September 12-23 2024
Cornac, France
Call for application
before July 1st
Symbiosis will invite 60 artists & youth workers from France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands & Portugal for two trainings and exploration of their emotional relationship to the environment, engaging in symbiotic green initiatives, mutually beneficial to themselves and our world. Brace yourself for a transformative experience of co-living & co-creating and apply here!
Who we look for
You are a creative, educator, social worker, youth worker, trainer? You want to expand your toolbox? Engage in ecological projects ? Deepen your emotional link with nature? You would love to experience co-living in a creative laboratory with fellows coming from Europe and the world?
Symbiosis is for you then!
What we offer
Symbiosis explores an innovative learning method channelling emotional intelligence to foster personal engagement in green initiatives.
It is a training. You will explore the use of emotional intelligence tools, embodied practices, nature based learning and collective intelligence to help yourself and others, to better connect to nature and your/their emotions, fostering mental health and ecological action. We invite you to experience a set of methods and practices rooted in permaculture, eco-construction, embodied work and collective creativity. Then you will get support to share what you learnt with others!
At the end of our time together a public event will give you a chance to storytell the magic of your projects and share it with the local rural community. By going digital we also look further to reach out to your personal and professional networks across countries to raise awareness about emotional health and ecological engagement in youth work and beyond.
Last but not least, Symbiosis is an inclusive experience for social connection and intercultural european dialogue taking place in Cornac, a picturesque French village surrounded by eco responsible farmers and inspiring artists and artisans from the local rural community. As art is no longer meaningful without sustainability, we opt for sustainable food and reasonable energy consumption. Let’s also reflect together about local actions!
Learning methods
Our methodology is based on experiential learning (learn by doing it!), interdisciplinary exchange (widen your panel of knowledge!) emotional and collective intelligence, outdoor education and non-formal education principles!
Participants will learn through testing designed methods and reflecting upon the experience. Using a participatory approach, we encourage the exchange of experience between the participants and with the local community, fostering peer learning.
We are looking for diverse participants profiles to foster co-learning and enrich everyone’s projects with the expertise and perspective of others, to help you develop mesmerising projects!
Program
Mornings will be dedicated to collective training.
Afternoons will be time to develop your projects, personal or collective creations ; to exchange about your project evolution in peer groups, sometimes in plenary ; to consult individually with Symbiosis trainers and/or to join technical workshops to enrich your practice.
Evenings will be open for participants willing to propose activities to each other.
Day 1 | Who is who?
Day 2 | Symbiosis team
Day 3 | Embodied exploration in nature
Day 4 | Emotional intelligence
Day 5 | Ecological engagement
Day 6 | Symbiotic creation design
Day 7 | FREE DAY
Day 8 | Symbiotic creations kickstart
Day 9 | Symbiotic storytelling
Day 10 | Evaluation & learning outcomes
Venue & travel
Atypical activities will take place in France, in the Occitanie region, in the village of Cornac.
We require all participants and organisers to engage in green travel, using exclusively sustainable low-emissions means of transport such as bus, train or car-pooling (no plane!). You can enjoy up to 6 days of travelling! We will be able to reimburse your travel costs up to a maximum amount of 320€. Food and accommodation are provided for free, thanks to the support of the Erasmus+ programme.
Trainers
Anne Merlin
is a creativity explorer. Whilst studying visual arts and interaction design in France, she discovered the magic of creativity mixed with collective intelligence and social action. She lived in Greece, Brazil, Seychelles, Portugal and a few more countries, experimenting with ever more creative ways to interact and discover one another in multilingual or non verbal settings. Along the way, she collected myriads of tools & methods for collaborative creation, nature-based learning, emotional intelligence, specializing in storytelling, team dynamics and project design using creativity, movement, emotions and stories to foster well-being, cooperation & social action.
Shyrley Mussot
is an ex-city working girl, passionate about everything to do with nature for 10 years. Initiator and coordinator of the "Les Jardins du Pré d'Aubié" association project, an educational and intergenerational urban garden concept based on permaculture principles. Shyrley fulfilled a childhood dream by working part-time in a stationery shop-creative workshop. Entrepreneur, Shyrley launched an upcycling project that includes commercial window designs and handmade paper from paper scraps. She loves traveling, biking and meeting people. Smiling, tolerant mom of a little girl, soon to be 5, and hostess to a 15-year-old boy, Shyrley is determined and just a tiny bit stubborn!
European partners
Jonglirium promotes theatre, music and circus as forms of expression, especially for underprivileged children and youth, but also for people of all ages.
Csoma’s Room designs projects of intercultural dialogue, community development, cultural heritage management and sustainable development.
Knowmads, Netherlands
Knowmads is an international community and educational organisation promoting transformative learning and educational innovation!
Pirilampos, Portugal
Pirilampos is an association of young artists involved in activities advocating for inclusion through performing arts.
