The project “European Communication Across Cultures” was funded with the support of the European Union under the Programme "Europe for Citizens"

Applicable to the Strand 2 – Measure 2.1 "Town-Twinning”

Participation: The project involved 52 citizens, notably  8 participants from the city of Bacau (Romania),  8 participants from the city of Budapest - Csepel (Hungary),10 participants from the city of Gotha (Germany),  8 participants from the city of Vinica (Macedonia),  7 participants from the city of Vinnytsia (Ukraine) and 11 from the city of Kielce (Poland).

Location/ Dates: The event took place in  Kielce  (Poland), from  07.09.2015 to  11.09.2015.

Short description:

The day of  07.09.2015 was dedicated to the arrival of participants and accommodation of all guests participating in the project. After welcome dinner, the information meeting was held with the presentation of the main assumption of the project and Europe for Citizens Programme.

The day of  08.09.2015 started with the official opening meeting at the City Hall of Kielce. It was headed by the Deputy Mayor of Kielce – Mr. Tadeusz Sayor. A representative of youth group from Kielce participating in the project welcomed his peers and presented a multimedia presentation about the main assumption of the project. All groups saw the major attractions of the city of Kielce visited during the project.  Young people took part in the integration fun – they were learning to play the drums. It was conducted by the Museum of Toys and Play. The youth visited the Museum for Dialogue of Cultures, where through multimedia presentations, each group presented its country, culture, traditions, music and other interesting facts from their region as well as regional costumes. Town twinning citizens had the opportunity to expand their knowledge about other countries. Then, they visited the main monuments of the city listening narrated history. The day ended with a meeting with the teaching staff and students of one of the Kielce secondary schools. Students took their foreign peers for a guide on the premises of the institution while the teaching staff and guardians of foreign groups had an opportunity to exchange insights about the functioning of schools in various cities and the expectations in the context of further cooperation. The evening ended with a joint entrance to the swimming pool.

The day of  08.09.2015 was dedicated for the trip to Cracow. The first point of the programme was the city sightseeing.

A guide got participants familiar with an extraordinary history of the city and the most interesting legends. The whole group visited  Europeum - one of the National Museum’s branches with the Western art collection. After the return do Kielce, participants went together to the pool.

The day of  08.09.2015 was dedicated to the movie screening of “Ida”. In 2014, the film won the LUX prize awarded by the European Parliament, as an express of appreciation for the promotion of European culture and values. After the screening, the youth participated in the film studies, led by the Professor of the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce. Next on the agenda were art classes entitled "Artistic Zoo", carried out by the representatives of the Youth Culture House in Kielce. The project participants were divided into groups, whose task was to present the characteristic symbols of their country and how they see the European Union. In the afternoon youth participated in the classes conducted in Geopark Kielce by the local high school’s teacher. The participants were divided into small groups consisting of the representatives of the partner cities. Each of mixed group had to think about the concept of multiculturalism and threats to be faced by young people, the citizens of Europe. Then they jointly undertook the task to find effective solutions to mitigate these phenomena. The topics of conversation were e.g: prejudice against race, religion, xenophobia, violence and unemployment. At the end of the meeting all participants received certificates of participation in the project and talked about the future plans of cooperation. In the evening, bowling and farewell disco was organized. It helped to deepen the integration of multicultural group.

The day of  08.09.2015 was devoted to the last meeting with the participants, summary and departure.