- Different Vision. Bulgaria. Organization: Association of Contemporary Art and Culture. Address: 12, Zahari Stoyanov Str., 6000 Stara Zagora,

Transcription

1 EVS - BUŁGARIA

2 Organization: Association of Contemporary Art and Culture - Different Vision Address: 12, Zahari Stoyanov Str., 6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria contact@razlichniatpogled.org phone: contact: Ms Teodora Nikolaeva PROJECT ENVIROMENT: Association of Contemporary Art and Culture Different Vision plans to implement hosting projects mainly in the field of art and culture, but also in the following areas: ecology, media and communications/youth information, non-formal education and sports, and work with youth with fewer opportunities. The volunteers will work in urban ambience, working according to the project activities in the office or outdoors, in informative campaigns, open-air cinema projections or activities, related to the organization of the festival. Stara Zagora is the 6th biggest city in Bulgaria with more than inhabitants and 3000 years of history. The office of ACAC-DV is situated in the ideal centre of the city, near all cultural institutions and many historical monuments, such as: Ancient forum, Ancient street Augusta Trayana, Roman excavations of Central Postoffice and Regional Historic Museum, Roman House, etc. The cultural life marks a long-term opera tradition, a part of which are the Opera and Ballet festival and The International festival for Puppet Theatre for Adults Pierrot. In the medical department of local university there are a lot of foreign students, who often visit our cultural events. The city dispose with a lot of green spaces, renewed soccer stadium and basketball hall, variety of art halls, cinemas and galleries. The local park Ayazmo a vast dendrarium, where variety of trees and animals live is open all year round and is the favorite leisure activities venue for the citizens. Researches classify Stara Zagora as a city with high living standard, compared to others in Bulgaria. The municipality works really well for the development of the infrastructure and other facilities in the city. Lots of foreign visitors say that it is one of the most interesting places to visit in this region of Bulgaria. About 30 km north of the city there are lots of historical places for visit such as The Tracian Treasures and Thombs near Kazanlak and the Rose valley. We have good contacts with the NGOs in that region and with some of them we have implemented mutual projects. We believe that a modern and historically rich town as Stara Zagora will be interesting and convenient environment for the foreign

3 volunteers. As hosts, we will present the local rituals, historical sightseeing and cultural diversity. PROPOSED ACTIVITIES FOR EVS VOLUNTEERS: - what you can offer to volunteers in terms of Service and learning opportunities, ACAC DV will give the volunteers opportunities for personal development, gaining of confidence, professional competencies and diverse experience. They will get in touch with different arts, make contacts with artists and representatives of the local NGOs, institutions and media, they will have freedom of opinion and support in realizing their good ideas. They will be able to develop their creativity and artistic skills, leading art workshops, presentations and campaigns. All of the trainings, workshops and some of the seminars, organized by the Association are done according to the methods of non-formal education. The volunteers will have the opportunities to participate in some of them and to collaborate with our members and the local youth community, sharing their ideas on EVS and other activities of the organization. They will be encouraged and acknowledged for their efforts and good results. All volunteers will be supported in their Bulgarian language education in order to enrich their knowledge about Bulgaria and to gain communication confidence and success. - what will be the role of EVS volunteers in the Host Organisation, By implementing their voluntary mission in Stara Zagora, the volunteers will promote and practically release the idea of voluntarism on local and international level. Realizing it or not, they will become a role model for the local youth and community, presenting themselves, the Association and the values of EVS, respectively the Youth in Action programme. Implementing the activities they will increase the capacity of the Association, expand its range of contacts and its potential on future projects. They stand in the middle of the partners relations and play an important part in their exchange of experience and collaboration. That is why they will be encouraged to being responsible, active and cooperative. - the activities in which the volunteers could be involved and the activities the volunteers could create in your organisation. Please give examples of typical activities/tasks for the volunteers. According to the specifics of the given project, the volunteers will be involved in the following activities: - administrating, promoting and organizing cultural events (cinema, theatre, concerts, exhibitions, alternative, art and leisure activities); - responsibilities, related to the festival, such as leading the contact with foreign artists, preparation of the materials and the technical part when implementing events); - maintenance and development of the internet tools of the Association, such as internet page, e-zine and profiles in Facebook; - participation in the implementation of promotion campaigns, press conferences and sponsors actions; - leading the information campaign and presentations related to the voluntary mission of EVS; - facilitation of non-formal art activities for children and youngsters, including creative concept, monitoring and support of the safety instructions and good atmosphere for the participants; some of the topics of the workshops are jewellery, glass, ceramics and fabrics painting, art-recycling of clothes and domestic materials, etc. The EVS volunteer will have creative freedom and cooperative support, when his ideas correspond to the aims of the Association.and the values of EVS and Youth in Action. The ideas will be discussed between him/her and the mentor at one side, and with the rest of the members of the team at another. We expect that the volunteers will show an open attitude and will clearly proclaim their vision

