Theatre, sculpture and creative writing are just a few tools that help you analyze complex issues. Vilnius University (VU) Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics (MIF) participated in an Erasmus+ KA2 project, "Creative Emotional Journey - Operational Approach - CREATIVITY AT THE SERVICE OF EDUCATION ", on the topic of gender-based violence and bullying.
The project is ongoing for the second year. This September, its participants were brought together by a youth exchange in Italy where three MIF students: Augustina Petraitytė (Program Systems), Normantas Kuolas (Informatics) and Anastasija Volkova (Mathematics and Mathematical Applications), participated together with International Studies Coordinator Justina Krauledaitė.
Anastasia Volkova shares her impressions
The exchange took place in a small town called Morfasso, located in the Emilia-Romagna region's mountains. You can only find a few houses in the city, a church and a theatre hall. The Sciara Progetti theatre troupe is located in Morfasso, and they hosted us for the youth exchange in their hostel, which during the whole project was only intended for project participants from Italy, Spain, France, Greece and Lithuania.
But to get to the actual beginning, I need to mention that the project did not start in September but a year ago. During this time, the representatives of the mentioned countries developed a methodology for dialogue on gender-based violence and bullying. Even the students' journey participating in the exchange started a little earlier. In May, a pilot training was held at the Faculty of Naugardukas, led by J. Krauledaitė and A. Volkova. During the training, we examined the topic of gender-based violence, watched a short film, "By the Pool" (dir. Laurynas Bareiška), and had a discussion. Later, several students who participated in the pilot training had the opportunity to join the trip to Italy.
In the KA2 project “Creative Emotional Journey”, the theatre was not the only important thing; as the name suggests, all creative activities were the key to the exchange. The project's most important goal was to understand and learn how to talk about difficult topics, even if sometimes there are no words to express our thoughts or experiences. The tools that we used were acting, video filming, sculpting, creative writing and similar team and individual activities.
An important thing that most participants experienced was the realization that the first step to solving most problems is communicating and collaborating.
Another memorable moment was the play we watched in the hall of the Morfasso Theatre, which perfectly revealed the discussed topic – “Malanova”. One critic described it very well: "It is the theatre. The theatre that makes you stick to your seat, takes your breath away, twists your heart and stomach...".
Of course, we can't forget the bond we created with other participants. In this project, we got to know over twenty wonderful and interesting young people whose culture we discovered through conversations and intercultural nights.
We invite you to follow the activities of the “Creative Emotional Journey” project on „Facebook“.
2022-10-07