MY PASSPORT, MY IDENTITY

Introduction

My Passport, My Identity was an international youth participation project using non-formal, theatre-based education to explore cultural identity, minority languages, and belonging in a European context. It was funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

It was a twelve-month project, from 01/01/2025 to 31/12/2025.

The primary objective of the project was to create a safe and creative space in which young people could critically explore questions of identity — Who am I? Where do I come from? What language do I carry? What does belonging mean? — through embodied artistic practice rather than purely academic discussion.

The project arose from what we identified as a need among young people to reflect on their cultural roots, linguistic heritage, and sense of place within contemporary Europe, particularly in regions where minority languages such as Irish and Catalan face ongoing social and political challenges.

Who was Involved

A total of 31 young people aged 16–30 participated in mobility activities (youth exchanges), coming from Ireland and Spain as part of the Erasmus programme. The partners were Crooked House and Escola de Teater de La Seu d’Urgeill (in Catalonia).

In addition to the two official EU project partners, URDD Youth Organisation (Wales) participated in selected activities on a fully self-funded basis.

Participants represented diverse socio-economic, educational, and geographical backgrounds, including rural communities and minority language regions.

URDD brought a strong Welsh-language youth cultural perspective, enriching comparative dialogue around minority language preservation. Their contribution strengthened the intercultural dimension significantly by allowing participants to compare Irish, Catalan, and Welsh language experiences within a European minority language context.

Aims

A central aim was to strengthen young people’s confidence in using and valuing minority languages as living cultural tools rather than as symbolic heritage. Through theatre workshops, storytelling, physical exploration, and collaborative performance creation, participants were encouraged to express identity in Irish, Catalan, and Welsh contexts and to see minority languages as relevant to contemporary youth expression.

The project also aimed to:

Develop artistic competences (physical theatre, voice, storytelling, devising)
Strengthen leadership and facilitation skills among young participants
Foster intercultural dialogue and European cooperation
Promote youth participation through active co-creation rather than passive learning
Encourage reflection on shared European values such as respect, diversity, inclusion, and cultural democracy.

By combining artistic creation with structured reflection, the project positioned theatre as a tool for civic engagement and youth participation rather than simply performance training.

Events and Activities

The project was implemented through two main mobility activities — a training course and a youth exchange — supported by preparatory meetings, rehearsal processes, dissemination events, and ongoing intercultural collaboration.

The first activity, a training course held in Estamariu (Catalonia) in April 2025, focused on developing young people’s competancies in theatre facilitation, collaborative creation, and identity-based artistic practice. Participants engaged in structured workshops exploring physical theatre, ensemble dynamics, voice work, and movement inspired by Laban techniques. These workshops encouraged participants to become aware of how the body communicates identity, culture, and emotion.

The second activity, a youth exchange held in La Seu d’Urgell (Catalonia) in August 2025, focused on collaborative performance creation. Participants worked together to devise theatre pieces exploring personal identity, linguistic belonging, myths, cultural memory, and intercultural encounters. Workshops included:

Physical exploration of individual versus collective identity in performance
Voice workshops connecting movement and vocal expression
Storytelling sessions drawing from Irish, Catalan, and Welsh myths
“Play the Country” intercultural presentations
Ensemble devising processes resulting in public performances

A short public performance in Ireland, presented at Crooked House’s studio to approximately 40 audience members including community members and local decision-makers, demonstrated the tangible outcomes of the project and provided an opportunity for young people to articulate their reflections publicly.

Outcomes

The project generated significant personal, artistic, and intercultural outcomes.

Participants reported increased confidence in expressing their identity through theatre. The physical theatre workshops helped participants recognise how movement and presence can communicate cultural belonging. Voice and storytelling sessions encouraged participants to engage actively with minority language traditions and reinterpret them in contemporary formats.

The workshop “Within and Among” allowed participants to explore the balance between individual identity and collective belonging, reflecting the core theme of the project. Through movement exercises, participants explored how personal expression can coexist within a group dynamic, reflecting broader social questions about cultural identity within European society. Participants reported that this process helped them understand identity as something relational rather than fixed.

The “Voices of Laban” workshop connected movement qualities to vocal expression, encouraging participants to experiment with rhythm, intensity, and spatial awareness as metaphors for identity and cultural expression. The workshop further deepened this exploration by connecting physical movement qualities to vocal expression.

Participants experimented with how rhythm, intensity, spatial awareness, and gesture influence communication. This helped participants reflect on how language, accent, tone, and body language contribute to cultural identity.

Storytelling workshops focusing on myths and cultural narratives from Ireland, Catalonia, and Wales provided another strong link to project objectives. Participants explored how traditional stories carry cultural memory, linguistic heritage, and social values. By reinterpreting these stories in contemporary performance formats, participants engaged actively with minority language identity while developing creative skills.

At organisational level, the project strengthened European cooperation capacity, improved facilitation skills, and deepened expertise in theatre-based youth participation methodologies.

An achievement exceeding initial expectations was the participation of URDD Youth Organisation (Wales) in selected activities on a fully self-funded basis. Although not originally foreseen in the application, their involvement significantly enriched the intercultural dimension of the project. URDD contributed perspectives on Welsh-language youth cultural engagement and minority language preservation, allowing participants to compare Irish, Catalan, and Welsh contexts.