Maribor in 2013 living with the European Youth Capital

In 2012, Maribor and its partner towns carried the title European Capital of Culture; in 2013, it gained the prestigious title of European Youth Capital. EYC Maribor 2013 brings into the Styrian capital of Slovenia numerous innovative projects, a creative programme, events and numerous activities that will enable a smooth transition from youth into adulthood for the young people. 2013 will be characterized by youth!

The title European Youth Capital (EYC) is awarded by the European Youth Forum to a selected European town for the period of one year with the purpose of promoting cooperation among the young people and their active inclusion in society. Maribor won in the competition of 12 European towns – it persuaded the committee with its innovative approach of including young people in all planning phases of activities and policies. It took the title from the Portuguese Braga, while in 2014 Maribor will hand over the title to the Greek Thessaloniki.

The programme of the European Youth Capital Maribor (EYC) 2013 is primarily intended for young people aged between 15 and 29, but EYC Maribor 2013 seeks to include both younger as well as older; therefore, it stresses the importance of intergenerational cooperation. In an extremely creative and communicationally-dynamic manner, the program centrally focused on those topics that are most interesting for the current young generation. Therefore, programme activities are subdivided by main substantial sets, such as: structured dialogue, entertainment, intercultural integration, cultural creativity, sports, ecology, voluntariness, employment, education, issue of accommodation and intergenerational cooperation.

The official website of EYC Maribor 2013 presents the topics by sets in a transparent and attractive way for young people, while also providing current events by sets. Events take place in the forms of educational seminars, interactive workshops, forums, round tables, education, transfer of good practice, socialising and fun. The main theme and mission, though, is the active inclusion of youth in current issues as well as their active production of new opportunities for a better future. The programme connects and invites the younger and older generation to participate, while strongly focusing on European networking and exchange of experience of youth from Europe and beyond.

The programme can be followed on the EYC website (calender on the right), while we would like to point out two key international programme highlights that will take place in April:

International youth education event for international relations, politics and diplomacy, 4 to 7 April 2013: A youth education programme that will last several days and focus on the topic of international relations, politics and diplomacy. The programme includes several speakers, including the USA ambassador Joseph Mussomeli and Great Britain ambassador Andrew Page. Moreover, workshops, round tables and team building activities will be organised, connected by Tim Baxter, speaker at the recent TEDx event in Ljubljana.

International youth AGM conference, 11 to 15 April 2013: Within the framework of the European Youth Capital, Maribor will host the biggest international youth conference that has ever been organised in Slovenia – AGM (AGM is the largest interdisciplinary, voluntary student organisation in Europe). Since organisers would like to use this incredible opportunity in a comprehensive manner (namely, more than 600 young people will be present in Maribor from all over Europe), the Day of Opportunities or Youngle Day will also be organised within the framework of the AGM conference. The entire event is subdivided into three parts and will take place on 12 April 2013 at the Technical Faculties of the University of Maribor: Uni-Market, Career Fair and Youth Parade – within the framework of the latter, 600 international guests who will be dressed in their national colours will symbolically walk toward a better future.

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