“Open European Societies” (Europe for Citizens, 2018-2020), a follow-up project of the project “You are Welcome” (Europe for Citizens, 2017-2019) started officially on the 8th of December 2018 with the kick-off meeting organised by Jugend- & Kulturprojekt e.V. at the City Hall of Dresden.
Representatives of the partner organisations from the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Northern Macedonia and the United Kingdom discussed the aims of the project and the annual priorities of the Europe for Citizens programme. The project manager, Myrto-Helena Pertsinidi introduced the concept of the project, its activities and outputs and discussed with the partners the expected outcomes and impact of the planned activities. A presentation about conducting research on the history of migration in the partners’ countries was made by Dr. Theresa Lempp from Jugend- & Kulturprojekt e.V.
In the evening, all partners and also locals from Dresden including migrants and refugees, were invited to join the 1st transnational event of the project at the new office of Jugend- & Kulturprojekt e.V. The event included the photo exhibition “Street Stories” by Ahmad Kaddoura and Ibrahim Fheili, short documentation videos of the project “You are Welcome” project, Iranian music by the Iranian artist Afsharzadeh Saeed and Iranian dishes prepared by the Iranian community of Dresden.
The next day, on the 9th of December 2018 all partners presented the current situation of their countries in terms of migration and integration policies. Moreover, the team of Jugend- & Kulturprojekt e.V. explained more thoroughly the concept of the video interviews and the video campaign. Finally, a discussion regarding the visibility of the project, the dissemination and exploitation of the project’s outcomes followed
We would like to thank our international and local partners as well as the Iranian community of Dresden, our friends and the team of Jugend- & Kulturprojekt e.V. for making this meeting and event happen!