Summary of the project

Youth influence is the name of the project developed as a joint effort of all members of the LoFT team in Macedonia.

The aim of the project is to enable young people in Skopje to show their creativity and send a message about the influence that the young people are making in their local communities, through the photography as a medium. This is directly connected with the general objectives of the LoFT project: empowering young people to take action in their local communities thus bringing down the stereotypes that exist between them. In addition, the project has a humanitarian element as well. The best photos will be set up an exhibition, organized by the LoFT team in Macedonia and will be printed as postcards. The photographs and the postcards will go on an auction and the money gathered will be donated to charity.

Aims of the project:

• Show that the young people really make a difference
• Promote charity, understanding and tolerance
• Give opportunity to around 30 young people to show their creativity
• Gain new skills and opportunity to learn from a professional photographer

Activities:

• Photography workshop
• Exchange with the team from Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Exhibition
• Exchange with the team from Romania

Photography workshop

The first activity of Youth influence is the photography workshop that will happen at the end of January and the beginning of February 08. The aim of this workshop is for young people to express themselves by taking photographs which would represent young people’s influence in the society. Consequently, through this activity the participant would get an excellent opportunity to gain new skills and improve their existing ones.

The concept of this workshop involves having 30 young people who will work together with a professional photographer over a three-week period. Finally, a selection of the best photographs will be made and they will be printed both postcards and photographs for the exhibition.

Target group of this project is young people living in Skopje aged 15-25.

Visit of the team from Bosnia and Herzegovina

The visit of the Bosnian group will be used as a perfect occasion for making of video clips which should picture the influence of young people as well. Mixed teams will be formed and they will work on the making of the clips. This activity will be realized in cooperation with Cre8ive8, a young film production from Macedonia.

The exhibition

The exhibition is the main event of this project where people will get the chance to see the products the young people involved in the project have made. The photographs will be exhibited in one of art galleries in Skopje. The photographs will also be printed as postcards and later used for gathering of financial aid for charity.