4 on developing and enriching the project activities, as well as suggesting new ones. Moreover, they will have the opportunity to participate in additional activities out of the project, if they have the interest and the potential for that, and if their participation and role are approved by all the members of the team. VOLUNTEER PROFILES AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS: The volunteers we are looking for should be open-minded and interested in art and culture, non-formal education, sport and work with children and youngsters. They should be communicative and creative individuals, ready to face new challenges and to work in dynamic atmosphere. It is recommendable that they have good computer and internet skill and satisfactory English language level. ACAC DV will announce vacancies for volunteers via the website of the organization, our Facebook profile and the informative networks of our partners. This way the young people who are interested in our projects could apply directly through sending us an application from and CV. After evaluating the applicants, ACAC DV will approve the candidates, who best match the aims of the project and the Association, we will make interviews through Skype and other social networks and will choose the volunteers, in coordination with the opinion of the partners organizations. Suitable partners for ACAC DV would be art organizations, who organize festivals and other cultural events or work in the fields of: youth communication and media, non-formal education, sports and open-air leisure activities, ecology and work with children and youngsters with fewer opportunities. With such organizations we would most efficiently exchange experience and good practices, having mutual and long-term benefits. NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS HOSTED: 1-30 volunteers In the Associationa-s yearly plan, AYFA DV is the activity, which demands the most serious financial, material and human resource. Its organization includes activity planning, providing materials and sponsorship, contacts with local and foreign artists, logistics, promoting and media activities, cooperation with local institutions and NGOs, etc. That is why, to implement this event, whose organization usually takes several months, we need a large number of volunteers. The Association has experience in attracting and working with local volunteers during the organization of AYFA DV and for the 2011th edition their number exceeded 80. There was a specific training, mentorship and task structure provided. The experience we have given us the confidence that we can manage hosting the given maximum number of EVS volunteers. Risk prevention, protection and safety: Please describe: - how you will guarantee a safe living and working environment for the EVS volunteers, There will be safety work instructions presentation about the rules and conditions in the office

5 and outside. The volunteer will be supported by the team members whenever he/she needs additional information or help. He/she will be informed about Emergency Centres and institutions in the region, their contacts, telephone numbers and addresses, the place and content of the first aid kit in the office and the ways to act in emergency situations. During the project we will demand actual information about eventual problems or technical issues in his/her living surroundings. We will inform the official institutions in Republic of Bulgaria about the accommodation place of the volunteers in order to provide them with temporary registration. We will monitor and be aware of keeping the rights of the volunteer, alarming the European commission about any type of discrimination shown to/by him/her. - how you will prevent risks and crises, Good communication between volunteers, mentor, team members and partner organizations before and during the project is the basic of its success. We will use different risk prevention tools such as instruction sessions, simulation activities and easy access to information, regarding the needed actions such as evacuation plans and emergency numbers visuals in the working territory. Working with technical devices will be explained in details as the most important parts will be also visualised. It is also important what level of Bulgarian language competence the volunteer has, so that he would have the most adequate reaction and communication skills in an emergency cases. That is why, we plan making a short bilingual volunteer-s guide, in which there will be a Risk prevention part. - how a in the case of EVS volunteers aged 16 or 17 a you ensure appropriate supervision, protection and safety. In case we have that younger volunteers, they will be informed about the local and national laws, regarding this age. We will also provide more specific mentorship, depending on their level of maturity and independence. The mentor will keep friendly relations with them in order to encourage them to openness and trust. Alcohol and drug usage will be prohibited and we will not tolerate any examples of irresponsibility or lack of discipline, excused with age. And as far as the Association consists of open-minded artists, we will treat our volunteers with the necessary respect, equality and trust, because we believe these are essential components of the human relations, which grantee the effective communication and success of any team. MOTIVATION AND EVS EXPERIENCE: Association of Contemporary Art and Culture Different Vision aims to be accredited as Host, Send and Coordinating Organization of the European Voluntary Service. In 2011 The Association expanded its international activity and contacts, being a partner organization in the following projects: Music Connection, London (A1.1), M3 Marketing, Management and Money for youth NGOs Training course, Denmark (A4.3). We have also sent participants in: Take attitude! Be the change you want to see in the world Training course for Forum Theatre method multipliers, Slovenia (A4.3) and Volunteers in Project Writing Training course, Romania (A4.3). There is an upcoming partnership in All colours of peace Training course on conflict management, UK (A4.3). The EVS accreditation will give us the opportunity to enrich the capacity of our organization and to implement more international

