Back to highschool

Wow...
Things are moving so quick and we are so busy that we forgot to update this blog.
However, today I was meeting some high school (or sth like that) students and when I told them about this blog, I realized we should use it more often. So that's what I'm doing, because the feeling I got tis afternoon with those guys, I just wanna share it.

52 students are going to be involved with us to create an exhibition and in their school, two groups will work on the creation of a video clip (they're making their own songs + their own video) and another group is going to work with some collage work.
When I got there, I was so nervous. Dealing with 17-18 years old students is not an easy task. You never know what's gonna happen, you never know how they gonna react. So imagine me when I had to stand in front of 52 of them! After a brief intro of the teachers, I had to throw myself into it. I just stood up and started talking. Did not even prepare anything, did not know where I was really heading to. I just talked, tried to get the shit out of me, filled with energy, my energy, the one that got me out of trouble anytime and everything went very smooth.
I let them listen a song from the Flaming Lips, the Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, because I think it could be a good source of inspiration. I wasn't sure how they would react, but I guess it was positive.

I really liked the fact that some of them had criticisms about the song itself.

Later, I went with the visual art class who is gonna make some collage work. I was fascinated how enthusiastic this group is ! It took them no more than 10 min to get the thinking to a point I did not even expect. The variety of ideas is amazing, some very pessimistic thoughts, some other very enthusiastic. Their maturity was really interesting: they always had some good arguments to follow their ideas, and they were really willing at expressing themselves. Well, it's good I guess, this is what we want.
One of the group was a bit lost though, and not really agreeing with my little speech. So I sat down with those guys and chat for a while. I found it very interesting that those guys did not really give a shit of what's going on in the world, because everytime, they had good argument going along.

It made me thought a lot tonite: what if they are right? I mean, how can one be sure that what we are doing - the festival, believing in sustainability etc. - is the right thing? Who tells us that what is going on right is the way it should be and that everything will just be fine? Well, I couldn't tell them they were wrong. Nor they were right. I just told them: be yourself !

Questionnaire

(Please select your answer. The questions with * allow many answers)


Age: ……….. Gender: M F Location: ……………………..


1- Have you already gone to any cultural event like that? YES or NO

Did you enjoy it? YES or NO

Why? .................................................................................................................................

2- Should such a festival happen to Lund? YES or NO

3- If such an event happens in the next months, do you think now you would go? YES or NO

4- Would you come*: alone? ... with your family? ... with your friends?


5- When shall the festival occur?* During the week ... during the weekend
During the day ... during the night

How long shall it be? 1 day .. 2 days ... other ……………………….

6- Where shall the event happen?* Indoor (Stadshallen…) ... outdoor (Stortorget…)

7- Would you join any of these activities?

- Artistic events: concerts, exhibitions, theatre YES or NO

- Cultural-Scientific discussions, conferences, debates, workshops… YES or NO

- Activities for children and students, presentation, artistic activities YES or NO

- Political institutions’intervention, Lunds Kommun, associations… YES or NO

- Economic interventions, partners, sponsors… YES or NO

Do you think about something else you would like to see during this festival? .................................................................................................................................................

8- Would you accept to pay entrance fees? YES or NO

If yes, how much? SEK 5-10 ... SEK 11-20 ... SEK 21-30 ... other: ………………..

9- Would you be interesting in helping us in the organization of the event? YES or NO

If yes, how could you participate? ...........................................................................................

10- Do you agree with the use of English and Swedish as official languages? YES or NO

11- Do you have any other comment? ………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thank you a lot for your participation!

The Organizing Team: Annika, Zeynep, Summer, Yo, Laurent and Marie-Hélène

What would you think...

...about joining a Make Change Happen Festival in the next months?

Let me introduce myself. My name is Marie-Hélène, i'm 23 years old, and as you might have guessed with my name, i'm French (from Paris). I've a Bachelor degree in Political Science, and i'm now enjoying my specialization master in environmental science and sustainable studies.

As Laurent wrote before, organizing a festival to promote sustainable development and solidarity to the people in Lund is an exciting thing to me.

I'm now in charge of preparing a questionnaire that we will spread around and use to ask questions to people in the streets of Lund. Its purpose is to answer as much as possible everyone's demand, and to help us focusing on the most interesting parts. There are so many issues we'll have to deal with, that a little help from people we don't know is more than welcome. We made a list of questions together during the last meeting concerning different topics: idea of the festival, what kind of activities are expected, shall it be free or not, are english and swedish good as official languages, and so on an so forth...
We were short in free time the last days, but it's time to go back to work and prepare something good.

As soon as the questions are definitively defined, i'll publish the questionnaire: you're more than welcome to answer the questions, it will be helping us a lot. Please use the comments to answer. It is of course anonymous, your information will only be used for our present purpose.
(btw, this is a serious work, try to answer as seriously as possible!)

Enjoy the sunny days!

Love, Marie Helene