Art Workshop for International Year of Youth

Art Workshop
By Dina Jaffary, Y-PEER Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria - It’s 5:00 PM.  The sun is strong.  The heat is unbearable. 
Young people are beginning to arrive, 35 of them all together, most of whom have never met before.  No one knows what to expect.  All they can do is to wait.  Then someone from Y-PEER comes in and says, “Hey, people. Whassup??”

Now that they are all there, they meander to the workshop room: a five-minute walk through the old, intimate streets of the ancient Damascus.  And just to make sure that they don’t lose their way, they follow the tiny blue dots on the ground that mark the correct route.  In no time they arrive at the workshop place.  Soon, the trainers welcome the participants and give them a preview of what to expect for the next seven days.

As the trainers usually work with professional artists, this is their first time to work with amateurs.  Actually, this experience may be as challenging for the trainers as it is for the participants.   For this reason, Y-PEER Focal Points will help bridge the gap between the trainers and the participants. The objective of the workshop is not an easy task.  Participants have to depict their perspective of the relationship between young people and adults through art.  After all, this is the main theme of the workshop dedicated to the International Year of Youth. 

The participants split into two groups: one for photography and the other for graffiti.   And then the real work begins.  They start to see colours and spray paint everywhere they look.  The participants ooze their enthusiasm and excitement through the spray cans, and it seems as if they had been waiting for this opportunity forever!  As the days pass, participants spend 6 hours nonstop working, and most of the time they have to remind themselves when it is time to leave.  They always want to stay longer. 

Day after day, work begins to improve and progress.  The participants become friends.  The graffiti gets better.  The photographs become more dynamic.  Seven days pass just like that.  And on the last day, the trainers are shocked by the results!  The outcome is like nothing they have ever witnessed.  It is unique, expressive and honest.  These young people were able to show their perspective of the adult-youth relationship in the most unusual ways: so simple, yet so direct.

***

The main purpose of the workshop was to give young people new tools to express themselves.  They had learned how to say what they really felt about their relationship with adults in all its complexity without using words.  In only seven days, they learned that it is possible to have a healthy relationship with adults free from stereotypes.  And most importantly, in seven days they learned that they could do the impossible.  They learned that they are capable of anything, as long as they have the desire and the will.  They learned that where there is a will, there is a way.

The last day was really emotional, because, just like in all the Y-PEER trainings, everyone had become like a family.  But the end was made a little easier because they got to meet again in two days for the youth friendly exhibition featuring their productions! 

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The International Year of Youth Celebration
10 August 2010, 8:00 AM

The Reda Said Conference Room was crowded with people before the official opening ceremony of the International Year of Youth (IYY) and an energetic vibe filled the air.

Who were all those people, you might ask?  Well, some were from the various UN agencies in Syria.  Some represented different NGOs.  Some belonged to ministries.  Others were the conference organisers . . . and of course, some of them were Y-PEERs!

But how did the buzz for International Youth Day (IYD) all get started?

It didn’t happen on its own.  In fact, the energy leading up to this event was months in the making.  Y-PEER had been planning since the beginning of 2010 to host a special celebration of IYD, as well as for IYY.  So in order to do that, they prepared what they called the IYY Package, starting with the Art Workshop and culminating in the official launching of the International Year of Youth.  Great plan, right?  But wait—this story gets even better. 

A few weeks prior to IYD, UNFPA Syria Country Office informed Y-PEERs that the UN agencies also wanted to celebrate the IYY, and that instead of having two separate launch ceremonies, they should all work together on one event. In the end, several partners got involved in the event, which was really great because as they say, “The more, the merrier!” ;)  That’s the short version of the story, and that’s how this event became possible. 

On the day of the event, Y-PEER had several activities going on within the celebration:



The Y-PEER Stand had two Focal Points nearby, who were in charge of talking to visitors about the Y-PEER network and distributing some cool Y-PEER materials.

The Y-PEER Photography Exhibition featured the original productions from  the Art workshop Photo Group, which showed how young people express their relationships with adults.

The Y-PEER Graffiti Exhibition showed the outcome of the graffiti training, and of course the workshop participants were standing next to their work to talk about their significance.

The Y-PEER Acoustic Band consisted of a Y-PEER Focal Point singing some popular cover songs, and another playing guitar and singing backup.

The last sub activity was the Y-PEER Live Graffiti Show, were the visitors both young and not-so-young were able to spray the IYY / Y-PEER graffiti boards with their own creations.

The whole event lasted for 3 hours full of activities, and Y-PEER was literally all over the place.  At the end of the celebration, they distributed certificates to the participants, took some group photos together and said their good-byes.  

***

Feeling encouraged by the impressive outcome, Y-PEER Syria decided that it’s not enough to display their artwork only once.  To make the most of it, within the next couple months they will arrange another exhibition.  This will hopefully take place on the streets of Damascus where they want to hang the graffiti boards in certain public and crowded places.  Hopefully they will hang where everyone will be able to see them and will remind everyone of the unlimited possibilities of youth!