Lublin - European Youth Capital 2023

LUBLIN IS THE FIRST CITY IN POLAND WHICH WAS THE EUROPEAN YOUTH CAPITAL IN 2023! The title awarded by the European Youth Forum aims to support the position of young people, promote their participation in social life and strengthen European identity. This is an encouragement for cities to rethink how to involve young people in all aspects of city life and how to enable them to participate in decision-making process. In a constantly changing world, we need even more participation of young people in local government, cultural, business and all other activities aimed at building the common welfare. We can already see how the energy of young people, their creativity and knowledge of contemporary world allow us to lay new development paths for Lublin. This is even more important during the war with our eastern neighbour. The Ukrainian youth living in Lublin have brought us new values, perspectives and dreams, and ESM is an excellent opportunity for them to integrate and participate in the future shaping process of our city. We started from a very good level - Lublin is now a student city, defined by a unique, youth-friendly social microclimate, as well as good cultural, sports and educational facilities. However, we still want to develop, cooperate with new groups and take advantage of the opportunities that lie before us all. Imagine Lublin in 2023 - a meeting place for young people, festivals, concerts, tournaments, developmental and psychological support, first youth policy creation, volunteering, international contacts, funds for your own activities... something happened - we carried out almost 1,000 events this year!
[The film begins with a panoramic view of Lublin, later the youth and snapshots from the EYC Opening Gala and afterwards from Lublin charming places and events, including: Lithuanian Square and multimedia fountains, the National Museum in Lublin, the garden (People's Park), the Old Town, interspersed with shots from the largest festivals in Lublin: Night of Culture, Carnaval Sztukmistrzów, Urban Highline Festival, Graffiti Festival - Meeting of Styles and other various youth gatherings. Further we see the city's infrastructure, modern roads, institutions and NGOs, presentation of Lublin sports: basketball, swimming, speedway, football... We have created youth spaces and we care about the mental development of young people, says the voice of Deputy Mayor Beata Stepaniuk-Kuśmierzak. Young people are shown who have space in the city for themselves and tools to co-decide and develop their passions. Finally, in the background there is a slideshow from youth events and the slogan #Lublin is YOUth!]