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Bulgaria is the EU’s poorest member with an average income of 800lev (400 Euro) per month. Corruption is far-reaching. And so is apathy. So are depression, alcohol, aggression, drugs and promiscuity. Educational standards are falling, there is wide-spread racism and social exclusion. The result is a dysfunctional society and many wasted lives.
Focusing on creativity and personal empowerment, our pedagogical approach can help raise a new generation with the ambition to set challenging goals in life. It can raise individuals who work to better the society and are willing to share their knowledge with others.
By helping children obtain new abilities and knowledge, complementary to what is taught at school, we can foster self-esteem and a belief in one’s own abilities. For a teenager, having a favourite creative activity means less time spent watching TV or playing computer games. This resides the risk of depression and substance abuse and helps create individuals who live life, following their own values. The above are just some of the benefits of the amazing L3 method, pioneered in Sweden, which helps children discover and value their unique selves.
T.R.A.P. is the place where development never stops. We are looking to establish a system allowing for a two-way exchange between the youth and their mentors thus enhancing the effect of the project over time. Ideally, our students – once they have accumulated confidence and knowledge and realised their potential in society – will come back as mentors, inspiring other young people and helping them realise their potential.
Our mission is to inspire young people to believe in themselves, to create, to reflect on their personal values and to develop as individuals and members of the community.
We believe that young people must be encouraged to polish their talents and skills, and also to explore new interests through participation in programmes and events in a variety of spheres – music, art, literature, ecology and others.
Through the activities and programmes we run, we are creating the right conditions to nurture the creativity of young people. We want to show how channelling the creative passion and the achievement of particular results can help young people mature into individuals with clear life goals and well-considered cultural, spiritual and intellectual values.
T.R.A.P. is the physical location allowing for communication, inspiration and creativity to be channelled in the appropriate manner. The venue will host meetings, rehearsals, workshops and other youth activities. All are welcome regardless of their gender, ethnicity and social status. Access is free for all participants.
The project aims to help youth to better their academic performance and to reflect on personal goals via the use of extracurricular activities. All the activities aim to change and enhance the following:
Attitude towards school subjects deemed boring
Effective interaction within society
We draw inspiration from the L3 method, which has been used successfully in Sweden for more than 20 years. Using music, dance, visual arts, workshops, lectures and environmental events, we will create an inspiring atmosphere and foster dialogue. This is all done in a bid to help participants self-actualise. We are not focused on training the artists or musicians of tomorrow but to help raise people who can thrive in life, developing as individuals and as productive members of society. Our task is to help improve our participants’ personal and social skills and academic achievements. To show them new horizons and point to how they might be reached, to inspire them to be the best versions of themselves.
Through our platform of events, we will give participants the chance to share with others what they have created. We will also use online platforms in an attempt to reach maximum exposure. By helping participants share their achievements with others, we will demonstrate that everyone is valuable and that working hard in the pursuit of one’s creative passions matters.
The environment we create for our participants will be different than the school environment in that it will seek to respond to their needs rather than impose rules from without. There will be no homework, performance marks and attendance requirements. The goal is to create an environment young people like and wish to participate in. Through this process we hope to lead them to the realisation that success in life is possible through work, perseverance, passion and sharing.
School programmes do not cater to the requirements of all students and sometimes alienate those that learn differently. We offer an alternative approach that caters to the individual. Without questioning the need for formal education, we are offering a complement to stimulate participant’s creativity and build character through extracurricular activities.
Our target group are children who are facing issues with learning, communication and behavior. The above are often manifestations of low self-esteem, lack of motivation, lack of ability to set goals, lack of knowledge and skills to achieve goals, asocial behavior and self-isolation. Very often these issues are related to lack of trustworthy relationships and suitable supportive environment. The project will work with high school students, their parents and teachers.
We will encourage participants to focus on selected areas and we will offer support via group sessions or private classes, depending on the specific need.
Some activities allow for distance learning or interactions online. Nature walks and outdoor activities, lead by a teacher or mentor, are another useful tool for reaching out to youth.
Twice a year, we will organise get-togethers in the form of exhibitions, theatre performances and concerts, as a way to measure advancement and commend participant success.
Engagement with families is an important part of the process. Parents should not only allow their children to participate but should also offer encouragement and support and attend public events. The programme will also offer support for parents in the form of discussion groups and, if need be, individual sessions.
The activities are divided into six different areas for students, one for teachers, one for parents, and one for internal research and development.
As an organisation, we aim to learn by experience and commit to constantly evaluating our success and fine-tuning our approach, so we could reach out to more people, more effectively.
Regardless of the selected area that participants are engaged in, we will encourage them to read fiction as well as scientific materials, and to create texts, photos or videos, documenting their experience with the programme. This will help to track progress and also to promote the programme to other potential participants. Besides participation in established programmes and courses, youth will be encouraged to pursue their creative interests individually and to share their work in a specially-created online platform.
Our approach will focus on:
Our mentors will be people with significant teaching experience in their respective area of expertise. We are looking for innovators who are passionate about working with the young generation and, in exchange, we will offer competitive renumeration.
Our partners will be famous personalities and thought leaders representing international and local public institutions, non-governmental organisations, as well as leading cultural and educational establishments.
The size of our team will depend on the number of participants. As a minimum we aim to offer one person per programme, woking full-time and two part-time assistants. We will rely on our participants to take care of the space.
We want to create a safe, welcoming space for young people. Our aim is to find a location that is easily accessible via different modes of public transport. The availability of bike lanes will be a priority, too. The location should be far from a traditional school building and offer suitable conditions for the following activities:
We will also be renting out premises such as art galleries, music halls, studios, laboratories and workshops, depending on specific needs.
We need financing for a number of activities:
If there is one word summarising what we aim to achieve, it is “connections”. We aim to create connections between young people as well as connections within the mind of one individual who can connect the dots between different snippets of personal experience and accumulated knowledge. There are also connections between the different activities participants are engaged in. Finally, we want to show young people see the clear connection between motivation and the energy invested in an activity and the end result.
This web of connections, fostered in an atmosphere of creativity and support, can unlock personal potential and motivate young people to succeed in life. We will nourish each participant’s ability to represent themselves and thus connect with others as a way towards self-actualisation and achievement.
This post is also available in: Bulgarian
