An European network of literary festivals bringing new learning opportunities to isolated communities
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The LitFest Project is an Erasmus + initiative thant brings “learning to the door” to communities that would otherwise not be able to, or inclined to participate in lifelong learning.
We believe in the power of authentic literature to excite and motivate learning.
The European LitFest brings together partners from France, Italy, Spain, and the UK transferring innovation and good practices to promote creative writing, poetry and the use of language as a tool for improving basic skills and promoting learning communities.
Throughout 4 literary festivals local participants will welcome authors, poets and publishers into the heart of their communities.
Within each programme, partners will organise a Community Learning Workshop event based on literacy and literature. With the support of published authors, participants will be able to leverage the art of creative literature, both poetry and prose, as a tool for self-expression, community dialogue and well-being.
(2014 – 2016)
Between 2017 and 2019 the Litfest Network was extended through a second Erasmus + project —the European Community for Inclusive Culture (ECIC)— where we met and included new members.
Below you can find some of the texts produced in our first 2-years project activities: Poetry, narrative, drawing & paintings…
Take a moment to discover how literature can change the life of communities.
Litfest is not only about single events but also a day-a-day continuous work encougaring self-esteem through literacy. Throughout the project, Catching Lives developed creative opportunities at their Canterbury Open Centre to encourage clients to work alongside visual, verbal and performance artists in practical workshops, inspiring individual and group work that enabled participants to express their thoughts, feelings and emotions through art work, photography, animation, film, poetry, drama and short story writing.
Aside from the two collaborative texts produced within the Litfest and the mobility activities the final highlight was the publishing of the writing of their book “Harbledown Hope”, a journey through homeleness in the footsteps of an urban fox.
The Festival dos Eidos (Eidosfest) is a 3-days event on poetry reading, music and mixed arts taking place every August in the Courel Mountains,where the headquarters of the Fundación Uxío Novoneyra and its writer’s home and museum is located. The first festival took place in 2015 and was possible thanks to the funding, knowledge and support provided by the Eramus + Litfest project.
At the beggining a humble although ambitious initiative to provide our rural community with inspiring cultural activities, Eidofest has kept growing over the years and today is a relevant event in Galicia’s festivals calendar. Granted with the EFFE label for European Festivals, Eidofest received the Audience award in CULTURGAL 2019 and won the Best Non-Music Festival prize in the Iberian Festivals Awards in 2020. It is the Foundation’s flahship cultural event.
Litfest Project has been made possible trough an Erasmus + grant (2014-1-FR01-KA204-002399). The European Union programme Eramus + supports organisations from different participating countries to work together, develop, share and transfer best practices and innovative approaches in the fields of education, training and youth.
Both Litfest and ECIC were developed thourgh a Key Action 2: “Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices” as a capacity-building project in the field of higher education, aiming to raise literacy standards alongside civil participation & empowerment, and to promote people-to-people contacts.
Language is at the heart of human life
info@litfest.eu
