Sep 26, 2025
Young voices, big stage - the IHI as a partner of the YVA Future Festival in Hoyerswerda
On September 13, 2025, the ZCOM Museum Hoyerswerda was transformed into a forum for young perspectives. At the YVA Future Festival, a participation format in the joint project Youth Vision Action (IHI Zittau, Hillersche Villa, Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, Telux Weißwasser), young people discussed the future of Lusatia together with experts and politicians.
Having a say instead of watching
One item on the program was the panel discussion "Having a say instead of watching - youth in transition". Young voices such as Justin Balogh (Hoyerswerda) and Jakub Krzywicki (Jelenia Góra) discussed at eye level with Mayor Mirko Pink, Paula Fajerman (Hillersche Villa, YVA team), Martin Fišer (Eurozentrum Liberec) and Norbert Hannisch (Saxony Youth Participation Service Center). The discussion was moderated by social scientist Franziska Stölzel. The message: young people want to be heard - and "their opinions are much more important than we adults think".
Creative contributions with a substantive basis
The festival also offered artistic diversity: music, design, action art, film, photography and an impressive sound collage developed by students at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences under the direction of Chris Fischer. Interviews with young Lusatians became an audible statement for participation and identity.
These creative contributions had a clear basis in terms of content: in preparatory workshops, young people worked together with experts from the region on topics such as structural change, shaping the region and identity. The input for the workshops was organized and thematically accompanied by Sînziana Schönfelder (social scientist, IHI Zittau) and Emilia Socha (cultural scientist, IHI Zittau), who thus laid a solid foundation for the artistic implementation.
Experiencing youth participation
The YVA Future Festival was an inspiring day full of dialog, creativity and encounters. It showed what youth participation can look like in concrete terms - loud, creative, locally anchored, trinationally networked and with the clear goal of shaping the future together.
Further information on the project can be found at https://yva.rocks/