its own and European priorities - green ideas /Gabrovo municipality is the winner of the European Green Leaf award/, empowering young people in the European Year of Youth and sustainability of the achieved results, work according to the principles of the European Bauhaus initiative, in a combination of ecology, culture, design, accessibility, investment.
Youth Center Gabrovo played a key role in organizing the event. This is a new structure for our city, with priority given to young people aged 15 to 29. Although Gabrovo Municipality has always made great efforts in working with young people, the targeted work of the Youth Center cannot go unnoticed and its results are already visible. Its role as a unifier of young people in various causes, as a mediator between the youth world and the world of adults and institutions, as an activator of various processes in the youth society is indisputable. For nearly a year of its existence, the Youth center managed to activate the youth by creating a Youth parliament, the Youth podcast, several clubs for interest, trainings, developed social networks of the organization, organized nearly 20 events with regional and national impact. That is why events such as Youth Haps Against the Flow rely heavily on their expertise, energy and communication with young people.
The 'Collective Foundation' was extremely helpful in the design of the event and the reimagining of the space from a forgotten, unused, intimidating, to a modern and non-standard stage for artists and art lovers. Landscape architects by profession, their knowledge and professional insight into the architecture, the terrain and the needs of the event were extremely helpful.
The innovative nature of the event derives its originality from the opportunity to present all ideas and their implementation in a non-standard way. It builds on traditional models of organization while achieving the goals of sustainability and inclusion through the innovations it contains. Transforming a natural space into a social space and giving it new meaning and appearance gives the opportunity to introduce diversity, originality and extravagance. Nature is now incorporated into the performance as part of the set and experience and creates an atmosphere of mutuality and completion. This gives rise to a sense of connectedness with the social- and eco-system and places life at the center of the relationship, where the individual already experiences her/himself simultaneously as part of nature and the community. The created sense of belonging finds an expression of its return in the form of a positive attitude - care and support. Thus, the presentation of something familiar in a non-standard way gives scope for a change in the way of thinking about the surrounding world, takes it out as a part of everyday life and space, which have ceased to be a priority and an object of reflection, and gives way to the realization of creativity and entrepreneurship, inherent for the youth of the new generation and corresponding to the specifics of their thinking and worldview. In the background of this process stands the construction of Youth center and the targeted work with youth communities and the special attention directed to them. Its logical extension is finding innovation in the implementation of youth policies that respond and suit the target group.
Each of the elements of the event could be multiplied in another city, country or location, but its success is actually due to the mix between a unique and non-standard place and non-traditional initiatives close to the youth and noticed by them as unusual, interesting, inherent in various subcultures, non-mass. This provoked interest and added value for young people. The concert was not just a concert of a famous band that you can hear on TV, but a concert of people whose non-standard, rebellious spirit and lyrics the youth recognize. The art workshop wasn't just painting, it was learning how to paint graffiti and create real graffiti on the retaining wall of the river - something that generally requires a special permit or is entirely in the hooligan zone. In the other art studio - for T-shirts - the young people had the opportunity to create their own design, according to their feelings and sense of modernity. Theatrical performance - "I won" - a solo show of a young, rising actress, touched on topics such as differences in the social status of young people, falling in love, relationships with friends, rebellion, overprotection by parents or vice versa - their disinterest and lack, the mechanisms of protection of the young people. The meeting with famous people and the discussion with them was also close to the life of the youth - an influencer with his own fashion brand called “Hrabar”-("Brave" in English). They talked about what it's like to be brave, independent and meaningful. The retaining walls became a WWF exhibition on sturgeon fish and its importance in nature during the day and a 3D mapping site at night.
The environment and climate change are among the global challenges of our time. An event in the riverbed and in locations that have not been active before draws people's attention not only to the fun side of things, but also raises questions related to the environment and our place in it - is the location suitable, are there animal species whose habitat could be destroyed, are we disturbing their peace, are we leaving waste behind and what happens to it, could cleaning the river bed for the event to be of help in the prevention of floods, etc. This also leads to a deeper understanding of the processes in our city, a better knowledge of it and an appreciation of its riches, and from there to a better symbiosis between the urban man and nature. Among the challenges facing both Europe, Bulgaria and Gabrovo is the depopulation and concentration of young people in big cities. Of course, an event like 'Youth Haps Against the Flow' cannot solve this problem, but it is a way for young people to feel that their city is important - a place where interesting things are happening, significant not only for the local community, but also on a national scale. They participate in the creation of something of value that has its ecological, social and cultural imprint on the city. Hopefully, someday when they decide where to settle, this would add some more weight in Gabrovo's favor. And last but not least - activation of youth and their participation in decision-making. An event like this, targeted at young people, created with their help, active participation, decisions and opinion about the program, which gives the opportunity to take care of nature, be part of cultural life, express your views on the various annual themes and you break through your worldview is a great way to empower young people and develop their qualities, develop leadership skills and prove to them that you don't have to live in a multi-million city to be noticed and heard.
