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Post Brussels Blues

Recap after our amazing Brussels workshop in the heart of Europe

We thought about doing the trendy “photo-dump”… but that might be better suited for our personal accounts.

However, our post is no less poignant - a few snapshots that are worth more than any words we could write down.

Germany, Finland, Slovenia, France, Poland, Great Britain - our big family gathered at the amazing @houseeuropeanhistory and @eu_regions_cities to present our project to anyone who wished to listen. But it wasn’t just us talking about our Youth group and the importance of including young generations into European projects right from the beginning and into all project structures or discussing our variable #film -kit, a tool for #teachers in formal and informal educational settings to create engaging narratives about history in our twin towns (to, of course, grasp the diversity of European history and identity), we gave floor to a seriously impressive bunch of speakers.

It was all about debating different approaches and exchanging opinions on overcoming current social difficulties by examining our pasts with a bucket of understanding and a giant bag of “different doesn’t mean wrong, it means colorful, richer and complex”!

#educators from all over Europe presented similar projects, and representatives of different #eu initiatives answered questions on how projects like ours can successfully obtain #funding that then enables such lively exchanges and the shaping of such communities! #erasmusplus #europeforcitizens #cerv

We’ve listened to Constanze ItzelI, Sabine Verheyen, Tanya Hristova, Johannes Börmann, Marc Grellert, Daria Bocharnikova, Joanna Urbanek, Rafal Rogulski, Markus J. Prutsch, Valeria Setti, Jacqueline Pacaud, Eve Ryan, Susanne Popp, Vjeran Pavlakovic, Fynn Heckert, and many more! Listed in no particular order !

"In the past three years, we have not only learned a lot about the history of the interwar period, but also a lot about cooperation in such a cross-border project," says Michael Gutbier, one of our project coordinators, “We are pleased that we were able to share our experience with several European bodies at once." And create our Urban Spaces #family.

For some of us, this was the last time we met within our project. This was the last big workshop for UrbanSpaces. But the relationships we built transcend the project and we can’t wait to see each other in person again - one way or another, we’ll find a way!

Photos: André Bossuroy