One of the local residents group members in Oosterpoort, Wim mentioned that he would have never expected such results from the RECOMS fellows, who produced games, exhibition, theatre plays and even music in less than two weeks in the frame of RECOMS third training event in order to involve locals in sustainable energy and climate change fights in Groningen, the Netherlands.
Photo by Ika Darnhofer
RECOMS third training event took place in Groningen, the Netherlands on 10-24 August 2019 with the aim to enable fellows to centre around yet another aspect of "learning by doing" through getting involved with the local communities about sustainable energy. To prepare them for such a task, this event focused on providing training about creative skills, namely "the art of invitation" and theatrical skills. PeerGrouP, RECOMS partner and expert in working in a socially engaged manner, showed the fellows some basic theater skills, while Encounters experts taught various techniques about creative engagement within the frame of the Art of Invitation. To also provide background about the "Energy of Groningen", numerous University of Groningen's scientific experts presented about relevant topics.
The fellows then equipped with the knowledge worked in three groups with the tasks to engage with locals about their energy habits or call visitors to envision and build the future Groningen at the Noorderzon festival. The methods of involving locals included for instance, joint t-shirt painting and co-building a little model of Groningen in 2050 and addressed at least thousand of people in the city. The outcomes were bursting with a high level of creativity so no wonder the initiatives were featured in numerous local media.
Check out RECOMS' Twitter feed to see more photos about the event and see the event's program here.