Creative people for greener cities

"<< Background >>In an era where visual content plays a significant role in shaping opinions and inspiring action, harnessing the power of video to advocate for a greener world has never been more essential. The project “Creative people for greener cities” motivated VET learners and teachers to explore the principles of green design, acquire knowledge and tools needed to produce compelling videos that educate, engage, and inspire audiences to embrace sustainable practices. Learners were trained to present their creative ideas from conceptualization to post-production, compared various techniques in order transform simple amateur videos into powerful catalysts for change. The main goal of vocational training institutions is to equip students and graduates with various competencies in order to develop graduates capabilities in finding jobs, assigning work, entrepreneurship, pursuing the work faced and renewing their work skills. This is common priority for vocational education institutions, but it become especially crucial for training in creative fields where graduators have to be equipped with a proper portfolio and presentation skills. The partnership of 4 European schools was focused on brining innovations to vocational training programs.<< Objectives >>The partnership planned to encourage learners and teachers to take active part in green initiatives of EU, bringing new ideas of sustainability in design. The project was implemented with the aim to train video presentation skills on globally important topics - improvement of green infrastructure of urban environment. The idea was to encourage young people to study the history of the places they live and observe the natural value of these locations, look for ideas what motivate people to improve the quality of life by creative integration of art and nature.<< Implementation >>The project was implemented through various inter-connected activities, including students film competition, teaching and training events - training sessions on the topics of effective video-making, design thinking, development and promotion of city green infrastructure, development of teaching resource - a Handbook of making efficient video presentations, project results dissemination activities. All activities consequently led to the final activity - selection of the most successful students' films and promote those films involving local communities and decision makers. The results of project- the Handbook ""Change minds to change your environments"" translated to 5 languages summarize the experience of the project team and provides valuable teaching materials for VET schools.<< Results >>The project resulted in development of intellectual output -a handbook ""Change minds to change your environments"" where project team collected and summarized the inspiration from experts on green design, filmmaking and public speaking, examined successful strategies and best practices. The Handbook contains case studies and real-world examples that showcase the positive impact of eco-conscious videos on communities, policies, and the environment at large."