6 projects in the Youth in Action programme. By actively including volunteers in our team, its members will get to know new cultures, different ways of thinking, find new perspectives on our work and new ways of communication. They will learn about history, life and customs of other cultures, presenting their own country in the same time, so that an atmosphere of mutual understanding and intercultural solidarity is born. Up to now our organization has been working only with local volunteers, so the possibility of hosting and sending volunteers with foreign organizations will be a new challenge, allowing us to learn from others experience and exchange good practices. It will also increase and moderate our international image and contacts, opening the door to new and long-term partnerships. Voluntarism is one of the most effective ways of intercultural exchange and non-formal and informal learning, which are among the priorities of The Association. In this line of thought, our various activities will provide the volunteers with many options for personal and professional development. They will be able to make contacts with our partners organizations from the region and throughout Europe, so as with our partner artists, supporters, representatives of official institutions, medias and local community. Our higher aims in the field of voluntarism are to open an international field for creativity, to develop intercultural tolerance and exchange in art, so as to increase the social, and more concrete, the youth commitment on the level of art production in the region. DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANIZATION: The mission of the organization is to use the methods of arts, culture and sport in order to provoke in youngsters and all the active and talented people the will to get to know their inner self, to dream, create, be brave and innovative in the process of developing a unique and thorough way of perceiving the world. Since its establishment ACAC DV supports young people-s potential development, creativity and ideas, popularizing the methods of non-formal learning, creating opportunities for realization of their social and art skills, multiplying good youth practices. The Association well knows the cultural needs and interests of the youngsters of Stara Zagora, as it implements various events and activities, amongst which is four editions of the Annual Youth Festival of Arts Different vision /AYFA DV/. It is held in the beginning of the school year and its main aim is to create a forum between the audience at one hand and artists, NGOs, state institutions and the local business at another, through the uniting power of art. The festival serves as a transition between the summer vacation and school, offering various ideas on how to spend leisure time. It is supported by the municipality of Stara Zagora, other institutions, NGOs and the local business. In the 3-day edition in 2011 there were 300 artists and over visitors and participants in the workshops. There were more than 80 volunteers, who participated in a special non-formal training and took part in the organization of the festival through their individual interests and abilities. The Association organizes other cultural events throughout the year, such as: 1) Alternative cinema, theatre, poetic, circus and street art performances, exhibitions, VJ/DJ, music and dance concerts;

7 2) Information campaigns on voluntarism activities, eco projects and HIV prevention campaigns, conferences, seminars, presentations and informative meetings for youth entrepreneurship, cultural and youth politics; 3) Sport, eco and health initiatives in cooperation with other local NGOs; 4) Arts and crafts workshops; 5) Psychological youth consulting; 6) Creative concept, decoration and organization of children and adult parties; Since 2011 The Association has taken part in several international projects of the Youth in Action programme and since January 2012 is implementing a project for Youth Informative and Consultation Centre Different Vision, financed by the National Centre European Youth Programmes and Initiatives( Bulgarian Ministry of Education, Youth and Science. Our team, consists of 10 people, aged between 18-40, educated in the field of art and social science (art management, ballet pedagogy and directing, music pedagogy, sound engineering, psychology, alternative tourism, etc.) with different social status, experience and language skills. Some of the volunteers, attracted during the festival, work periodically in activities throughout the year. Our target group consists of young people, aged between 14-35, the parents of our youngest audience, open-minded teachers and, generally, active and socially committed people with affinity to art and culture. The office of ACAC-DV Creative forum The Ivy House is situated in the centre of Stara Zagora, being the first floor of a block of flats and consisting of 3 artistically decorated rooms, additional space for art activities, named Colourful workshop and a green yard. There we organize some of our meetings, consultation and art workshops.