Skip to main content

ACT - Arts, critical thinking & active citizenship (Kosovo)

“ACT – Arts, critical thinking & active citizenship” is the name of the Phase 1 Kosovo project for Changing the Story.

The ACT project combines research and applied components, producing alternative practices to be proposed to formal and informal educational institutions, as well as academic research and publishing in Kosovo. The project is being done in cooperation with four local partners that work with art and youth in several Kosovo municipalities including: Anibar (Peja), 7 Arte(Mitrovica), NGO Aktiv (Mitrovica North) and Varg e vi (Gjilan). Additionally, participants from local and international organizations contributed, including: Kosovo 2.0Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) and Opera Circus (from the UK) as well as independent researchers.

ACT began with a comparative analysis between the content, forms and practices of municipal versus independent, arts-based forms of civic education and explored their respective potentials with a specific focus on the issues facing CSOs targeting youth in marginalised areas outside the capital, Prishtina. Core questions included: How do state vs. international funding streams and, at times, conflicting political demands influence the methods and outcomes of civic education? How do state and independent educational sites conceptualise and negotiate civic education, e.g. in relation to the post-war, national ‘master narratives’? Who uses the services provided? Who does not? How and why are CSOs and youth centres succeeding or failing in promoting social justice, civic integration and education for local youth? These, and other questions, required reflection upon the ways historical contingencies have shaped underpinning practices, concepts, and politics of such work.

Following this analysis, the project focused on four different municipalities in Kosovo, because they consider it important to look at the peripheral spaces beyond the elites and trends in the centre. Each of ACT's partner organizations working in four municipalities of Kosovo other than the capital, Prishtina, have a track record of creative and innovative ways of engaging local youth, artists and activist, ranging from the organization of animation festivals, art exhibitions, theatre plays and city tours.

A kick-off workshop took place in September 2018, where artists, academics and activists from Kosovo and the UK were brought together. The Kick-Off workshop was organized with the aim of discussing the opportunities for civic education of Kosovo youth through the arts. The Kosovo branch of the “Changing the Story” project will be researching and working with different organizations in the country in order to establish, discover and develop new ways of youth engagement through the arts. This workshop also led to a formal call for Kosovo research-practice teams to propose projects which would form the 'proof of concept' phase of the project.

The successfully awarded project was ‘BOOM Zine’ – a qualitative research project that looks at the development of music, particularly at the rock and roll scene in Kosovo in the 1980s. The team is composed of the writer, Rina Krasniqi; sociologist Lura Limani; and designer, Bardhi Haliti. Two are artists and all three have a background in civil society activism in Kosovo.

Project Location

Static google map

Kosovo

ACT - Arts, critical thinking & active citizenship' is the Phase 1 Kosovo project of Changing the Story.

Resource Archive

Search or browse the resource archive for films, reports, toolkits and other resources produced by the Changing the Story and its commissioned projects. Items relating to Kosovo are listed below:

