New Life to Traditional Stories partnership has ended and completed all three meetings, four training projects and one follow-up training

11. July, 2014

  New Life to Traditional Stories partnership has ended and completed all the 3 meetings, 4 training projects and 1 follow-up activity, during which time a number of activities took place, according to the approved agenda and calendar.

  •   Planning meeting in Cinisello Balsamo, Italy, from 4 to 7th October 2012, was hosted by Comune di Cinisello Bálsamo  The project was timetabled and an overall strategy implemented with each partner organisation taking on specific roles.  During the meeting, methods used included circle work, presentation, a closed contact with the hosting organization and the work they do with local community down in the objectives. In this meeting, the organizations accorded about the common budget, the number of learners in each mobility, the costs and local organization and also the specific activities to be done.   
  •  Training in Codlea, Romania from 23th to the 27th March 2013- together with the two Romanian participants (teachers from Codlea) they formed a team of 23, plus the two people in the staff. For their activities they were hosted by the theoretical high-school, by the Magura complex and by kindergarten number 1 of Codlea. The activities have gone according to the initial agenda of the course. The course’s objectives were ambitious if we only think about the duration it had, therefore, one of the used methods was shadow theatre in national groups. A very important argument towards this decision was that because of the complex connections the organizations have established between them inside the Drums for Peace Network. at the evaluation session in which the forms were filled-in a free debate followed about the whole experience. Four major conclusions were drawn, after the evaluation of the training:
  1.  The innovative, peer-to-peer, creative pedagogical methods were appreciated and inspired our participants.
  2.  The participants felt the lack of time as a burden, but have realized how much they have learnt from each other in all they have done.
  3.  The Italian team emphasized that the stories told only through visual language, without words, through an onomatopoeic way, reduce the complex understanding of the chosen traditional stories. This observation awed us all about the communication barriers at a cultural and an antithetical level.
  4.  Some of the participants will try to develop inside of their organization or in their professional lives some shadow theatre experiments. More info here.
  •   Training in Helsinki, Finland from 23th to 27th April  2013 hosted by Helsinki Pioneers-  it included 24 participants, from all the organizations.  This comprised of workshops which included music, drums, rhythms and movement improvisation techniques. The group divided in two, each working the traditional stories from each country combined with personal and contemporary narratives using the skills learned in the workshops. This resulted in two different presentations in the local youth centre. Objectives met also included: training of participants to assist the meeting and the Festival in Denmark, next month, and also a visual arts approach in a group combination, to reach some illustrations to the eBook. The group visited the organizations and learned about their work along with the social and cultural activities they carry on Helsinki area. The evaluation from the group was very positive, including the new techniques on group dynamics related to artistic forms.
  •  Follow-up training in Nykoebing, DK, July 2013- Grundtvig project “New Life to Traditional Stories” in the frame of the KulturKlash festival (more info).
  •  Half-Way Meeting for Grundtvig-Project “New Life to Traditional Stories”, 27-30.10.2013. Please see photos.
  •  Training on oral transmission and street movement, on French and African traditions,  hosted by Association Pourqui Pas in France, Montluçon, 12-16.3.2014. Please click on video to see nice moments from the project.
  •  Training on Forum Theater with traditional stories hosted by EUCW in Tallinn, Estonia. Please see photos.
  •  Final meeting and presentation from Grundtvig – Learning Partnership “New Life To Traditional Stories”, hosted by GAIAC in Portugal. Information regarding e-book release, public performance and pictures will be posted soon.

   These international activities form the basis of the first part of the whole project which is to collect traditional stories from the communities, including elder people, and develop the basic material in an artistic and contemporary way, involving both staff and learners.

   The second phase will be developing these activities and create new products, presenting to the local and international community. Objectives met include the facilitation of innovative practices in adult education particularly with vulnerable and marginalized adults. The participants, in all of the countries, were artists, youth workers and social workers who work with disadvantaged young people and adults.