NEW PROGRAM PROPOSAL:
NORTH AFRICA + EUROPE /// FALL 2015
Coast 2 Coast (C2C) proposes a new initiative in the seaside village of Dar Bouazza, Morocco focused on
peace-building, marine conservation, and cross-cultural communication between Arabic and European youth.
Program Elements:
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Photo + Film + Music Workshop Series
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Audiovisual Education in Schools
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Online Exchange Platform
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Peace Building and Upcycling Projects
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Photography + Video Expositions in Local Communities
Youth policy at the European Union level is prioritizing the fight against racism and intolerance. Alongside this, there is the challenge of there being no major opportunities for youth to be informed or engaging in dialogues for peace building and intercultural understanding issues. There are demonstrated growing interfaith tensions (between Muslims and Christians) and class conflicts. Yet, there has been only limited community efforts towards organizing youth for understanding implications of such situations, or on understanding what roles they could play in relation to promotion of a culture of tolerance and peace building in response.
This project proposal aims at contributing towards filling in this gap through organizing an intercultural dialogue youth project on the ground and online to pave way for youth from different backgrounds and contexts to start engaging on issues of peace building and understanding of intercultural issues. Creative intercultural education is one of the most effective tools of achieving this objective.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
YOUTH-DRIVEN AUDIOVISUAL ARTS PROJECT FOR PEACE, OCEAN CONSERVATION, AND COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT
OBJECTIVES
1. An Audiovisual Workshop Series will focus on participating children learning to use photography, film, stop-motion, creative writing, and computers as tools to examine their lives, families, communities and environment. The aim is for participants to realize the power of their voice and become agents of positive social change in their own lives and beyond…
Workshop Locations
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North Africa: Our home audiovisual workshops will be based in the duar or poor neighborhoods behind the wealthy seaside community of Dar Bouazza, Morocco. Creative-learning projects between poor and wealthy youth will take place on the beach in partnership with the Mouja Surf Club, a surf school open to the public with a focus on community empowerment. We also anticipate traveling to other coastal communities in Western Sahara.
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Europe + United Kingdom: Our international workshops will take place in Belgium, Spain, France, and the UK with local schools in the effort to connect these students with our youth participants in North Africa. In each location, a Coast 2 Coast volunteer will meet with students weekly to facilitate exercises. We anticipate the core team one to three audiovisual workshops with each school.
TAGS: Community-Building /// Youth Empowerment /// Education
2. An Audiovisual Curriculum in Local Schools where students from two academic institutions in Casablanca and from across the coasts with institutions in Europe (Belgium, Spain, and France) and the UK from different socioeconomic spheres share their ideas, fears, and dreams the power of local schools as centers for self-transformation and creative-learning, a monthly participatory audiovisual curriculum.
TAGS: Education /// Participatory Learning /// Cross-Cultural Communication
3. An Online Safe-Space Platform connects these youth from across the oceans and collects their photos, art, and creative writing as an interactive database of cross-cultural communication and peace-building between socioeconomic and cultural divides.
TAGS: Cross-Cultural Communication /// Youth Engagement /// Technology for Social Good
4. A series of Upcycling and Peace-Building Projects where students from each participating location build a “peace bench” from water bottle filled with trash students collect from their local beaches facing the direction of their peers across the seas.
TAGS: Upcycling /// Creative-Learning Initiatives /// Peace-Building
5. A dual series Photography Expositions in Casablanca of photos from the community project and one international exposition in Paris to share the project as well as raise funds to sustain Coast 2 Coast’s community-level efforts.
TAGS: Community Engagement /// Unity /// Cultural Conservation
Coast 2 Coast (C2C) is a collaborative project of the LOBITOS CINEMA PROJECT and BEYOND THE SURFACE INTERNATIONAL, a 501(C)(3) tax exempt US Nonprofit charitable organization (EIN: 271617474).
Coast 2 Coast's Mission and Activities:
Coast 2 Coast (C2C) is a youth-powered participatory audiovisual and creative-learning workshop series on ocean conservation, cross-cultural communication, and peace-building in coastal communities worldwide. C2C hosts safe-space platform whereby young people communicate their ideas with one another and a global audience through their own voices, photography, videos, and art.
Coast 2 Coast promotes community empowerment, personal development, and mutual understanding among young people through the art of photography and film. Coast 2 Coast facilities photography and new media workshops that engage young people to explore their lives through the lens of a camera. C2C collaborates with schools as centers for self-transformation and coastal community organizations in cultivating projects that engage the imagination and creativity of local youth, strengthen confidence in their abilities, and empower opportunities for them to communicate their stories with the world.
Interactive workshops empower youth to communicate what is significant about themselves and their communities, using a medium that cuts across language barriers and cannot be silenced. Creative educators, innovative photographers, and entrepreneurial community leaders engage young people in a powerful process of self-exploration and expression through the lens of a camera.
Coast 2 Coast also engages coastal communities through innovative creative-learning projects focused on ocean conservation and peace-building. Projects include yoga + meditation workshops, murals, and upcycling initiatives.
A core team of C2C facilitators hosts 3-6 month audiovisual classes, environmental conservation projects, and peace-building workshops in less-advantaged coastal communities with local partners (surfing for social good organizations). A global network of independent C2C facilitators follow an identical audiovisual curriculum and host independent workshops in their own communities, sharing photos and videos and projects onto the same virtual space.
Recognizing the power of schools as centers for learning and self-transformation, Coast 2 Coast collaborates with teachers to partner students in classrooms across diverse socio-economic coastal communities to participate in C2C’s ocean conservation audiovisual curriculum, complimenting Science, Communications, Creativity Writing or Art classes.
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THE PROJECT BUDGET
Why a Focus on Coastal Communities?
Almost half of today’s global population of five billion people and 12 of the 15 largest cities are on a coastline. More than half of today’s world population live in coastal areas and this number is expected to increase three-quarters by mid-century. Coastal ecosystems play a central role in the processes that sustain life on Earth and in the prospects for human development.
From a global perspective, coastal peoples see a sharper divide between the haves and the have-nots, and conflict over the allocation of ever scarcer natural resources and space is increasing. Governing institutions often lack the power or abilities to address these forces. Traditional sector-by-sector approaches to management are increasingly ineffective, yet holistic approaches often threaten the traditions of existing institutions.
During the last 25 years, more individuals, organizations and nations have recognized this situation and are attempting to address it. Now emerging is a global consensus that an integrated approach to coastal issues is essential.
PARTNERS
