Autor: wojtek

Photo shows a Polish-Slovak group of project participants after a lecture by Kumar Vishwanathan at the Białołęka District Public Library in Warsaw

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How to Work Effectively with Young People in an Unconventional Way? – Project Summary

Since June 2024, we have been implementing the project „How to Work Effectively with Young People in an Unconventional Way: Building Cooperation in Non-Formal Youth Education.” This initiative focuses on exchanging experiences and developing new educational methods between NGOs from Poland and Slovakia. Thanks to our collaboration with ETP Slovensko and invited experts, we have successfully developed innovative approaches to youth education through culture, art, and social activities.

On-Site Meeting in Warsaw – Intensive Knowledge and Experience Exchange

After months of online meetings, in February 2025, we held an in-person training session in Warsaw, bringing together educators from both countries and guest specialists. The program included:

• Streetworking Workshop with Karol Kołbyk – An educator and streetworker from Pracownia Edukacji  shared his methods for working with socially excluded youth.

Photo: Jusyna Domasłowska-Szulc

• Lecture by Kumar Vishwanathan – A Czech social activist, founder, and director of Vzajemne Souziti , who spoke about his experiences working with young people at risk of exclusion.

Photo: Jusyna Domasłowska-Szulc

• Calligraphy Workshop at the District Educational Center in Falenica – A hands-on session using art as an educational tool, led by educator Małgorzata Brus from the Dom Kultury Foundation.

• Study Visit at the Itaka Foundation – A discussion and lecture on supporting young people in mental health crises, led by Anna Jurkiewicz, head of Itaka Foundation .

• Session at Teatr Studio – A presentation on youth engagement and community-building around cultural institutions, led by Damian Kalita, head of the Education Department at Teatr Studio.

Photo: Jusyna Domasłowska-Szulc

• Workshop at Zachęta National Gallery of Art – A session on inclusive art education methods, led by Dr. Monika Weychert, head of the Education Department at Zachęta.

Photo: Jusyna Domasłowska-Szulc

Project Results

• Average rating of organization and program content: 9.5/10
• 100% of participants found the acquired skills useful in their work with youth
• Most appreciated elements of the program: Streetworking and calligraphy workshops, meetings with practitioners, and experience exchange between participants from Poland and Slovakia.
• Future recommendations: More group integration, topics related to digital education and cybersecurity, and expanding cooperation with additional cultural institutions – SO WE KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

A Project Full of Inspiration and New Methods

The project „How to Work Effectively with Young People in an Unconventional Way” has brought many inspiring outcomes. Participants have developed new methods for working with young people, incorporating art, culture, and non-formal education as tools for social inclusion. Through the collaboration of educators from Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, we facilitated an exchange of experiences and diverse approaches to supporting youth.

Practical workshops such as calligraphy, streetworking, and activities in cultural institutions demonstrated how to creatively build relationships and develop young people’s skills. Meetings and study visits resulted in new contacts and partnerships that will continue beyond the project’s completion. Most importantly, participants left inspired and ready to implement their newly acquired knowledge and develop innovative educational programs.

This project was implemented with the support of Erasmus+ (KA153-YOU). We extend our gratitude to all participants for their dedication and hope that the jointly developed methods will serve as an inspiration for future initiatives!

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Funded by the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, the Foundation for the Development of the Education System or the National Agency of the Erasmus+ Programme and the European Solidarity Corps. Neither the European Union nor the grant awarding bodies are responsible for them.

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“I attack the alphabet with acrobatics* (alphabet challenge)” is a hip-hop project aimed at girls from the District Education Centre in Falenica.

It included 10 Polish language and rapping lessons, an animation and typography workshop and a professional recording session. A total of 20 girls took part in the activities. They participated in the workshops, wrote their own lyrics, some graphically designed the letters for the challenge and others decided to sing the verses and take part in the recording.

The project fits in with the Internet’s well-known ‘alphabet challenge’, which involves rapping verses written using one-letter words (while keeping rhyme, flow and as much sense as possible in the lyrics – as artist Jeden writes on YouTube).

