Trainers4Creativity project started on the 25th and 26th of May with an inspiring Kick Off Meeting in Paredes de Coura, with the participation of all the European partners.
The meeting was hosted by the Municipality of Paredes de Coura as project coordinator, that welcomed the partners from CEPS (Barcelona, Spain), Dodo Laboratory (Germany), SFOM – Scuola di Formazione e Orientamento Musicale, L’Eubage (Aosta, Italy), EOSA (Vigo, Spain) and Space Ensemble (Portugal) to Paredes de Coura, a small village full of creativity in the north of Portugal.
During the 2 days, the project members had the opportunity to discuss some important details about Trainers4Creativity goals and first steps, as a project that aims to support Youth organizations to be more resilient, inclusive and attractive, empowering their Trainers/Youth Workers. They also got to know Paredes de Coura village and all its creative initiatives related to youngsters, music, legos and entrepreneurship.
The meeting was held at Elevadora, a new business center that supports local entrepreneurs and creatives from different areas.There the partners had the opportunity to visit the workshops of two locals who are dedicated to handicrafts, in particular ceramics and sustainable construction of instruments.
There was also time to visit some of the municipality’s cultural infrastructures, such as the Toy Box, where big Lego events happen, the Music Box, where the local initiatives Escola do Rock and Comédias do Minho rehearse, and the Cultural Center, a place that is also a support for several creative initiatives in Paredes de Coura.
There was also time for a nature walk by the Coura River, to see the natural amphitheater where the big Vodafone Paredes de Coura music festival takes place, which brings more than 30.000 people to the village every year in August.
The Kick Off Meeting was an important moment to begin a new path towards the accessibility and digitisation of creative initiatives, where strategies were defined to work with the population and local stakeholders on the basis of collaboration, in order to meet their needs.
