River of Youth is an educational and civic inclusion programme. ROY will utilise a cultural production as a cross disciplinary, educational methodology to stimulate high school students and prepare them for the open world, focusing on both local and global challenges and opportunities. ROY will focus on the local and ethnically diverse living networks of kypseli as well as on its architecture and vernacular history, introducing a triangular program (Youth, Communities, the State).

Athens, kypseli, region within Athens, County/district of Attica, Central Greece.

We recognize that people in the age of 13-15 in small-scale areas like Kypseli are not well connected with the local activities’ scenery and their proximous neighborhoods. Athens has been divided in several detached communities which lack meaningful contact between each other. City’s frequent mobility and obvious divisibility affect the relationship that it is developing between its youth and the environment which ultimately distract them from a beneficial political and cultural direction. This constant 'movement' within the information age gives rise to yet another mental and social immobility; of having more and more information but increasingly less meaning.

Snehta see high school children 13-15 from the schools of Kypseli as the future for our area! The schools of Kypseli welcome children from a variety of ethnic minorities.
The program’s aim is to bridge the gap between secondary and higher education and infuse our young participants with a wide understanding of the complexity of civil networks and audiences partaking in participatory practices included in the cultural subject.
The program will foster novel collaborative processes to its young peers and to partaking community members, and professionals. Moreover, our two key partners will introduce their young members to our program. VSP already works with various ethnic minorities in Victoria and We Need Books will invite its participants that already take part in language workshops.

I 1 month Research
Board team research for schools, students, educators, professionals with Snehta’s artists community for the implementation of the projects’ main program
II 1 week Pedagogical Platform
Series of workshops, offline/online pedagogical routes and lectures etc. Inviting NGO representatives, ind professionals, local experts, academics working at secondary edu level (ages 13-15). 24 students are split in 3 groups,8 participants each 8speakers. Workshops can be entirely physical while others happen online. A transdisciplinary pedagogical platform exploring the role of artistic productions as a catalyst of social cohesion, policymaking citizens activation, human rights, civility, equality.
III 5 days Cultural Productions
In this phase, each group produces a cultural idea and experiences all stages of the creation ideation and research to management, advertising, social networking, archiving et al. Group meeting points could be partnering spaces offering utilities and mentorship along with artists, community and selected University students. This phase hosts presentations, debates, outside visits and consulting programs.
IV 10 days Documentation
Findings and products of phase II and III will be documented and added to an online open-access map narrating what we’ve discovered but also providing students the tools to make similar interventions in the future.

With the completion of the program, we expect a socio - political activation of young students, people who are still in the process of shaping their identities as individuals and future citizens. Through the targeted thematic lectures and participatory workshops, the young students will have the opportunity to sharpen their critical ability through the dialogue while envisioning a cultural idea to form a better world. They will raise their self-confidence through challenges and opportunities they will encounter in later life. Moreover the program will foster new topics for further pedagogical research of the collaborating universities. The sense of locality will be strengthened since all contributors are based in Kypseli and have an active part in the decision making in the community.

We believe that by aiming at the pedagogical power of the programme we help the formation of a novel civil identity. Moreover since collaboration is in the heart of the programme all partaking individuals will form strong friendships and networking relationships that can carry into the future. Their voices and ideas will be raised and heard in two formal presentations with invited community members, artists and representatives from local groups and the Municipality. The ideas will be discussed and critiqued to strentghen their ideas and prepare them for the final phase. The whole programme will offer participants a safe place where they can express themselves freely in a spirit of collaboration and kindess. This is a triangular relatioship (youth, civil groups, the State).

The board of this project has already a strong connection with the neighborhood and experienced every cultural transformation either as workers or residents. This given condition cultivated skills such as empathy, observation and ways of perceiving each situation uniquely. Our vision is to reform Kypseli's environment from a place of social exclusion to a dynamic multicultural core, where youth has a protagonist role. Augustus, Snehta founder is a sculptor and an art educator and his work is inspired by the areas material culture and architecture. Rallou, is an art curator and community liaison who grew up in Kypseli. She is familiar with all the different communities that exist in the area. Simone is an art historian and our newest member. She coordinates Snehta's residency program.

fees: 20,900
communication: 2,400
website: 3,350
technical and supplies: 4,800
facilities: 1,100
hospitality: 600
documentation: 1,400

We are grateful for any feedback since we are developing a collective work which is based on plurality and multi cultural identities. It would be a great opportunity to engage other experts to evolve our program whilst interacting with other communities online and raise awareness of our own society.