The aim of our project, which ran from spring to autumn 2024, was to introduce participants to the culture and strengthen their language skills, and to encourage them to pursue their own creativity to help them express their feelings, reflections, fulfil their passions and establish communication with the environment and society – through rap.

The culmination of the series of workshops was for the girls to write their own lyrics – short verses for consecutive letters of the alphabet (in one verse, all words start with the same letter), which fit into the so-called alphabet challenge, sing them and co-create an animated music video for them, which was published on the Internet.

In our project, rap became a tool for the social inclusion of excluded people and a pretext for the participants to learn about national culture, in theory and practice, and to become its active broadcasters.

To carry out the project and to co-create it, we invited: rapper Mati Fuczyło, visual artist Andrzej Budek, actress and improviser Kinga Kosik-Burzyńska and poet, playwright Marcin Cecko. The music has been provided by Whysowavy. The recording was made at Flightcore Studios.

The premiere screening of the music video took place on 17 October 2024 at the Studio Theatre Gallery and Studio Bar.

* The title is a quote from the artist Jeden’s track, entitled “Alphabet challenge”.

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Photo report on the screening and tour of the Studio Theatre Gallery and the theatre costume storage.

Photo: Justyna Domasłowska-Szulc

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Author of the poster: Klaudia Borawiak

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Photos from the project implementation

Photo: Małgorzata Brus

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The project was co-financed by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the framework of the programme National Centre for Culture: Culture – Interventions 2024.

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’Gambling – everything you need to know about addiction’ is a project of our Foundation, which we have realised together with the Bridge of Friendship Kartlosi Foundation from Georgia.
The project included an intensive training programme for Georgian secondary school teachers on the prevention of youth addiction to gambling. The programme was prepared by Polish experts in cooperation with Georgian experts, so that it corresponds to the Georgian socio-cultural situation.
The training of 16 teachers from three regions in Georgia where the risk of gambling addiction among youth is growing faster than in the other regions, took place at the end of September 2024 in Kutaisi, Georgia.
We ware implementing the project in cooperation with our Georgian partner, the Bridge of Friendship Kartlosi Foundation. The organisation was founded in 2006 and initially dealt with the Ossetian-Georgian conflict and carried out activities to bring the two sides closer together (joint newspaper and radio, mediation, joint projects). Over time, activities have expanded to include non-formal education activities – working with schools, teachers and local authorities to increase youth participation in social and political life. Kartlosi is also involved in promoting peaceful ways of conflict resolution among young people in Georgia – workshops and trainings on negotiation, peer mediation, and has been working on strengthening school democracy and student participation in Georgia since 2013.
The coordinator of the project „Gambling – everything you need to know about addiction” from the Georgian side was Lela Mazmishvili: programme director of Kartlosi, creates and coordinates social, educational projects, coordinator of international programmes (Erasmus+). She also works on social media communication and is an experienced trainer in the field of human rights, anti-discrimination, implementation of public/social action.

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Anna Osowska – Rembecka and Beata Bartosiewicz

The Polish experts that we invited to implement the project “Gambling – everything you need to know about addiction” are Anna Osowska – Rembecka and Beata Bartosiewicz. Both have extensive experience in developing addiction prevention training programmes and are experienced trainers.

Anna Osowska-Rembecka – doctor of social sciences, expert in first-line support for victims of domestic violence at the Women’s Rights Centre Foundation, community therapist at the TOGO Centre for the Development of Your Potential in Warsaw. Academic lecturer at the Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education in Warsaw and at the Pedagogium – Higher School of Social Sciences in Warsaw and the Higher School of Banking.

Member of the Programme Council of the Congress of Women, social activist. Co-author of guides on violence at home and at work. She conducts workshops in the area of addiction prevention, including gambling addiction, in the field of domestic violence prevention and dealing with aggression. She works with children and young people from threatened and dysfunctional families, in particular those experiencing or witnessing domestic violence, at risk of demoralisation and experiencing severe stress as a result of inadequately exercised parental authority, as well as with young people with adaptation difficulties in the school, local and peer environment, difficulties related to the lack of ability to control aggression, addicted to psychoactive substances, computer games and gambling.

