Draw the attention of high school students, by giving them a chance to formulate their own interpretations and perspectives about societal issues through art. Generate a dialogue between local NGOs and possibile young volunteers and educate the youth about the local NGOs. Make available for the high school and the university students to discuss and express themselves in workshops about local and general societal issues, led by various local NGO's, which are dealing with the subjects actively.

Pécs, the south countryside of Hungary

Our proposal responds to the polarization of society and intends to reunite it through joint (volunteer) activities. Regarding the attitude of the students, we aim to turn the perception of the community service program from a statutory task into a playful, responsible, attractive opportunity.
The social issue we want to address is the lack of critical thinking among youth from disadvantaged areas. Developing their practical artmaking experience and knowledge in a non-formal, fun way could increase their local civic knowledge and social skills that enable them to think critically and autonomously. These actions empower them to the following acts and contribute positive change in their communities, like defending their own and others' human rights or have an appropriate value of judgment.

The project will cover approximately 200 young people in transition between secondary* and tertiary** education in 10 local events of 15-20 people each.
* Community service volunteers: high school students between the age of 16-22, base from 2-3000 students in the city
** Art and design institute students: between the age of 20-30, base from 2-300 students)

These young people, who live in South Hungary, have limited opportunities for entering the “working world” after their studies, they often have low social status and different ethno-religious compositions. The idea will help them to develop their ability to build their own communities, give knowledge and willingness to cooperate with each other in order to prosper, grow and learn as a community in a fast-changing world.

1st Step: Reaching out to civil society organizations – common workshop with local NGOs and SzocLab association
Involving cultural and community organizations in a program of 10 workshops
Collecting and evaluating major issues regarding public life, society and environmental questions with coordination and helping hand of SzocLab association and the involved civil society organizations.
Joint activities, raising issues – preparation of the creative workshops
2: Development of the calls for high school students and the involved graphic designers – communication to the local youth
Preparing information material for the teachers coordinating the community service program and for the students. Publishing that information material on the online space of the SzocLab association.
In order to reach out to the schools, teachers and directly the high school students we use direct marketing and the network of school relations of SzocLab.
3rd: Workshops-10 workshops for 5 civil NGOs at DRUKKER printmaker community
Along the creative workshops relevant and actual topics raised by the NGOs will be discussed with the participants. The aim is to release an “riso-zine", which is created during the workshop and with online publication it can help the high school students during the community service program, to choose the most interesting organisation where they can spend the practise.

As a result of the program, we expect that the students during the community service program get a picture about the local civic scene. This is a very important piece of knowledge for the purpose of eliminating the negative connotations related to the hungarian civil sector. The university students involved in the workshops, can also gain a significant knowledge and connection network, which can lead to other important contacts between the civil scene and the students who have ambitions to act. The combined communication with local NGOs also has a strengthening effect for the involved civil communities - the end-of-program creations will show a “map” for the future community service program students.

The launched program, through our workshops addresses the young target audience who can be the most open to active civil activities. These young people for the first time in their life, during this period become responsible citizens and voters. We want to herd the young generations to the way of their own experiences, so they can make an objective picture about the social situations around them, take a critical approach to distorted information about NGOs. During the workshops they face the problems that directly affect society, through the coordination of the organisations that specifically want to solve them.

The DRUKKER printmaker community’s current team contains more than 20 people and had a lot of successful collaborations with several major members of the civil community: graphic projects that encourage social activity, which due to their visual language are quite popular both in the contemporary artist levels and receptive scenes. The community creators can also boast with prestigious results of many national professional student competitions. The creative work is supported by 3 active teachers, who also teach high school and university students, and a marketing and communication specialist is also a founding member and active creator. The cooperation with the local NGOs is supported by SzocLab, which is a group of teachers and students of the Doctoral School of Social Psychology.

Program coordinators and organizers honorarium:
14 000 EUR (12 month, 4 people)

Involved civil community’s coordinators honorarium:
5 000 EUR (10 times, 5 people)

Workshop costs (papers, riso paint, collage material, drawing tools):
5 000 EUR

Communication costs (informational publication, online communication):
2 000 EUR

Graphic design:
2 000 EUR

Workshop space rental, machine use costs:
7 000 EUR

We are looking for connections between art and civil or social activism, and we welcome relevant project ideas from other countries of the world.