Lublin is the capital city again!

"We are taking over the city!" The Opening Ceremony, May Music Box, Youth Marathon, holiday chill&charge, City Youth Birthday, 3x3 U23 Basketball World Cup, as well as new youth spaces, grants, scholarships, international meetings, including the European Youth Forum, and educational projects. These are Lublin's activities as part of the European Youth Capital 2023, which will permanently change Lublin into a youth friendly place. The EYC program has been co created by the youth of Lublin.

Lublin is the first city in Poland awarded the European Youth Capital title by The European Youth Forum. Out of many events already submitted by young people, the City selected the key proposals that form the axis of the EYC program.

This is an open list, to which you can still submit new ideas via the website: youth.lublin.eu.

– The European Youth Capital Lublin 2023 is not only a prestigious award, but also the beginning of changes in thinking about the city and its inhabitants. It was the young people representing Sempre a Frente Foundation who came up with the idea that we should apply in EYC competition. They told us that thanks to the European funds, we built the city from scratch, created a wonderful infrastructure, including sports fields, schools, stadiums, roads, but that these activities lack young people for whom we have done all this. These words became an inspiration for us, and we treated the EYC title as an opportunity to include them in the life of Lublin, to confront their views and discuss about the city space, the environment, and working out cooperation in the decision making about the present and future. Today, we are handing Lublin over to young people - says Krzysztof Żuk, Mayor of the City of Lublin.

The program's key events are divided into four seasons. #SpotkajmySię #Let’sMeet (1st Season) is a presentation of the EYC idea, with the Opening Ceremony and an encouragement for young people to get involved in the programme.
#LublinToTY #LublinIsYou (2nd Season) is a series of festivals and events dedicated to adolescents and students with the May Music Box and the June Youth Marathon The City is Ours and the grand celebration of youth art and culture during the Night of Culture. The summer (3rd Season) #CzilujwLublinie, #ChillInLublin is the time to recharge the batteries in the company of artists and guests from around the world during the The Youth City Birthday, followed by #PrzyszłośćToMY #We AreTheFuture (4th Season) with debates and discussion panels, including European Youth Forum, Cross Border Cooperation Congress, and other social, sport and cultural events.

- European Youth Capital Lublin 2023, apart from exceptional cultural and sports events, will be the chance to give the voice to the young people. We decided to choose a more difficult path of dialogue with youth and listening carefully to their needs. The European Youth Capital is not only about the promotion of the city. Our goal is to create as many financial and development opportunities as possible, as well as to support, and to give young people space to carry out their ideas. If necessary, young people will come up with new festivals, events and activities in which they want to participate. We encourage them to take advantage of youth scholarships, Districts Inspired by Youth program or the Youth Activator, and the municipal institutions will be there to support and assist  in implementing those ideas. The year 2023 is the time to start the process of strengthening the bonds between young people and the city and a permanent change in the city's youth policy - says Beata Stepaniuk-Kuśmierzak, Plenipotentiary of the Mayor for the European Youth Capital, Deputy Mayor of Lublin for Culture, Sport and Participation.

In 2023, the Centre for Culture in Lublin will create organizational opportunities for youth and will share its spaces with young people.

For 5 months, The Courtyard and during the summer months the Kaczynski Square behind the Centre, will be dedicated to youth activities.

The Youth Bus will travel to the districts of Lublin. The bus will be turned into a music stage, and its roof into a theater and circus stage. In autumn 2023, the city will fulfill the ideas of the EYC by giving young people a new place, the renovated Cellars of the Centre for Culture. The Lublin youth will be given the opportunity to be in charge of almost 1,000 square meters of fully equipped space: auditorium, multimedia studios and co-working spaces.
 

The highlights of the four seasons of the Lublin EYC2023 program:

I. #SpotkajmySię / #Let'sMeet is dedicated to presenting the idea of the European Youth Capital in Lublin and getting to know the city and each other. The Opening Ceremony/We are taking over the city! (March 16) will begin with a theater, dance and circus show and will be followed by the program prepared by the youth of Lublin. It will also be the time of the first nationwide event of the season - #Let's get to know each other! in Lublin – the Congress of Young Activists (January 20-22), which will bring together almost 200 young people involved in public issues from across Poland; educational conference Education is relationships (3-4 March) and the program Meet Lublin - get inspired by the history of the city, addressed to students and schools in Lublin. On the other hand, the Sztukmistrze Foundation and Academic Cultural Centre Chatka Żaka will invite schools and students to the circus musical entitled "Nana Na Nana".