Beata Bartosiewicz – Master’s degree in pedagogy, psychotherapist working in the integrative-systemic approach in the second year of the 4-year psychotherapeutic training at the Dialog School of Psychotherapy. Certified specialist in domestic violence prevention, aggression replacement educator, specialist in developmental activities for adolescents in relation to the risk of behavioural addictions. She has completed numerous trainings and courses including a study of domestic violence prevention, Solution Focused Therapy 1st and 2nd degree, TSR – working with couples. She has also completed training in motivational dialogue and uses it in her work with addicted people. In addition, she has completed interpersonal and intrapsychic training. She has more than 15 years of experience working with children and young people from families at risk of social exclusion and dysfunctional families, in particular those experiencing or witnessing domestic violence.

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Contributors to the publication: Megi Bibiluri; Ada Szulc
Editor: Megi Bibiluri
Graphic design : Shalva Muradashvili
Gori 2024
License: Made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.

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Photo: Fot. Bridge of Friendship Kartlosi, Justyna Domasłowska-Szulc

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Project co-financed by funds from the Polish-American Freedom Foundation within the framework of the RITA programme – Region in Transition implemented by the Education for Democracy Foundation

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W Kratkę No. 9 is another edition of this unique magazine created by women serving prison sentences at the Warsaw-Grochów Remand Prison (including those incarcerated both in Grochów and in the External Ward in Bemowo), together with artists from the outside world, particularly those connected in various ways with the Department of Graphic Arts at SWPS University in Wrocław.

The ninth issue is overseen by the editor-in-chief, Agata Maczkowska, and the artistic directors, Dr Małgorzata Jabłońska and Dr Piotr Szewczyk. The theme of this edition is joy, rest and laughter.

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“W Kratkę” – The Only Magazine of Its Kind in the World

Since 2012, a unique journalistic and artistic editorial team has been operating in the Warsaw-Grochów prison. The editorial meetings bring together an average of 20 incarcerated women and people from the outside world: journalists, writers, teachers, visual artists, and students of journalism, graphic design, and communication. The aim of these meetings is not only to prepare the next issue of “W Kratkę” but also to explore fundamental questions about the significance of culture and art and their social roles. A crucial aspect of the project is also the social reintegration of incarcerated individuals through active participation in cultural life.

A Unique Collaboration of Art and Incarceration

“W Kratkę”, published as part of cultural education initiatives by the Warsaw-based Fundacja Dom Kultury (House of Culture Foundation), benefits from a comprehensive graphic design, made possible through collaboration with lecturers and students from the Department of Graphic Design at SWPS University. This partnership has been ongoing since 2021. The magazine stands out due to its thoughtful and original graphic concept, developed under the artistic direction of Dr. Małgorzata Jabłońska and Dr. Piotr Szewczyk, the creator of the magazine’s layout. Their contribution ensures that “W Kratkę” is unique—not only among prison publications but also within the realm of artistic magazines. The project also provides students with valuable experience, as they create illustrations for each issue as part of their professional training.

A Magazine That Unites Different Perspectives

The magazine holds significant appeal for a wide audience, including socially engaged artists, educators, psychologists, social activists, and, most importantly, incarcerated individuals themselves. Its high-quality design and publishing standards also make it attractive to art enthusiasts. Thanks to the collaboration between Fundacja Dom Kultury and the Director General’s Office of the Polish Prison Service, the printed version of the magazine is distributed to prison libraries across Poland, while the digital edition is available to the general public.

Since 2022, “W Kratkę” has expanded its editorial team to include male inmates from the Wołów Prison, followed in 2023 by incarcerated men from the Warsaw-Białołęka Detention Center. This development has broadened the range of topics covered in the magazine and enriched the diversity of writing styles and perspectives.

