Young People: the Actual Engine of Change

On Saturday, 11 November a great workshop took place in the Cultural Center Marko Cepenkov, in Prilep.

Thanks to a grant proposed by the Macedonian Ministry of Culture, a group of young architects, gathered in a collective called Meleem Skopje, was able to operate a spatial intervention in wood in order to innovate the garden of the Cultural Center.

The main goal of this workshop was to involve young people from Prilep in a practical workshop and let them reason about the importance of the public space for the daily life of the city. In fact, building this structure means to create a new meeting point near the Cultural Center making it more attractive for people.

The weather conditions didn’t stop the young people to keep up the great work.

As an Erasmus Plus volunteer, involved in the European Commission Project “Young Entrepreneurs”, I participated in this workshop for many reasons: first of all, it was a great opportunity for me to demonstrate that young people are, actually, the engine of change. Meelem Skopje is a great incubator of innovative and bold ideas, led by young people for young people. Second, the goal of my project is also helping young people to get professional skills, and thanks to this workshop, 20 kids from different high schools from Prilep (SOU Gjorche Petrov and SOU Mirche Acev) had the opportunity to improve their knowledge about working on wood structures, using tools, reading professional design projects and, above all, improve their team-working skills.

 Andrea Dau