Archives unlocked

Archives unlocked is a 6-days training course for youth workers, educators and LGBTQI+ activitsts that are interested in learning different methodologies of recording and preserving local history as a way to explore and celebrate queer identities, encourage a sense of belonging to a local community and stimulate its members to become active agents of change.

During the training course we will discuss how to create a community archive within your home community/organisation. Our focus are mainly LBTQI+ communities but other inclusive communities that promote human rights can also benefit from this project.

Through a combination of presentation, group discussion, and individual and  couple exercises, you will get an overview of the methodology behind community-based archives, the fundamentals of historic records organisation (including the basic principles and practices of arrangement and description of archival materials) as well as short introduction towards oral history work.

Moreover, through innovative ways of learning about and preserving known and unknown histories of local communities (zines making & creative writing), we will discover how history and archives can be a source of creativity and inspiration for activism and especially for youth acitivism and building and strenghtening of individual and group identities.

What are we going to do:

- structured exercises integrating methods and activities from community archive, digital storytelling (oral history recordings), inclusive youth work, community-building as well as traditional ethnographic research and history

- introduce community-based archives: specifics and characteristics (what is it, why it is important, sharing personal experience)

- learn how to conduct oral history interviews, assembling photographs, letters, documents and other meaningful artifacts

- get creative with different storytelling excercises

- learn how to manage digital archives

- introduce methods, tools and activities of community‐centered digital collecting for counteracting the effects of symbolic annihilation, facilitating intercultural learning, inclusion and active participation

Participants' profile:

• youth workers, activists and educators interested in new methodologies that will strenghten their communities
• comfortable with self-directed and experiential learning and non-formal methodologies with a participant-centred approach
• curious about discovering all the layers of community archiving
• interested in using community archiving as a tool supporting and strenghtening local activist gourps and their identities 
• keen on meeting youth workers from different organisations and expanding professional network.