Blog

The Tartu Youth Work Center is celebrating its fifth birthday on May 1st! In celebration of its birthday, we invite all former and current young people, employees, cooperation partners, and other friends to participate in a meme contest to collect the most humorous moments from the history of the Tartu Youth Work Center. The contest runs from April 25th to May 1st. All submitted entries will be posted on the Tartu Youth Work Center's Facebook page, from which a jury will select the best meme. The winner will be announced on May 2nd, also on the TNTK Facebook page. Prizes for the winners. Please send memes to helene.toomeoks@tartu.ee. 

From April 13-15, the third training meeting of the Erasmus+ project "Inclusion is On" took place in Budapest, Hungary, attended by Margit, director of Tartu Youth Work Center, and Helene, development manager. In addition to project partners from Finland, Italy, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, local students also participated in the training. The main theme of the project is adapting leisure opportunities to be more accessible for all young people, and this time, the focus was specifically on civic engagement. Through several discussions and group works, good practices from their respective countries were shared, and under the guidance of trainer Vanda, participants learned how to create a training program based on various special needs. Additionally, members of the Élménakadémia Egyesület organization, who use experience-based pedagogy methods in their work, shared their good experiences. The organization's primary focus is mainly on the Roma community living in Hungary, but they also...

From April 20-22, the second training meeting of the Erasmus+ project "Diggiloo - Digital Cultural Production from Youth to Youth" took place in Amstelveen, with Margit, Liisa, and Eeva participating as representatives of the Tartu Youth Work Center. Topics covered in the training included the future of augmented and virtual reality, technical tools for digital production, and digital tools in youth work. In addition, we visited the Amstelveen city government and youth-focused institutions P60 and Future Face, and familiarized ourselves with local youth work activities there. It was especially great to hear presentations from active local youth about what youth work has given and taught them. An interesting observation was also that local youth work activities are primarily aimed at young people aged 15+ and there is a lot of work with adult (18+) youth.…

Spring has arrived, and the end of April is already on the horizon, which for schoolchildren clearly means one thing – SPRING BREAK! It has become a tradition for the Tartu Youth Work Center to offer something fun and out of the ordinary for young people on this occasion, and this time is no exception! We celebrate spring break from April 24th to 28th, i.e., Monday to Friday (centers are closed on weekends). Activities take place every day across our youth centers, the city, or even across counties! As usual, activities are voluntary and free! However, for certain events, prior registration or parental consent is required. On Monday, all centers are open, and youth initiatives take place in each center. On Tuesday, AHHAA takes place…

Last autumn, a 500 m2 mural was completed under Tartu's Sõprus Bridge, a collaboration between young people from Tartu and Tampere. Now, the Finnish Institute offers young people in Tartu the opportunity to experiment with how a physical street art piece can find new expressions in the world of augmented reality. To this end, we are organizing a free training consisting of four workshops for young people up to 19 years old. As a result of the course, one or more virtual artworks will be created, with the street art piece serving as the starting point. The tools used are the 3D graphics program Blender for creating augmented reality content and Mobi Lab's augmented reality solution Reality Maker for building the augmented reality experience in a physical location. After the training, the augmented reality experience created with Reality Maker can also be explored by all other interested parties. All necessary tools for learning are available in the workshops, and no prior experience is required. Breaks...

In cooperation with the Tartu Youth Work Center, Tartu Folk High School is organizing a free course for young people aged 12-19, starting April 14th, titled  "Manga Drawing. Japanese Comic Art"*. The course is designed to support the integration of Estonian and Ukrainian youth. The course will take place in two groups. Each group has 12 spots (six for Estonian and six for Ukrainian youth). Dates: April 14th - June 16th (Fridays) Group I at 2:00 PM-3:30 PM Group II at 3:45 PM-5:15 PM. The course takes place on the 2nd floor of Anne Youth Center (Uus 56, Tartu). Registration link: https://forms.office.com/e/5Wx5QTV4m1  NB: Filling out the form does not yet guarantee a spot on the course, and all registrants will be contacted with more detailed information. But what is Manga? Manga (漫画) is a classical Japanese style of drawing comics and graphic novels. Through drawing, the personality and temperament of the created character are conveyed,…

ESTEEM – Youth Work Takes Responsibility for Young People's Well-being is an innovative 24-month Erasmus+ cooperation partnership project implemented by five organizations in Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Spain. The ESTEEM project focuses on the well-being of young people and measures that can be developed and offered in youth work to improve and strengthen their well-being. As there is no single definition of well-being, we have studied existing models and defined a model that retains elements of the Ryffi and Seligman models and, in our opinion, is best suited to youth work and, specifically, the objectives and means of this project. We do not claim that this is the only correct model, but rather consider it to be the vision of our partners, based on years of experience working with young people in youth centers, non-governmental organizations, and mental...

Spring is here and life awakens. New beginnings are also taking place at the Tartu Youth Work Center, where new club activities have started. At the Lille youth center for the older target group, a culture club has awakened from its winter slumber, taking place every Wednesday from 4 PM to 5:30 PM. Culture is all around us, and it is up to us to give it meaning. The idea of the culture club is primarily to develop and define the club's nature and purpose together with the young people themselves, based on what they wish to experience and do in the club. Additionally, one of the extra opportunities is to participate in organizing TNTK's major events, such as Tartu City Children's Protection Day, and why not even create TNTK's very own YOUTH CULTURE TENT there! Contact person Liisa Tammoja, liisa.tammoja@tartu.ee. …

From March 16 to May 31, 2023, it is possible to apply for up to 600 euros from the Tartu Youth Work Center's additional round of youth self-initiative projects, which can be used to create events or activities that support the integration of young war refugees from Ukraine into Estonian society. Applications can be submitted by all young people up to 19 years old operating in Tartu, and the project must take place in Tartu. Applications can be filled out in Estonian, Russian, English, or Ukrainian. The aim of youth self-initiative projects is to support the implementation of young people's ideas, so that they develop into entrepreneurial and active members of society and gain their first experience in project writing and management. A youth worker will assist young people in carrying out the project. Additional information about applying and the application form can be found here. For questions, please contact: Sofiia Pasternak, Tartu Youth Work...