Art and Creativity as Catalysts for Empowerment and Well-being in Youth Work is an Erasmus+ training course for youth workers with EMOTiC as coordinator and host, funded through the Austrian National Agency OeAD. It brings together youth workers from Austria, Czechia and Latvia with colleagues from Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia in Vienna in May 2027, around one shared question: how can art and creativity help young people feel stronger, more confident and more at ease with themselves?
Young people today face many pressures on their well-being. Work in the RECOVER partnership, in which EMOTiC took part, has highlighted academic overload, online comparison, economic uncertainty and the lingering effects of COVID-19 as factors that strain young people’s emotional health. Youth workers are often the trusted adults young people turn to, and they need approaches that open doors rather than add to the pressure.
Creative expression can be such a door. Drawing, painting, music, theatre, photography, movement and storytelling allow young people to explore feelings and experiences that are hard to put into words, and they work across languages and backgrounds. When young people create something together, they can discover their strengths, build self-esteem and experience being heard, which are the foundations of empowerment and active participation.
The course strengthens cooperation between youth organisations in Europe and the Southern Mediterranean, continuing EMOTiC’s earlier training courses with participants from Algeria and Tunisia, such as Community Conflict Transformation Through Youth Work and Participatory and Emancipatory Approaches for Youth Work.
Learning experience
The training course equips youth workers with practical, art-based methods they can use with the young people they work with, including those with fewer opportunities and those who rarely speak up in more traditional settings. Participants experience creative activities themselves, reflect on how they felt and what they learned, and explore how to adapt the methods to their own groups, cultures and settings. Creative methods in youth work are not therapy, and using them well also means knowing their limits and when to refer a young person to professional support.
As in EMOTiC’s other training courses, learning follows the principles of non-formal education: learning by doing, in a safe and participatory group, with time for reflection after each experience. Alongside creative workshops, the course draws on games, simulations, outdoor and experiential learning and peer exchange, and on intercultural evenings where participants share their own cultural and artistic traditions. Participants leave with ideas for local follow-up activities to test in their own communities, and their learning is recognised through Youthpass.
Profile of participants
You live in one of the participating countries: Austria, Czechia, Latvia, Algeria, Egypt or Tunisia.
You are aged 24 to 35.
You work actively with young people, as a youth worker, trainer, facilitator, youth leader, educator or volunteer.
You are interested in using art and creativity for empowerment and well-being in your work with young people; no artistic training is needed.
You commit to full participation for the whole activity and all sessions.
You can communicate in English (B1 level is enough).
You are ready to test methods on yourself before using them with young people.
You can cooperate and work with others in a team.
You are ready to deliver a follow-up activity with young people at home.
You are ready to support dissemination and visibility activities online and offline.
You are curious to learn and you appreciate diversity in every sense.
You would like to build new friendships and international connections.
Costs
There is no participation fee. The activity is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
Accommodation, the programme, materials and meals during the activity are covered directly by the host.
Travel is reimbursed up to a fixed ceiling per country, which we confirm with you before you book. Anything above the ceiling is your own or your organisation’s contribution: the Erasmus+ grant is a contribution towards participation costs, not full funding of the activity.
Participants book their own transport to and from Vienna, and we refund the eligible costs under the conditions below.
Book nothing before your travel plan is approved by us. Tickets bought without prior written approval may not be reimbursed.
Only international travel is reimbursed. Local transport in Vienna, and travel from your home to your departure airport or station, is not.
The refund is paid after you have delivered your local follow-up activity and submitted all original travel documents.
Participation rules and conditions
You should attend the entire activity in May 2027 (exact dates to be announced).
You should engage in all preparation and follow-up activities.
You should fill out the application form before the application deadline (to be announced).
You should sign the participation agreement once selected, within three days.
You should purchase your travel tickets within five days of signing the agreement, and only after your travel plan has been approved by us.
Timeframe
Preparation: from selection until the training, in various stages (online introduction, preparatory tasks and travel arrangements).
Participation: May 2027 in Vienna, Austria (exact dates to be announced).
Follow-up: local creative activities with young people in the weeks after the training.
Other important remarks
Applications are reviewed and accepted based on motivation and eligibility.
Places per country are limited; selection results are sent by email shortly after the deadline.
More details, such as preparatory tasks and the final programme, are shared after selection by email.
You receive a Youthpass certificate on the final day of the activity in Vienna.
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union through the Austrian National Agency OeAD. Participation is free of charge; accommodation, meals and the programme are covered and travel is reimbursed up to a ceiling.
Venue and accommodation
The activity is hosted in a Jugendgästehaus (youth guest house) in Vienna. Participants stay, eat and work in the same place, and the exact address and arrival instructions are in the info pack and the preparatory emails.
Want to join a project like this?
Tell us a little about yourself and we will let you know when the next call opens.
