The Summer Academy 2024 explores how culture can foster youth participation, and it puts into focus the issues of availability, accessibility, and inclusivity of culture across European regions.

Hosted by Nordland fylkeskommune (Nordland County Council), the Summer Academy 2024 will take place from the 12th to the 16th of August in Bodø, the European Capital of Culture.  Driven by the key theme of ‘Fostering Youth Participation through Culture’, this edition will explore the relationship between culture, society, and economy through region-led workshops on the healing power of culture in humanitarian and social crises, its capacity to connect people from diverse backgrounds, its power to generate financial revenues from local assets and many other aspects of the generative power of culture.

As intergenerational dialogue and youth inclusion are at the heart of the Summer Academy, and the 2024 edition starts on the UN International Youth Day, the 2024 edition will feature the Award Ceremony of the MYFER Award, rewarding the Most Youth-Friendly European Region.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL DETAILED AGENDA

*REGISTRATION DEADLINE: 10 JULY 2024*

Participation in the Summer Academy is subject to a participation fee, included in the registration form. Read below for more details.

What’s on the agenda?

The Summer Academy will include plenary sessions, workshops, study visit and cultural activities revolving around the main topic: fostering youth participation through culture.

The opening plenary session will include regional representatives, European institutional representatives and youth delegates (young elected politicians, youth county councils…) who will share their expertise and views, and engage in meaningful discussions.

The workshops are organised by members of the Organising Committee for the 2024 edition of the Summer Academy, namely:

• AER: workshop on Mental Health Prevention and Planning, with the AER Working Group on Mental Health and the Youth Regional Network (YRN).
• Catalonia: workshop by the Catalan Youth Agency and Sala d’Art Jove, “Inventing recipes to be (together)”.
• Donegal County Council: workshop on “Intercultural integration and the EU-Belong project”.
• Maramures County Council: workshop on Art Therapy.
• Nordland County Council: workshop on “The Narvik War and Peace Centre”.
• Údarás na Gaeltachta: workshop by Muintearas, “Cuisle na Gaeltachta / the Pulse of the Gaeltacht: an overview and insight into youth participation through Culture in the Gaeltacht”.
• Østfold County Council: workshop on “The Blikkåpner project and Gallery F15“.
• Autonomous Province of Vojvodina: workshop on ““Student participation in politics and decision-making processes”.
• Kanton Zürich: “Democratic Culture in the Canton of Zurich”, with the Zürich Youth Parliament.
• Local workshop: “Sámi Pathfinders and Sámi University College”, with representatives from the Sámi people in Bodø.

The study visits and cultural activities are organised by the host region, as a unique occasion to showcase their region’s richness, models and diversity, while valuing the cultural backgrounds of the other regions represented at the event, in a closing cultural evening!

The closing plenary is led by the youth delegates themselves, as a privileged feedback and interaction moment.

How to join the Summer Academy 2024?

To take part in the Summer Academy, participants are requested to purchase a ticket on Nordland fylkeskommune’s dedicated online platform (as you would purchase a concert or festival ticket).

The price of the ticket includes:

• access to all activities of the Summer Academy (plenaries, workshops, cultural activities,s tudy visits);
• accommodation at the Radisson Blu Hotel Bodø (booked directly by Nordland County Council for the participants) for 4 nights (arrival 12 August, departure 16 August);
• all meals from Monday dinner to Friday breakfast;
• airport transfers from Bodø airport, and transfers from the conference venue to the other activities.

The online platform to purchase the tickets is open! Three types of tickets are available:

• Regular ticket: 600 EUR. Single room.
• Discounted youth ticket: 300 EUR. Twin room (i.e. shared room between two young participants – same-sex only).
• Local ticket (for participants living in Bodø only, and who don’t need a hotel): 100 EUR.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND PURCHASE YOUR SUMMER ACADEMY TICKET

*REGISTRATION DEADLINE: 10 JULY 2024*

The Summer Academy: a high-level event recognised by European institutions

As part of the Climbing the Ladder Erasmus+ project, the Summer Academy enables participants to share their opinions on how and why culture matters, and what should change – or not – to make culture a driver for engagement in public life.  The project’s main objective is to address the need for effective and meaningful structures, mechanisms and spaces for the active engagement of young people in policy-making and decision-making processes at local, regional, national and European levels.

The Summer Academy will be showcased as one of the three study visits of the CL-YE project, where relevant data about models and spaces for youth engagement will be collected. Both the AER and Nordland fylkeskommune are part of the project consortium led by DYPALL Network, a European platform gathering civil society organisations and local authorities from more than 30 countries, whose mission is to involve young people in decision-making processes, engage them as active citizens, and enable municipal and regional authorities to address the needs and interests of youth.

Did you know that the Summer Academy 2022 was awarded the European Citizen’s Prize for Ireland? Awarded every year by the European Parliament, this Prize goes to projects “organised by people or organisations that encourage mutual understanding and closer integration between people in the EU, cross-border cooperation that builds a stronger European spirit, and EU values and fundamental rights.”

In addition, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, a long-standing partner of the AER of the Youth Regional Network (YRN), had supported the 2022 edition of the Summer Academy, through the participation of their Secretary General and of their youth delegate for Switzerland.

Contact persons at the AER Secretariat: Lorène Weber ([email protected]), Programmes Coordinator; Barbara Polin ([email protected]), Communications & Events Coordinator; Justin Sammon ([email protected]), Member Relations Coordinator.