"The project YOUTH DRAMA, MEDIA & STORYTELLING FOR DEVELOPING CULTURAL HERITAGE AND TOURISM (YDMS) aimed to: - promote European cultural heritage - develop the sustainable tourism sector - create job opportunities for NEETs - contribute to the year 2018 strategy (European year of cultural heritage) The project used innovative educational methods as theatre training to involve unemployed young NEETs in the job market, creating for them various tools that, at the same time, can promote places, histories, and myths of the partners' cities. This means that the project ""YDMS"" uses narrative methodologies and digital design tools to tell stories about European cultural heritage and to contribute to making more cultural heritage known. The partnership was composed of 4 experienced organizations from Copenhagen (Denmark), Potenza (Italy), Leipzig (Germany), and Alicante (Spain) with respective/complementary expertise in project management, storytelling, theater performances, ICT, Apps development, videogames, digital animations for mobile devices (tablets, smartphones), web platforms (Android, iOS), Augmented Reality, etc. The YDMS project activities comprised: - 4 transnational project meeting - 1 JSTE - 2 Intellectual Outputs - 4 Multiplier Events - Monitoring and Evaluation activities - Various other outcomes - Dissemination activities - Final training seminaries for NEETs during a period of 28 months of project activities running from 01/09/2018 till 31/12/2020. Due to the Covid, the project was extended. The project had 2 Intellectual Outputs comprising: 1) LIVE YOUNG ACTORS AND TOOL-KIT 2) YDMS WEB PLATFORM, APP, E-GAME, AND GUIDE Both the Intellectual Outputs were planned to allow the development of theatrical tour using ""live young actors"" and innovative digital tools, thus promoting the local communities, and they work specifically in the connection between them The JSTE was planned to be held in Germany as a T.o.T. (Training of Trainers) for the partners' staff involved, that, then, should carry out the final training seminaries for the NEETs to become ""live young actors"" in the last 4 months of the project period. The project, as foreseen, had an important and effective impact at the local, regional, national, and European level on various target groups and it was a tangible contribution to the sustainability of the project as it could help generate job opportunities in the tourism sector and with the involvement also of Municipalities, Regional Agency for Tourism and other stakeholders in its promotion."

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECTThe Commission communication Rethinking Education: Investing in Skills for better socio-economic outcomes set up the purpose to sharing best practices on how to promote the creativity and innovative capacity of young people by identifying competences and skills acquired through non-formal and informal learning relevant to employability. They also stressed the need to improve and widen the recognition of non-formal learning, not just in relation to employability, for example promoting cohesion through formal education and non-formal learning, supporting young people’s innovation and creativity. The role of art and performing arts in formal and non-formal education is relevant to pursuing learning-by-doing methods, reinventing ourselves not only as a person, but also as a group, learning the art to live together through respective differences and attitudes. The project, focused on adult education intended to improve and extend the offer of high quality learning opportunities, also extending and developing educators’ competences for better outreach and improved learning outcomes. OBJECTIVES • Exchange of good practices and teaching approaches from both the Education and the Creative Sector • providing teachers/educators with tools to better respond to learning opportunities and - seek new and more engaging ways of teaching for the modernizing of curricula and find solution for inclusion of disadvantages communities • expand interpersonal relations between direct beneficiaries and between them and their local communities • Increase meaningful skills and reinforce problem solving capacity in learners • reinforce new socio-cultural perspectives in selected target groups • enhance good interactions and mutual comprehension between people from different cultures thanks to the use and practice of verbal and non-verbal communication • foster the creation of experiential learning communities and experience of social inclusion • support best practices of empowerment community and new social ecosystems • reducing social stereotypes related to social conditioning and issues • Support educators to discover and prevent healthy and learning disorders in young learners as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia thanks to the application of performing arts languages • share good practices, professional experience and respective expertise and know-how • reinforce social empathy and kinesthetic, ideokinetic, cognitive and receptive skills in learners • investigate regarding plans for integrating cultural and creative sectors with educational sectors. The project saw the participation of 6 organizations located in 5 different countries: UK, Italy, Spain, Germany and Estonia, working at different levels with the target groups identified in the project, and able to bring the necessary expertise in order to achieve the project results.NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS: Using non-formal education and training we developed art and media skills in 18 adult learners from UK, Italy, Spain, Germany and Estonia during a workshop training in the UK. Participants were adult experts, teachers and trainers engaged in the field of formal and non-formal education and training methods, such as psychology, pedagogy and social sciences curricula, dancing and holistic methods, social affairs and support of disadvantages groups. The staff were selected according to their expertise, and the possibility to both deliver workshops and the ability to used learned techniques in local events. After the international training each country organised 2 local event with 15 people each, mainly from disadvantaged backgrounds (people with learning difficulties or people at risk of social exclusion), for a total of 150 local participants. During the local events, partners used the methods and techniques learned during the international training event.IMPACTThe project gave the participants the chance to:- reinforce experience and know-how about innovative ways of teaching and disseminate cross-sectorial methods thanks to non-formal learning;- discover new ways of practical and performing activities as result of a balanced mix of creative and holistic approach and conventional training and teaching;- broaden audience development thanks to cooperation with other European organizations and enhance knowledge about EU policies and overall objectives regarding education and training;- share experience with other actors active in the same fields of interest and employability, increasing at the same time links and connections with creative sectors.The learners in the local activities had the chance to acquire new creative and social skills to reinforce empowerment of communities, and learn new educational approaches to enhance personal and social responsibilities, change management, problem solving, self-confidence and motivation, physical and mental abilities, and so on.