Highlights from the Pop the Vote! Playground Camp

February 26, 2024, 10:44 am

From February 10th to 16th, 44 young artists from 14 European countries came together in Belgium to explore the dynamic relationship between art and democracy for the long-awaited training of Culture Action Europe’s project, “Pop the Vote! Culture on the Ballot.” The project works with young artists and cultural workers to not only get citizens to the voting booths in the upcoming European Parliamentary elections (6-9 June 2024), but also to centre artistic expression, culture, and artivism at the core of community and democratic engagement. 

The Playground Camp, facilitated by the Artivist Network, provided Changemakers with the platform to unleash their talents and gain valuable insights into organizing art events back home. By the end of the camp, they developed their own individual plans to host two engagment events in their respective countries aimed at inspiring citizen participation in the European elections in June 2024.

Additionally, during the camp, Changemakers dedicated a day to visit the European Parliament in Brussels, where they gained firsthand knowledge about the European Union, its institutions, and the European elections. They met with Philipp Schulmeister, Director for Campaigns at the European Parliament, to gain deeper insights into how to foster their engagement and campaigning efforts through the EU platform Together.EU.

Immediately after their visit to the European Parliament, the Changemakers gathered in the heart of Brussels to craft a compelling public artwork urging people to vote in the 2024 European Elections. Collaborating with the Artivist Network and Barcelona-based artist Oriana Eliçabe, the team brought to life a preview of the project’s core message: four large-scale photographic portraits of the young artists themselves, intertwined with yellow stars and ballot boxes. Situated at Boulevard de l’Europe in the Brussels Midi train station, the artwork will remain open to the public until the end of June.

 

The Changemakers will be hosting their upcoming events across Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden from now until the end of May.

You can find the dates for their events, more about this week’s public artwork and the updates from the project on the Pop the Vote Instagram page.

#Culturaldemocracy

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