“Bright Colors” was an international youth exchange project implemented by Shokkin Group in the beginning of June together with Lasnamäe Noortekeskus and with the support of Lasnamäe Linnaosa Valitsus and the Estonian National Agency for Erasmus+.
Artists from Spain, Cyprus, Norway and Estonia came together to exchange experiences, raise awareness and become more conscious about the role of active citizenship among young people in society.
As a result, artists created murals and art pieces all around Lasnamäe. You can find results of the project and masterpieces of local street artists here.
“‘Bright Colors’ gave me the possibility to be an art coordinator for the first time in my life. It was a quite confusing and, to be honest, even terrifying task at the beginning of the project. However, with the help of the organizers and the team leaders, I overcame my fear of being in a “not-only-a-participant-position”.
Since I had already had some experiences in Erasmus+ exchanges in the past, mostly during my school time, I could easily get accustomed to the schedule and overall atmosphere of the project. Our guests from other countries (Norway, Spain and Cyprus) were very outgoing and friendly. Surely some long-term friendships were sealed during this youth exchange.
Besides that, eleven murals were painted during Bright Colors, and we even participated in a local youth festival in Tondiraba park with a spray workshop. Some of the participants didn’t have any experience in street art before, but managed to quickly pick up on the basics and helped out on the murals.
Participants had to face obstacles of working as a team – sometimes it can be a bit tricky to work on a mural together. Nevertheless, at the end everything worked out and everyone was satisfied with their results.
From my perspective, “Bright Colors” met all my expectations and even exceeded them. I got the chance to be behind the scenes, but also be present as a participant. I made a lot of new connections and discovered other cultures, their values and ways of thinking. Overall it was a very positive and energizing experience.”
Emilia
“This was my first youth exchange. I didn’t know what to expect, but everything turned out great. During the project, I met wonderful people, and it was a pleasure to work with them. I will be glad to participate in the next youth exchange. Thanks to all participants and organizers for this project!”
Nastja
“This project was an amazing experience. First of all — it was my first Erasmus plus project. Second, it was a great opportunity which you can just experience when you participate there. Staying 10 days with 20 people who share your love of arts felt awesome. I had a great time!
Alex
“For me this project was a first and quite successful experience, because I had the opportunity to gain new knowledge and expand the horizons: communication with various people in a language that is not my native language.
A foreign language is a way to get out of your comfort zone. And the fact that the project participants are representatives of other countries allows you to learn more about their culture. I gained new knowledge as well as an artist, thanks to the theme of Bright Colors – graffiti. Previously, I was not able to work on large formats and with similar materials.
The project plan was well organized,and not all the time was spent on work and analysis: part of our time was dedicated to getting to know each other (joint dinners and evenings, walks and excursions), common work that is not focused on graffiti (festival), etc. Each of the points created an incredible, special atmosphere of Bright Colors, which will remain in my memory for a long time.“
Sonja
“The project turned out to be inspiring and interesting. Friendly and interesting atmosphere made it possible to go high up and enjoy every second of this project. A lot of creative work has been done and we got excellent results!”
Anton