TRANSFORMERS! IS A YOUTH EXCHANGE PROGRAM BASED ON COMMUNITY ORGANIZING AND CREATIVE ACTIVISM.The international program brings together 24 participants from 6 different cities: Cairo, Amsterdam, Paris, Istanbul, Berlin and Rabat.

 

The program started off with a two week exchange in Berlin in 2013 and will be hosted – on an annual basis – in in all of the participating cities. This year’s edition -  2014 – will take place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Inspired by the method of community organizing and different forms of creative activism, TRANSFORMERS! experiments with new forms of political participation and civic engagement to fight problems in the participants’ neighborhoods. During two weeks of training, the participants are trained in skills of creative activism and digital communication. All participating trainers have played an active role in either community organizing and/or creative activism.

The TRANSFORMERS! participants – aged between 18 and 23 years old – all come from deprived neighborhoods and are migrants with roots in Islamic countries. Within the exchange program the participants will discover / expand on their own potential to become a creative community leader with their community back home. After the exchange, all participants will organize an activity in their own neighborhood, in which they will bring their newly trained skills into practice.

 

TRANSFORMERS! IS A PROJECT BY: Dennis Fraters, Jan Willem Koelewijn (Schoolclash), Niels de Groot (Stichting Doetank), Femke Kaulingfreks (Palabras Research and Advice) , Matthijs Ponte (Read My World Festival) and Mohammed Salim Guennoun (Maroc Art´chimiste, Theatre Aquarium).

 

THE TRANSFORMERS! TEAM: Femke Kaulingfreks, Jan-Willen Koelewijn, Niels de Groot, Dennis Fraters, Matthijs Ponte, Ladji Real, Marike Minnema, Salim Guennoun, Mustafa Gencer, Tara Dickman, Mumin Baris, Leo Leckie and many others.