We held an online Kick-off Meeting to launch the “Art-iculate” project and align our work as a partnership. Partners from Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Netherlands joined to agree on what we will do, when we will do it, and how we will work together. During the meeting, we confirmed the project’s focus: helping young people build emotional intelligence through art-based expression, and equipping youth workers with practical methods to support and mentor that process. We agreed on our roles and responsibilities, set a shared timeline with key milestones, and defined how we will communicate and coordinate tasks across countries. We also agreed on simple working rules for collaboration—regular check-ins, clear progress updates, and a smooth way to share materials—so we can stay consistent and deliver high-quality results throughout the project.

From 19 to 22 November 2025, we met in Ruse, Bulgaria for the project LTTA together with project partners and youth workers cooperating with our organisations. The main purpose of the meeting was hands-on training on how to implement the practices developed within the project and presented in the “30 Days Art Challenge” booklet in everyday work with young people. We didn’t just talk about the activities — we tested them in practice, took part as participants, and learned how to run them step by step in real youth work settings. A big part of the LTTA was also improving the final version of “30 Days Art Challenge”. We had intensive discussions on what works best, what needs to be clearer, and how to make the challenge more useful and realistic for youth workers across different countries. Everyone brought feedback and real-life experience from working with young people, which helped us strengthen the toolkit. After the LTTA, the participating youth workers will return to their countries to train more youth workers locally and to run the practices directly with young people, so the methods can be tested and used in real situations.

In Poland, Fundacja Ornament invited a group of young people to take part in a pilot programme based on the “30 Days Art Challenge” booklet. A series of three workshops was delivered, using selected challenges from the booklet to test how the activities work in a real group setting. This was the first group to experience the practices live in their early version. The workshops made it possible to observe which elements felt engaging, which instructions needed to be clearer, and how the challenges could be adjusted to better fit young people’s needs. The workshops were assessed as highly successful by the organisers and participants. The sessions combined learning and personal development with a light, enjoyable atmosphere, so the activities supported both educational value and genuine fun. Feedback was collected throughout the process, including participants’ opinions on what they liked, what did not work for them, and what improvements they would recommend. The input from the pilot group informed further edits to the booklet and supported the refinement of the activities.

Civitas&Publica Foundation carried out pilot testing in the Netherlands to check how the “30 Days Art Challenge” works with young people in a workshop setting. A group of participants was invited to join a three-session workshop cycle built around selected challenges from the booklet. The Dutch pilot was designed to be as practical as possible. Instead of long explanations, the sessions were run in a “learn by doing” format, with a fast transition into making art. This approach helped participants react naturally to the prompts, stay engaged, and explore the activities through real experience rather than theory. The workshops were reported as a strong success, combining meaningful learning with a fun, energetic atmosphere. Participant feedback was gathered across the cycle, including comments on which challenges felt most engaging, which instructions needed to be clearer, and what could be improved to make the activities smoother in group work. The insights collected during the pilot contributed to the ongoing refinement of the booklet and its workshop-friendly use.

We are ready with the final version of our booklet. The “30 Days Art Challenge” is now available to download on this page in all language versions of our partnership. The booklet combines the best practices we brought from our partner countries, along with several original activities created specifically for this project. We also went through a strong testing phase: the first draft was reviewed by independent experts in youth work and tested with pilot groups of young people. We listened carefully to their feedback and improved the content to make it as practical, clear, and relevant to real needs as possible. We prepared two formats, depending on how you want to use it. The Individual Version is designed for self-guided use — it includes step-by-step activities you can do on your own, at your own pace. The Facilitator’s Version is for youth workers and youth workshop facilitators and includes tips on how to adapt the same practices to group workshops with young people.