Peaceful encounters and ambitious creative workshops at Boys' house
Towards one's own path
Keywords:
gender-sensitive youth-work, artistic expression, social impact, participation JohdaAbstract
Art-based methods are a well-known form of social youth work. Poikien Talo (Boys’ House) offers creative, art-based workshops for youngsters as part of their weekly program. These workshops are led by professional artists with long experience in youth work and they are structured by three dimensions: learning, artistic expression and social impact. This text dissects these elements as the conceptual foundation of the workshops and offers tools which help maintain those elements in youth groups. Creative activities enable processing sensitive topics such as gender in a non-verbal way. Many youngsters participating in these workshops find social situations and interaction challenging, particularly when personal topics are approached through discussion. Making art in a familiar group but still without words, adjusted to everyone’s own rhythm seems to be more effective. This text utilizes feedback collected from the young people and the youth workers and shares their experiences from creative workshops aimed to amplify the voices of the participants.
