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The week between the 2-10th of March was very productive and full of excitement. Andreea Staicu, Ana-Maria Răducan and Teodora Răducan are the participants who represented Romania in the InFormal Creativity: Go Visual project, organised in Lisieux, France, by the LeLab Lisieux Normandie Association together with participants from Spain, Greece, Italy, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Turkey and, of course, France.

The first day was about getting to know each other and working together, using of course creative methods of expression. Each participant had to draw their name without using letters and then introduce themselves to each other. Another getting-to-know-you game, in which participants asked each other questions, helped to build group cohesion and create a space of mutual trust and support.

Then we all received drawing materials and were able to experiment with all sorts of materials together, so that day by day we all deepened graphic and composition techniques, basic elements for visual presentations. We started with frames inspired by our surroundings and not only, then moved on to creative and colourful fonts, contrasts and created a poster that brought together all the elements we learned in the early days.

Mind-mapping sessions and infographics followed. Each participant represented themselves with a mindmap and then, in groups, we made infographics about the project or interesting topics in order to practice what we learned.

We then discussed about presentations and the importance of visuals in creating an interactive presentation. We started with an example and, in pairs, analysed it and translated it into images to convey the content in a more engaging way.

As a final assignment, the participants worked either in groups or individually to create visual materials for a personal project, using the knowledge they had acquired throughout the training. Two groups created boardgames, one group created a poster, one participant created a presentation on art therapy and another on the negative effects of digital addiction and how to use social media and the phone less.

The whole process was concisely and professionally structured and facilitated by Eduard and Vera. They encouraged us throughout the week, guided us and helped us learn in a creative environment, working together to improve everyone’s creative skills.

In addition to the project activities, intercultural evenings were organised, where each country briefly presented their culture, traditions, landscapes, made interactive quizzes with prizes or danced traditional dances together.

Moreover, each evening was also marked by extra activities such as: improvisation theatre workshop (facilitated by Ana-Maria, Andreea and Teodora), art therapy (Joanna), doodling (Eduard), human library (Tobi), zentangle (Vera), dymanic drawing (Estel, Lucia and Julia). All these activities, together with the enthusiasm of all the participants and the desire to learn from each other, created a unified group, where we helped and encouraged each other and spent nice time together.

We also visited the towns of Deauville and Trouville on the Atlantic coast of France and a cider-making farm on our free afternoon.

Although the participants have now returned to their homes, the project is not over yet. Next up is the dissemination part, where teams from each country will implement what they have learned by organising workshops in their communities. There will also be a 10-day drawing marathon, where each of the participants will be able to rediscover and put into practice what they have learned in the training.