COVID-19 pandemic is a global challenge that poses serious and multilevel concerns. There is already an ongoing discussion on the indirect and direct impact of the pandemic on the environment. Several studies and reportages focus on the positive effects, as pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have fallen across continents (M. Zowalaty et. al., 2020; S. Lokhandwala et. al., 2020), but already environmental stakeholders have spotted the dramatic effects of the COVID-19 to the oceans and the life below water (A. Kassam, 'More masks than jellyfish': coronavirus waste ends up in ocean, retrieved from theguardian.com). In particular, the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the increased use of plastic medical and protective equipment, such as single-use gloves, masks and aprons. Much of this equipment must be discarded after use to limit the spread of the virus. Joffrey Peltier, member of the environmental organisation Operation Mer Propre in France, came across large quantities of latex gloves, face masks and bottles of hand sanitiser in the Mediterranean sea upon exploration (C. Koryn, Another Side Effect of COVID-19: The Surge in Plastic Pollution, retrieved from earth.org). This development indicates a new kind of pollution that adds to the already existing plastic problem and poses environmental, economic, health and aesthetic problems. Youth could undertake a pioneer role in the area and lead activities aiming at raising awareness on the ocean protection and the pandemic relevance to the plastic litter. According to the UN environment programme, “we must invest in promoting actions by youth”, as this will enable us “to build the momentum to address the challenges of tomorrow” (Three reasons our oceans need young people, retrieved from unenvironment.org). Also, EU in the framework of its Coastal and Marine Policy encourages youth to act as Ocean Activists. At the same time, organisations and authorities across the globe utilize arts and visual arts in the field of youth and youth work. For instance the Canadian Ministry of Education (of the Saskatchewan province) recommends the implementation of activities with young people aiming at creating visual art works to express perspectives and raise awareness about a topic of concern to youth.Aim of the OCEA(n)RT project is to boost youth participation to address plastic -“COVID-Waste”- litter through visual art works in Sweden, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. At the same time, targeted dissemination and advocacy activities will take place in Belgium and UK. OCEA(n)RT consortium has set the following objectives:▪ Extend the competences of at least 240 youth workers, working/collaborating with CSOs, youth and environmental organisations, cultural and creative sector grassroots, in order to foster their ability to enhance youth participation and to motivate youth to address pandemic relevance to plastic litter through visual art works.▪ Enhance access to CSOs, youth and environmental organisations, cultural and creative sector grassroots to relevant roadmaps and good practices to ensure youth participation in ocean protection activities and actions to address pandemic relevance to plastic litter.▪ Support at least 120 CSOs, youth and environmental organisations, cultural and creative sector grassroots’ to raise public awareness, to lead and contribute to the development of youth policies that promote active participation of youth in the fight against marine and “COVID-Waste” litter.The added value of implementing this project transnationally, is that it will promote the exchange of experience, learning and/or good practices between different organizations for the joint creation, testing and dissemination of the capacity building programme, the guide and the toolkit for CSOs, youth and environmental organisations, cultural and creative sector grassroots, that can help address a common challenge across the partner countries, the EU and the globe, in line with the key principles and EU’s priorities, as well as, the European Green Deal and the 14th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG14).