TitleSummaryAuthorCategoriesTagsdoc_categories_hfilterdoc_tags_hfilter
BOOM concerts in 1980s KosovoBlog (2019/04/29) BOOM concerts in 1980s KosovoRina Krasniqi (Lirindja), , kosovo phase1 locationblog language-english
Playwriting for Peace: Actualizing Perpetual Peace in Post-Conflict Pristina, KosovoBlog (2019/08/05) Playwriting for Peace: Actualizing Perpetual Peace in Post-Conflict Pristina, KosovoEmily Russell, Matt Harmon, , , kosovo changemakers locationblog language-english subject-reflections
Remembering the Srebrenica Genocide on Holocaust Memorial DayBlog (2020/02/09) Remembering the Srebrenica Genocide on Holocaust Memorial Day, , , , , kosovo phase1 phase2 rwanda locationblog language-english subject-reflections
SEE Education Making the Museum of EducationThis panel event, part of the Changing the Story: Inside Out and Outside In Festival (Kosovo), brought together the people who contributed to making the school house system during the …, , , , , event kosovo locationfilm language-english sdg-16-institutions sdg-17-partnerships sdg-4-education
Toolkits and Resources from KosovoBlog (2018/03/01) Toolkits and Resources from KosovoDr Nita Luci, , kosovo phase1 locationblog language-english
SEE Education Making the Museum of EducationThis panel event, part of the Changing the Story: Inside Out and Outside In Festival (Kosovo), brought together the people who contributed to making the school house system during the …, , , , , event kosovo locationfilm language-english sdg-16-institutions sdg-17-partnerships sdg-4-education
Fragments on Heroes, Artists and Interventions (2020)Fragments on Heroes, Artists and Interventions: Challenging Gender Ideology and Provoking Active Citizenship through the Arts in Kosovo is a chapter in the edited book Cooke, P. and Soria-Dolan, I., …Dr Linda Gusia, Dr Lura Pollozhani, Dr Nita Luci, Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, , , , , , , kosovo locationarticle language-english sdg-10-inequalities sdg-16-institutions sdg-17-partnerships sdg-5-gender gender subject-participatory-arts
Phase One Critical Review: Arts, Critical Thinking and Active CitizenshipWritten by Lura Pollozhani and Hajrulla Çeku, this critical review of the Phase One Kosovo project ACT: Arts, Critical Thinking and Active Citizenship will explore the overarching research questions: how …Dr Lura Pollozhani, Hajrulla Çeku, , , , , , , kosovo phase1 locationreport language-english sdg-16-institutions sdg-4-education sdg-5-gender subject-reflections youth
The amazing women of LjubljanaBlog (2020/06/19) The amazing women of Ljubljana, , , kosovo phase1 locationblog language-english subject-reflections
ReSpace Symposium (June 2021)ReSpace investigates how concepts of space, through arts-based participatory methods, can engage the ‘post-memory’ generation (Hirsch, 2008) in Rwanda and Kosovo to reimagine specific sites of memory. Chaired by ReSpace …Dr Paula Callus, , , , , , , , event kosovo phase2 rwanda locationfilm language-english sdg-16-institutions sdg-17-partnerships sdg-4-education subject-participatory-arts
Inside-out and outside-in on dealing with the past in KosovoInside-out and outside-in on dealing with the past in Kosovo by Nita Luci and Linda Guisa is a chapter in the edited book Unravelling Liberal Interventionism Local Critiques of Statebuilding …Gëzim Visoka, Vjosa Musliu, , , kosovo locationarticle language-english sdg-16-institutions subject-policy
Fragments on Heroes, Artists and Interventions: Challenging Gender Ideology and Provoking Active Citizenship through the Arts in KosovoThis is an Accepted Manuscript version of chapter 6 of the book 'Participatory Arts in International Development' published by Routledge/CRC Press on 29 August 2019. The final version of each …Dr Linda Gusia, Dr Lura Pollozhani, Dr Nita Luci, Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, , kosovo locationarticle language-english gender
Introducing Safeguarding to ChildrenChanging the Story has produced a series of short videos which address the various aspects of safeguarding in international development research. The aim of the series is to provide you …, , , , kosovo safeguarding locationfilm language-english sdg-16-institutions sdg-4-education
Boom Zine AnimationACT – Arts, critical thinking & active citizenship (Kosovo): Watch the final cut of the animation created by the Boom Zine 'proof of concept' project which looks at the development …, , , kosovo phase1 locationfilm sdg-16-institutions sdg-4-education
Local and international determinants of Kosovo’s statehood - Volume IIEdited by Ioannis Armakolas, Agon Demjaha, Arolda Elbasani and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, the volume is the follow up of the successful earlier collection focusing on some of the most pressing and …Agon Demjaha, Arolda Elbasani, Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, Ioannis Armakolas, kosovo locationarticle language-english