Education and Creativity in Prison

Producing “W Kratkę” is not only about editing articles but, above all, about intensive cultural education. Participants engage in workshops that serve as the foundation for their written work. Their contributions are then published, helping to disseminate knowledge about culture both within prison walls and to the outside world.

„We know from bitter experience that life in prisons too easily fades into obscurity, becoming invisible and, to outsiders, somewhat unreal. (…) But deprivation of liberty should not mean deprivation of respect, visibility, and a sense of purpose. And this is what ‘W Kratkę’ is about: dignity in a difficult—perhaps the most difficult—situation in life,” wrote Agata Czarnacka in the editorial of the magazine’s 8th issue.

International Recognition

The project has gained recognition not only in Poland but also on the international stage. “W Kratkę” and Fundacja Dom Kultury participated in Jenny Brockman’s Entanglement 4 #Melody in Kassel, as part of documenta 15. Artists engaged in the foundation’s prison projects, including Małgorzata Jabłońska, Piotr Szewczyk, and Józek Gałązka, contributed to this prestigious event. The initiative was curated by Antek Burzyński.

A Changing Editorial Team

The magazine has different editors-in-chief over time, and the prison editorial team evolves as well—female inmates complete their sentences, are released, or are transferred to other facilities. However, the foundation of “W Kratkę” remains unchanged: regular cultural education, which ensures the continuity of this exceptional project.

More than just a magazine, “W Kratkę” is a creative space where incarcerated individuals and artists collaboratively explore the essence of culture, art, and humanity—regardless of their circumstances.

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The special edition of “W Kratkę – On Beauty” was published thanks to a grant from the YES Foundation.

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The Dom Kultury Foundation cooperates on an ongoing basis with the Detention Centre in Warsaw Grochów and the Detention Centre in Warsaw – Białołęka, as well as with the Department of Graphics at Wrocław’s SWPS University, in the persons of Dr Małgorzata Jabłońska and Dr Piotr Szewczyk, and their students, in creating the ‘W Kratę’ magazine. 

Dr Małgorzata Jabłońska

Dr Piotr Szewczyk

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An amazing publication by Małgorzata Jabłońska of the Graphics Department at Wrocław’s SWPS University dedicated to the process of creating “In a Grid” from a graphic designer’s point of view.

The authors of the publication are Paulina Woźniak and Mateusz Antczak.

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Co-financed by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for Promotion of Culture – state purpose fund.

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Summer Workshop Camp: Warsaw 2024 – is a summer workshop camp, a programme to develop the social skills of Roma youth and strengthen cooperation between NGOs from the Visegrad Group countries.
Twenty-four boys and girls from Roma communities in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary took part in the week-long summer camp, which took place in early August in Warsaw. The programme of workshops to develop social skills, lectures on the situation of Roma in the V4 countries and the work of NGOs, was set up by partner organisations: the Dom Kultury Foundation (Poland; project leader), Vzájemné soužití o.p.s. (Czech Republic), ETP Slovakia (Slovakia) and Amrita OBK (Hungary).

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Summer Workshop Camp for the second time in Poland, for the first time in Warsaw! 2024 edition.

Photo: Zosia Szulc

This year’s events at the Summer Workshop Camp (SWC) funded by the International Visegrad Fund took place in Warsaw. The initiative, which is organised by the Dom Kultury Foundation for the second year in a row, moved from Oświęcim to the capital of Poland in order to actively spend time here on workshops, fun and above all integration of Roma youth from four different European countries. Male and female participants from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia took part in an almost week-long programme of cooperation, which was also an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience. For some, the camp was an opportunity to meet again, for others it was their first introduction to Polish culture, and to get to know the Roma and Roma people from Poland better. Therefore, one of the most favourite parts of the programme were games and activities with elements of Roma culture. It should also be noted that the group from Poland was diverse, as they were joined by people from Ukraine who now live and work in Poland and found themselves here after the escalation of hostilities in their homeland.

