The Lelenfant is a Cultural Educational and Artistic Program for children and young people (age 9 – 16 years old) from around the world in order to create a platform for participants to exchange and develop their skills and interest in an atmosphere of peer learning (so called kids teach kids). 

The project has been financially supported since 2009 by the Municipality of Wrocław and is one of its key international projects with a global scope that fosters the participation and inclusion of young people through art. 

With the support of artistic instructors and group leaders, young artists and adults work together to create an inclusive project for participants from different backgrounds and cultures focusing on what unites them as young artists.

Lelenfant workshops are always based on our idea of „children teach children” – peer education and intercultural education. We see great potential in every young person and we want to bring it out and strengthen it. Through joint creative work, fun and sharing each other’s skills, passion and even a helping hand, we believe that we are able to learn much more and create something unique. 

The work process during the workshops is based on elements of theater, choreography or circus pedagogy with the use and based on the ideas and talents of the participants of the classes.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE THE LELENFANT ARTISTIC GROUPS?

Lelenfant Groups are made up of around 4-10 young artists accompanied by one or two adult Group Leader. The participants should be between 8 and 16 years old. Leaders must be at least 18 years of age, have strong English language proficiency, and know the children in the group well. They can be a teacher or supervisor at the children’s local organization. During the project, Group Leaders participate in their own artistic program of activities and run workshops for local children, in addition to supervising and supporting their groups. 

Our project has a priority to foster inclusion which means that we invite young people coming from different social and economical backgrounds. We welcome everyone  who is interested in intercultural friendship. We partner with strong, socially-minded, mission-driven organizations, but we also welcome informal groups of children who have started to practice some form of art as a way to improve their lives and their communities.

We believe that the strength of our project lies in creating it with children and young people in spirit of respect for their heritage and identity and with their full participation and agency on the final result which will be the final performance shown to a wider audience.

Lelenfant 2023 will be organized in Wrocław in the second half of August. We plan to bring together 65 young artists (including 20 local kids from Wrocław). 

The Friendship Art Education Foundation covers the cost of food, accommodation, and local travel during the project and workshops. For groups from the Global South and from disadvantaged backgrounds, we also can cover the costs of international travel and the Schengen visa, when needed. However, we are not able to pay for issuing passports. Our ability to cover costs is determined for each group on a case by case basis. In addition, we always encourage our groups to have an active role in the search for sponsors to be able to co-finance their international travel. 

To learn more join our database of international groups and we will set up the meeting with you to tell you more or we will invite you to Lelenfant International Community Online Meeting. 

Fill the form: https://forms.gle/R9mTFg71L2RZCAyX6

The south-western city of Wrocław was the 2016 European Capital of Culture. Wrocław, the historic capital of Silesia, is one of the biggest and oldest Polish cities.

Wrocław is full of monuments of its thousand years of history. It is best to begin visiting the town in its oldest part, or the former islands on the Odra River and its forked tributaries. The most famous of these are Ostrów Tumski and the Piasek island, a medieval residential quarter, today one of the Polish Monuments of History. 

Wrocław is first Polish city to join European Coalition Against Racism (ECCAR), an initiative launched by UNESCO, a UN agency.

The Friendship Art Education Foundation was established in 2020 by the professional NGO people who gained several years of experience in the field of education, global cooperation, global education, multiculturalism, culture and art, as well as cooperation with non-governmental organizations and educational and cultural institutions around the world.

The Friendship Art Education has operated the Lelenfant Project (former Brave Kids) since February 2022 financed by Wroclaw Municipality and the Polish Ministry of Culture. In Foundation we share a similar vision of the world and passions.

We believe that it is possible to live peacefully and sustainably on planet Earth, therefore we invite through the Foundation’s activities to jointly search for empathetic contact with yourself, the people around us and nature.