Context Professional exchange amongst cultural educators across Europe is essential to ensure sustainable existence and competitiveness in the fast changing European cultural landscape. Mobility within the European cultural sector has increased, which has raised environmental concerns as well as questions of access to mobility. Hence, resource-efficient modes of learning that allow participation with limited time and money are needed to complement face-to-face training and exchange activities. These modes of learning require open education and innovative digital practices in order to include those with limited traveling opportunities.Target Groups and their NeedsWith cultural educators we mean both employed and self-employed professionals in the creative and cultural sector from all over Europe that regularly transmit their knowledge, knowhow and experiences to young professionals, peers or professionals. They can include arts educators as well as curators, cultural managers, etc. and be affiliated with the public sector or civil society.With the consortium of partners we identified the following core topics of relevance to the different project partners and their networks relate to a) creating and sustaining collective impact in the field of culture, b) transcultural knowledge production and transfer, c) working with new migrants and marginalized groups in our communities, d) new forms of community and international collaboration and e) integration of artistic and social work, f) digital education in the creative and culture sector. Each of the consortium partners holds expertise in at least two of the topics and has been engaged in previous projects.Objectives-To qualify at least 200 cultural educators in either of the following topics: a) creating and sustaining collective impact in the field of culture, b) transcultural knowledge production and transfer, c) working with new migrants and marginalized groups in our communities, d) new forms of community and international collaboration and e) integration of artistic and social work, f) digital education in the creative and culture sector-To strengthen the relations and cooperation mechanisms between the consortium of partners -To strategically disseminate knowledge digitally to at least 1000 further cultural educators throughout Europe-To provide an open source toolkit for digital education in the creative and cultural sectorTraining Activities3 educational events with 60 cultural educators eachC1 – Creating and sustaining collective impact in the field of cultureC4 – New forms of community and international collaborationC6 – Digital education in the creative and culture sector3 educational events with 20 cultural educators as participants eachC2 – Transcultural knowledge production and transferC 3 – Working with new migrants and marginalized groups in our communitiesC 5 – Integration of artistic and social workSeries of webinars after each educational event to disseminate the results in the forms of lectures, digital peer-to-peer exchange and panelsDigital toolkit for conceiving, preparing, implementing and documenting international online learning to be disseminated at the end of the projectTransnational necessity and necessity for long project durationThrough the set-up of the consortium of partners all European regions are covered and allow diverse perspectives to enter the project. All topics are concerns in the creative and cultural sector all over Europe. The consortium of partners estimates that the topics will remain concerns in the years to come. Hence, it is believed that cultural educators will only remain competitive and their work with societal relevance, if they continue the transnational exchange.At the same time, the consortium of partners believes that the project will benefit from the long duration of 36 months as it will allow different cultural educators and the partner organizations to bring in their on-the-ground experiences from other projects into the training activities.Impact This transnational project will thereby make a significant contribution to open education and innovative digital practices in the field of culture throughout Europe. It will thereby foster inclusion of less mobile cultural educators in transnational education activities.

WAVE (Workshops+Awareness+Values+Engagement) is a 2,5 year educational project that aims to create a new method of guidance counselling and career decision making for European students and NEET youth, based on creative and participatory group work that anchors decisions about school and work on a community-based and collective dialogue about how to contribute to meaningful and sustainable future(s). When young people are faced with uncertainty about the future (questions about the environment, economy, society) and their role in it, and the compulsion to make potentially life-altering choices (school- or careerwise) simultaneously, tremendous pressure and isolation looms over them. This may lead to misinformed, desperate, unsure decisions, or worse, neglect and denial in making a decision – leaving a young person stagnated and not knowing how to realize itself academically or professionally, and meaningfully contributing to the cohesion and prosperity of the society it is part of. TILLT AB, STOP-KLATKA, and Teatro Prova have many years of experience working with drama therapy as a form of alternative/popular education, young people as target groups, and socially-engaged projects in which artistic methods and exercises are used to inspire and empower individuals to create innovative approaches to longlasting social problems. The partnership has the objective of developing an innovative guidance counselling method, to better equip guidance counsellors to work more innovatively and with groups; to support students’ choices, leading to better academic performance, wellbeing and employment; to contribute to a more innovative and well-functioning school system and school-to-work transition process across Europe. WAVE engages 300 students/youth as active participants of the method development, of which 9 become ambassadors of the project (receiving a Youthpass certificate) and joining transnational training events, as well as inform 125 educational staff (guidance counsellors, teachers, parents, youth workers, civil servants) about the method. After a period of preparation, partners will work directly with target groups (young people and guidance counsellors) to develop the method via workshop series, including transnational training activities for 9 young participants, and later turn the method into an interactive e-book, that will then be presented in 3 national seminars and 1 final conference. The main result of the project is the method itself, both the know-how and working process developed by partners, as well as an e-book that can inform and educate others on how to work with the method. The method will empower 300 students/youth to make choices in dialogue with peers instead of in isolation, and equip 125 educational staff to work with the method or develop it further if required. Furthermore, 9 students/youth showing special interest in the method and or studies/career in education will develop specific skills for that purpose in an international setting. The long term benefits of the project are improved provision of information/career guidance by schools and educational staff, that facilitates transitions between different levels and types of education and training, as well as between education/training and the world of work, in a way that tackles skills gaps, and answers young citizen’s own formulations of their desired/sustainable future.