Although the main organiser of the camp is the Dom Kultury Foundation, various individuals and organisations making up the camp were responsible for running the programme, including ETP Slovakia from Slovakia, Armita OBK from Hungary, Vzajemne Souziti from the Czech Republic. Workshops were also led by trainers and coaches from Poland, including Agnieszka Caban, Rajmund Siwak, Agata Siemaszko.

In turn, additional attractions, i.e. a guided tour of Warsaw’s Old Town, team football games or a visit to the Copernicus Science Centre during the following days allowed the participants to learn more about Polish history and culture, integrate and smoothly move on to other interesting events. At Kwiatuchów, the participants of the Summer Workhop Camp took part in an art workshop in screen printing led by the amazing Estera Ant. The bags featured a design by Mateusz Kwiatek and Estera Antka (after consultation with Andrzej Grzymała-Kazłowski), which depicted the dragons that decorated the Roma carts used by wandering Roma groups. The imaginative workshop was much appreciated by the makers/women and also the owners of the new bags.

The penultimate day was also a space for reflection on the situation of young Roma people from the Visegrad countries. The debate at the Multicultural Centre in Warsaw was moderated by Agnieszka Caban, who asked questions about the Roma community in their countries: what unites them, what differs, what is the attitude of the authorities towards Roma in a given country, what are the goals, dreams and plans for the future of our participants. In the evening, it was time to sum up the camp and all the groups took part in an evaluation of the camp events, which will help the organisers to prepare even better activities in future years.

An evening of music workshops conducted by Agata Siemaszko, a renowned artist and singer whose work has been linked to the musical folklore of the Visegrad countries for many years, further strengthened the passion for learning about the cultures of their countries and minority groups and made the anticipation for the third edition of the festival grow!

Agnieszka Caban

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Programme

 

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The Summer Workshop Camp is realised thanks to a grant from the International Visegrad Fund.

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The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.

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More about the Grantor

Fundacja Dom Kultury

Vzájemné soužití

ETP Slovensko

Amrita OBK

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Summer Workshop Camp – Oświęcim 2023

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The author of the logo is Andrzej Budek (Kotbury.pl). The artist provided it to us free of charge.

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’Art Schools and prisons’ is the second edition of the project, which is about engaging artistic academia with socially and culturally excluded people who are isolated in prison. With this aim, we have created an interesting programme of art workshops and cultural education classes that we will organise in various prisons in Poland. We have invited Justyna Żarczyńska (National Museum in Poznań) and Honza Zamoyski (School of Form) to conduct workshops in the Detention Centre in Poznań. Workshops in the Detention Centres in Warsaw – Grochów, Służewiec and Białołęka were led by dr Małgorzata Gurowska, Joanna Ruszczyk and dr Sebastian Krok from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and in the Detention Centre and External Ward in Wrocław by dr Małgorzata Jabłońska and dr Piotr Szewczyk from the Department of Graphics at SWPS University.

The programme included cultural and artistic education, including creative activities conducted according to the artists’ original concepts. We conducted them in 6 prisons for more than 120 inmates, male and female. In addition, organised so-called “KO outings”, cultural and educational activities for groups of men and women serving sentences in semi-open wards. They took part in artistic and cultural activities outside prison.

We believe that the cooperation between the academy and the prisons established thanks to the project will continue after its completion and will contribute to lasting changes in the methods of creative social readaptation of excluded people, who often already at the start have fewer opportunities than most of us people from freedom.

Project implementation: June – December 2024.

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Detention Centre in Poznań, workshops by Justyna Żarczyńska

Activities conducted by Justyna Żarczyńska from the National Museum in Poznań were devoted to self-portrait in art, presentation and self-presentation. Participants listened to a lecture, watched a multimedia presentation and, as part of the workshop, made artworks entitled “Self-portrait. Looking ‘in’ and ‘at’ yourself”.

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Detention Centre in Poznań, Honza Zamoyski’s workshops

Honza Zamoyski, artist, book designer and publisher, art curator and lecturer at the School of Form in Warsaw, led a collage workshop, supported by a lecture on this “most democratic art form” – it does not require special skills from the creators.

