“Arts education is not a luxury for peaceful times, it is an urgent necessity in turbulent times,” stressed Lodovico Folin Calabi, UNESCO Representative to the European Union, on 9 February at the Green Tales Project Final Event at the Instituto Cervantes in Brussels. Organised by the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation (IYMF), in partnership with the ethical literary social network Panodyssey, the event highlighted the project’s mission to energise young citizens through art and education.
Educators, artists, European and international organisations, cultural institutions, and civil society representatives from across Europe came together to share feedback and highlights from the project, discuss its results and sustainability, and explore opportunities for future initiatives.
The roundtable featured Sophia Queckenberg from the European Commission, who shared insights into current and upcoming EU policies on sustainability in education. Project partners from MUS-E Deutschland, the University of Akureyri, and the World Human Forum presented results from the workshops and explored how arts, education, and sustainability can come together to inspire and empower both present and future generations.
Myrto Vounatsou, Artistic & Creative Director of the World Human Forum, reflected on the project’s wider significance and future potential. She highlighted the importance of adults reconnecting with their childhood to discover new, out-of-the-box solutions, and spoke about the World Human Forum’s mission to connect inspiring initiatives from around the world. She praised Green Tales for bringing children from different parts of Europe together and helping them develop creativity, cooperation, respect, and intercultural understanding, while using mobile phones as tools for meaningful creation. Looking ahead, she suggested expanding Green Tales into a global project, potentially through a “Blue Tales” initiative connecting cities around the sea. Myrto concluded with a message of hope, emphasising that by inspiring children to connect with themselves, with others, and with nature, we can contribute to addressing today’s polycrisis and help build an ecological civilisation.
The event also featured a screening of the Green Tales short film, followed by a moving three-part string concert inspired by earth, childhood, and hope, performed by Les Trois Cordes: Aina Marti Soler (violin), Ismael Hamido Ortega (viola), and Blanca Sanchez Guillen (cello).
Watch the Green Tales short film: Green Tales short film