Building TrustChanging the Story has produced a series of short videos which address the various aspects of safeguarding in international development research. The aim of the series is to provide you …Diona Ahmetaj, Dorentina Podrimqaku, Genta Limani, , kosovo safeguarding locationfilm language-english
ReSpace introduce 'The Hertica Home''The Hertica Home' is a short 3D interactive documentary that uses testimony to explore connections between space and memory by focusing upon the the Sami Frasheri gymnasium faculty in the …Dr Paula Callus, , , , , event kosovo locationfilm language-english sdg-16-institutions sdg-17-partnerships sdg-4-education
Epistemic justice and everyday nationalismEpistemic justice and everyday nationalism: An auto‐ethnography of transnational student encounters in a post‐war memory and reconciliation project in Kosovo is a journal article by Nita Luci and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers. …Dr Nita Luci, Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, , kosovo locationarticle language-english sdg-16-institutions
Field research in the time of COVID-19: how creativity saved the dayBlog (2021/03/26) Field research in the time of COVID-19: how creativity saved the dayMary Drosopulos, , , , , bosnia-and-herzegovina kosovo phase2 locationblog language-english subject-reflections youth
Longing for lost normalcyLonging for Lost Normalcy: Social Memory, Transitional Justice, and the ‘House Museum’ to Missing Persons in Kosovo by Schwandner-Sievers, S. and Klinkner, M. In spring 1999, amidst a wider ethnic …Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, M. Klinkner, , , kosovo locationarticle language-english sdg-11-sustainable-cities sdg-16-institutions
The Making of School Houses in the 90s and the School House MuseumBlog (2021/04/27) The Making of School Houses in the 90s and the School House Museum, , , , kosovo phase2 locationblog language-english subject-reflections youth
Changing the Story Consolidating Learning CoLearnSEEFind out more about the Changing the Story Consolidating Learning project CoLearnSEE. Highlights projects across South Eastern Europe, , , , , , , , bosnia-and-herzegovina kosovo phase2 rwanda locationfilm sdg-10-inequalities sdg-4-education sdg-5-gender sdg-8-work subject-participatory-arts
Understanding Places from a DistanceBlog (2021/04/27) Understanding Places from a DistanceDr Paula Callus, , , , kosovo phase2 rwanda locationblog language-english subject-reflections
Kicking off Changing the Story in KosovoPre-proofed versions of book chapters for published book. Links to 13 pdf chaptersDr Lura Pollozhani, , kosovo phase1 locationblog language-english
ACT arts critical thinking active citizenship in KosovoBlog (2018/05/18) ACT arts critical thinking active citizenship in KosovoDr Nita Luci, , kosovo phase1 locationblog language-english
PUBLICATION LAUNCH! Changing the Story: Our Third YearBlog (2021/05/21) PUBLICATION LAUNCH! Changing the Story: Our Third YearAisha Kayani, , , , , , , , , , cambodia colombia india kosovo phase2 south-africa changemakers locationblog language-english subject-covid19 subject-participatory-arts youth
The planet of no memoryThis fanzine is created by the Youth Research Board's Preserving Memory Group composed by: David, Antonia, Trina and Leonard. It comes as a product of art research on projects supported …Antonia Bello, David Espitia, Leonard Nyiringabo, Trina Hoti, , , , colombia kosovo rwanda youth-research-board locationformat-zine language-english
What about the survivors? The importance of a victim-centred approach to transitional justice in the Western Balkans — reflections on a conferenceBlog (2021/01/20) What about the survivors? The importance of a victim-centred approach to transitional justice in the Western Balkans — reflections on a conference, , , , event kosovo phase1 locationblog language-english subject-reflections
Changing the Story Festival InSide Out and OutSide In ProgrammeFestival programme for a hybrid event that took place 14-18 June 2021 in person in Kosovo and online. It featured the launch of the artwork installation “The Square of Untruth”, …, , , , , event kosovo locationlanguage-english sdg-16-institutions sdg-17-partnerships sdg-4-education sdg-5-gender
ACT – Arts, critical thinking & active citizenship (Kosovo)The ACT project combines research and applied components, producing alternative practices to be proposed to formal and informal educational institutions, as well as academic research and publishing in Kosovo. The …Dr Nita Luci, Dr Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, , , kosovo phase1 locationfilm subject-participatory-arts subject-reflections