Throughout history, queer voices have been systematically marginalized, erased, or silenced. In its effects on youth, this erasure extends beyond legal discrimination, infiltrating cultural narratives, community spaces, and psychological frameworks.
While legislative progress is crucial, it alone cannot address the profound need for recognition, representation, and spaces where queer youth can reclaim their stories and assert their existence. This is why the ‘Our Story’ KA2 project is so relevant and this is also why we are thrilled to share the results of the first Training Course within Ka2- Storytelling for LGBTQIA community Wellbeing.
From November 22 to 28, 2024, we hosted an international Training Course in Vilanova i la Geltrú for 26 queer storytellers and youth workers. During the week, participants took part in workshops exploring creative tools like poetry, drawing, and photography. They also reflected on their experiences using methods such as journey mapping and exploring symbols in culture. The activities were designed with non-formal education methods used to set a safe and inclusive environment where trust, teamwork, and creativity could thrive.
We were fortunate to learn from inspiring guest speakers: Joana and Ian, who visited us in dear to us Hotel Cesar, and Rosa Navarro, with whom the queer-feminist library La Raposa in Barcelona. They all shared not only their books, but also dialogued with the participants about the creative process, importance of story telling and their personal stories that got them to write their works.
The event ended with a unique exhibition, where participants presented their stories expressed using the skills they had developed during the week, letters to their past selves, inspired by the Dear Me campaign, and collaborative zines, a collective graphic work of the participants. The evening continued with conversations about the works and dialogue and experience exchange approached through everyones work and concluded with a farewell dinner in Sitges, a vibrant center of LGBTQIA+ culture.
This week was a time of community building, creativity, honesty, and teamwork—all contributing to the well-being of the LGBTQIA+ community. We are incredibly grateful to Marto, Mary, and Sophia for leading the artistic workshops; Eleni from Emantes, Giulia from Osservatori di Genere, and Adam from Saplinq for their facilitation; and Ola from FCV and Aneta from Prague Pride for managing logistics and reporting. The event was coordinated by Zaklina from FCV, who is already fully invested in polishing the next steps of the Our Story journey.
We are especially proud of the seminar’s results. The final evaluation showed that we are moving in the right direction, with participants giving an average score of 8.3 out of 10 for meeting the event’s goals and developing key skills. For such an ambitious project, this is an excellent outcome. You can find a detailed breakdown of the results for each objective in the attached presentation here!
