What a weekend! If it was up to these people, Europe would solve its problems within a couple of days. The network meeting of Advocate Europe brought together the project teams of nine winning teams of an idea challenge. We celebrated the progress and examined the problematic questions of each project, with the help of our professional and emphatic facilitators. The programme included workshops that functioned as real training. It was a luxury to attend coaching sessions that Advocate Europe had tailored to the needs of the projects. The participants created a great atmosphere, which not only provided for intensive exchange of ideas and experiences but also room for reflection. Are we on the right track with our project? Will we really be able to make a difference?  

On Saturday evening Advocate Europe hosted a public event in Leerstand. Kitev had also invited guests from the region to participate. The main theme was Europe: In what kind of Europe we would like to live in? The answers were debated in groups, utilizing the Open Space methodology. Anyone willing to moderate a discussion could propose a topic. Then people voted with their feet and picked discussions that they wanted to contribute or listen to. The covered topics included tolerance and diversity questions, possibility of Europe without borders and challenges such as climate change and illiteracy. Thank you very much for coming and joining the discussions!

After the network meeting was finished, some could still stay and join the performance Culture Tunnel Ruhr. We witnessed the last attempt (of the Culture Tunnel’s second performance series) to find an exit from this tunnel with muddy waters. The performance was very intensive – like our network meeting had been. The difference was that – unlike the prisoner of the Culture Tunnel – after our coaching we could see light at the end of the tunnel.

Pictures by Urban Jeriha & Agnieszka Wnuczak

Pictures by René Jankowski