REPORTING PRESS RELEASE Festival YSD, “Sustainable Planet: Youth Design” – United by the Screen

It is with great success that the festival “Sustainable Planet: Youth Design” – United by the Screen was organized and implemented by the Institute of Research & Training on European Affairs – I.R.T.E.A. in cooperation with the Municipality of Salamina.

The festival was organized in the framework of I.R.T.E.A. partnership in the European project “Young Service Designers – YSD”, funded by the European Union and the ERASMUS+ Programme ((European Youth Together (EYT) Sub – programme under Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency – EACEA (GA n°624732)).

The festival took place on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 May 2023, in the Forest in front of Salamina’s Town Hall, which was filled with over 100 young people, students, pupils and local citizens which attended the event and participated in the activities.

The 5 topics which were the basis for the activities of the Festival were:
-Fire Safety and Fire Protection
-Protection of the Environment and Recycling
-Drowning and First Aid Provision
-Road Safety
-Social Integration and Inclusion of People with Disabilities

On Saturday 27 May, our Festival began with the Opening Remarks by the Mayor of Salamina, Mr. Giorgos Panagopoulos, and Ms. Despina Papadaki, Event Manager, who welcomed the people attending the festival and welcomed the organizations and stakeholders who were present and supported the organization of the festival. Additionally, the expressed their hope that this Festival becomes a new “tradition” for the island of Salamina, that will take place, on a yearly basis in order to highlight the authorities, organizations, bodies and other entities of the island along with their activity but to also raise awareness and inform the citizens and visitors of the island about important topics about the safety and security of all people, such as protection of the environment, first aid provision, safeguarding from drowning incidents, as well as road safety.

The forest of the Town Hall, hosted stands and pavilions with organizations and groups of the island, that accepted the invitation and participated in the activities of the festival. They informed the attendees about their spectrum of activities, as well as the topics that they work on in the axis of environmental and social thematics, as well as issues of inclusivity and active participation.

More specifically, among the organized stands and pavilions, the participants had the chance to learn more about the protection of the environment, climate change and its effects on our daily lives, recycling, its proper conduction and its benefits, fire safety, fire protection and the prevention of drowning. Moreover, the festival hosted stakeholders from the field of social inclusion of people with disabilities and informed us on the daily life of a child with disabilities and talked to us about integration issues.

While the pavilions and the stands offered their contribution to the topics, the local traffic police department, informed and discussed with young pupils about the traffic code, the various road signs and the proper driver and pedestrian behavior. In this framework, the traffic police also set up an educational traffic park, where the young participants had the chance to move around with their skates, bikes and scooters, to put into action what they learned in a fun, interactive way!

The second day of the Festival, Sunday 28 May, also started in a fun way, with local dance schools “Road Runners” and “Chris Dance”, to perform some choreographies for us, and then inviting us to join them under the sounds of swing, hully gully as well as modern dance!

Moving on, our afternoon continued with the movie screening of a short film with environmental content, which aimed at informing and raising awareness on environmental topics. One of the main objectives of this festival, was nonetheless, to address the protection of the environment through the art of cinema, films and animation, while also contemplating and rethinking our stance on the matter.

Special thanks should be offered to all the organizations, groups and actors that were present in the festival and honored us with both their presence and contribution to the organization of it. Namely:

• PERIVOS (Environmental Group of Salamina) (ΠΕΡΙΒΟΣ – Περιβαλλοντικός Όμιλος Σαλαμίνας), for their pavilion and information on environmental topics, recycling and tree planting,
• Association for People with Disabilities and Special Elementary School, for their pavilion and information on life and integration of people with disabilities,
• 1o Junior High School and Aianteion High School of Salamina, for their pavilion and the information about their actions on climate change, recycling and raising awareness on environmental topics,
• Group of Friends of the Forest (Όμιλος Φίλων του Δάσους), and their pavilion on information about fire protections, fire safety and prevention of drowning in the sea,
• Salamina Traffic Police Department, for the organization of a traffic safety park for our young participants
• The vehicle from the programme GREEN CITY, which informed the attendees on recycling
• The Elementary schools of Selinia, Aianteion, the 3rd and 4th Elementary Schools of Salamina who contributed to the creation and development of traffic road signs,
• Dance School “Road Runners” for their dancing performances,
• Modern Dance School Chris Dance for their dancing performances.

The festival was a great success, especially considering the entire process of designing the idea to implementing it through the Young Service Designers Programme activities. Even more special was the joy, satisfaction and content of everyone who participated in its organization including the participating Young Service Designers and youth workers, who saw their idea come to life as well as the impact on the local community.

To say the least, the festival and the overall Programme, proved that youth should have a platform and a voice for their ideas when it comes to civic affairs, as well as decision making for the enhancement of their local community and society.