Partners – Judesio ir minties teatras and actors’ ensemble “Degam”
Location – Šalčininkai region
Since 2020
Together was an eight-day summer camp–festival held in Šalčininkai, designed to foster young people’s creativity, artistic development, and engagement in social and cultural life, while encouraging dialogue between different linguistic communities. The project also addressed challenges related to access to culture in south-eastern Lithuania and supported the visibility of emerging young Lithuanian artists.
During the camp, participants took part in acting, improvisation, and theatre-making workshops, and created artistic performances, exhibitions, and poetry readings that attracted hundreds of visitors. By bringing together young people from different villages and towns in the region and actively involving local communities, the project aimed to build a strong sense of togetherness through creativity and the arts.
Creativity was explored in multiple contexts throughout the camp. Facilitators, including artists, actors, and theatre practitioners led sessions based on diverse theatre methodologies that supported artistic growth and encouraged initiative and self-expression. Through performance creation, training sessions, and creative workshops, young people also strengthened their critical thinking and intercultural collaboration skills.
Artists leading the sessions and teachers accompanying the participants observed a significant positive impact on young people’s cultural competencies. Teamwork and reflection sessions encouraged participants to step out of their comfort zones, become more open, take creative risks, and show greater initiative. Overall, the experiences gained during the camp helped young people develop empathy, openness, curiosity, problem-solving, and collaboration skills, while fostering a strong sense of purpose and belonging.
During the project:
Over 180 young people participated in the camp/festival
Performances created by camp participants attracted almost 1 200 audience members from surrounding communities
All the children and young people who participated in the camp/festival agreed that the non-formal learning methods and techniques helped them to become more creative, empathetic and trusting among their peers and the wider community