II. #LublinToTY/#LublinIsYOU is the opportunity to gain some civic education, get involved in youth volunteering, and implement own initiatives resulting from the needs of young people. There will be an opportunity to present the activities of students in Lublin, during two series of events: May Music Box and the June Youth Marathon The City is Ours. For 17 days in June the youth will take over the city. The whole month will be filled with a series of festivals and events such as  Night of Culture (June 3), or the grand open-air concert organized by The Old Theatre on the Old Town Square (17 June).

Official delegations and partner cities from across Europe will meet during joint sessions of the Lublin City Council and the Youth City Council. Schools and educational institutions will take part in the Youth Week, and Lublin will also host the European Congress of Youth Councils. Young people will also be able to get grants for their own activities, which is possible thanks to various programs such as School Civic Budgets, Youth Culture Scholarships, Youth Activator and the Districts Inspired by Youth.

II. #CzilujwLublin / #ChillInLublin is holiday chill&charge, it's time to recharge batteries and carefree adventures. The Lublin program of summer festivals will encourage young people to stay in Lublin in the company of artists and guests from all over the world. The most important events of the season are: Central Playground, Wild Children's Reserve, East of Culture - Different Sounds and Young Different Sounds Festival, International Folklore Meetings, Carnaval Sztukmistrzów and Urban Highline Festival, Meeting of Styles and Youth Birthday of the City (August 12-20),  a series of events that will start on International Youth Day and end with the Re:tradition - Jagiellonian Fair festival.

IV. #PrzyszłośćToMY/#WeAreTheFuture is the fulfillment of the commitment - Lublin will be the Capital of Europe at that time, a place of important international events: U23 Basketball World Championship 3x3 - the tournament will be held on a special pitch at Castle Square, and a special fan zone with a sports and cultural program will be created near the Castle. The Youth Autumn Art programme will consist of the renowned International Theater Confrontations Festival, the International Dance Theatres Festival, Mikolajki Folkowe International Folk Music Festival, Partner Cities Choir Festival, and the National November Concert. In mid-October, the Cross Border Cooperation Congress dedicated to youth issues will be held, including discussion panels, workshops, the Partner Forum and the Grants Fair. In November, Lublin will host the European Youth Forum - the largest European platform of youth organizations in Europe. During the Award Ceremony the European Youth Capital 2026 will be announced. During The Closing Ceremony on 7 December the title of European Youth Capital will be handed over to Ghent - European Youth Capital 2024.

Lublin for the youth

The priority of the European Youth Capital, which allows for real change in society, is the city's focus on the activation of youth and intergenerational initiatives, education, personal development and psychological support.

Winning the title of the European Youth Capital in 2021 became a pretext and a direct stimulus to adapt the city's offer to the needs of young residents, covering other spheres of life. In order to achieve this a number of educational activities has been initiated: the pilot edition of the City Academy project (presents opportunities to engage in activities for the development of the city), Entrepreneurial Youth (develops youth business competences and gives the opportunity to get to know the Lublin entrepreneurial market), School Civic Budget (a process in which the school community decides on the allocation of a part of the school budget), Student of the Future (workshops for teachers and students on the use of modern equipment), Language Cafés (allow students to enter the labor market in the sector of modern business services) or Volunteering Lublin (coherent and long-term volunteering system in Lublin), and in cooperation with the Beetle Foundation and Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, the Creative Space project was implemented, consisting in creating a dream friendly space for children and youth in schools by students and teachers.

In 2022, the Children's Help Center in Lublin was launched, which provides comprehensive, interdisciplinary help and support for children and youth up to 18 years of age and their non-harming carers. Free assistance, provided by the Sempre a Frente Foundation in cooperation with the Empowering Children Foundation, is offered in Polish and Ukrainian language. The Sempre a Frente Foundation, in partnership with the City of Lublin, as part of psychological support for young people, implements the project "Przystanek Sempre" addressed to people at risk or affected by social exclusion, with particular emphasis on domestic and peer violence and crimes.

During the last year, the first friendly youth spaces were also created: Hey! at ul. Peowiaków 11, Miejscówka (The Spot) in Skende Shopping and Spilno Lublin - intercultural space for Polish and Ukrainian youth.

The Strategic Partner of the European Youth Capital Lublin 2023 is IKEA Polska and Skende Shopping. They support the City in fulfilling the declarations contained in the application, e.g. in the field of designing and comprehensive furnishing of the Hej! space, or launching Miejscówka (The Spot) - a place for meetings and workshops for young people. Further joint educational initiatives for young people are planned.

The detailed EYC 2023 Program can be found in the attachment.