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Detention Centre and Closed Ward in Wrocław, workshops by Małgorzata Jabłońska and Piotr Szewczyk

The workshops entitled “State of Concentration” were led by artists Dr Małgorzata Jabłońska and Dr Piotr Szewczyk and academics Dr hab. Mariusz Wszołek, Prof. SWPS oraz MA Paulina Woźniak-Dębińska from the Department of Graphics at Wrocław’s SWPS University, , and

The workshop consisted of two meetings. They used idea generation tools, the creation of a mind map for a keyword: states of focus (from general associations to more precise ones), followed by the categorisation of associations and free artistic activities relating to the theme of the workshop, using water mats and Chinese calligraphy brushes.

The theme is open-ended enough to give those attending the workshop many interpretive possibilities.

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Detention centres in Warsaw – Białołęka, Warsaw – Grochów and Warsaw – Służewiec, Sebastian Krok’s workshops

Sebastian Krok conducted painting workshops in three Warsaw prisons: in Grochów for women, in Służewiec and Białołęka for men. He began the classes by reading a fragment of Wiesław Myśliwski prose (“Pałac”):

„Beauty, my dear friends, must hurt to be true. It must be imperfect, flawed, suffering in order to be beautiful. It must hide, so to speak, some self-embarrassment, self-doubt, maybe even helplessness, maybe fear. You will know it especially by the fact that it, as it were, is at your mercy, at your forbearance, even at your forgiveness, and therefore at your covenant with it”.

Myśliwski’s reading of the text was to inspire the participants to create paintings. And the theme of the works was, of course, “Beauty”. During the activities, the artist talked about painting techniques, interesting facts from the history of art, colourful anecdotes and stories related to the world of art.

While listening to the colourful stories, the participants painted pictures.

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Detention centres in Warsaw – Białołęka, Warsaw – Grochów and Warsaw – Służewiec, workshops by Małgorzata Gurowska and Joanna Ruszczyk

Małgorzata Gurowska and Joanna Ruszczyk conducted “Tree of Life” workshops in Warsaw prisons, for women and men. They talked to participants about nature, about trees as allies of humans in times of climate catastrophe, which absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, cool the air; “about specific trees that we like, observe, perhaps remember from childhood, but also about symbolic, imagined, dreamt-of trees”. During the workshop, participants “discovered” these trees within themselves, drew them and talked about them. And at the end of the activities, they planted shrubs in each prison, which will be looked after by the people imprisoned.

The project coordinator was Małgorzata Brus.

Co-financed by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for the Promotion of Culture – a state purpose fund.

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Kłodzko, Łódź, Wrocław and now Warsaw – Bareforytka Roma

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Wandering Festival “Romani Culture”: Warsaw 2024 – Bareforytka Roma

The “Romani Culture” Festival travels across Poland every year to present to a wide audience the most interesting cultural achievements of the Roma ethnic minority living and creating in a selected region of the country. In 2024, its purpose is to present the cultural achievements of Roma living in Warsaw for generations. It aims to strengthen the creative activities undertaken as part of this local culture and to document its most interesting phenomena.

Bareforytka Roma – Warsaw’s Roma

Traditional Roma culture is part of Poland’s cultural heritage. There is one Romani culture, but it has many faces. The multiplicity of its expressions, its diversity depending on the place of residence and the history of a given community, influenced our decision to create the formula of a travelling festival – wandering around Poland, documenting and presenting the achievements of the Roma from different groups and in different places of residence. “Romani Culture” is a travelling festival of Roma culture. In 2024, the festival will be hosted by Roma activists, artists, cultural creators from Warsaw and the Mazovian Voivodeship, i.e. Bareforytka Roma, which in Romani means Roma from the big city, i.e. the Roma of Warsaw.

The presentation of the most interesting cultural achievements of Warsaw’s Roma took place during festival events organised in a thriving cultural facility, the Multicultural Centre, located in a busy location in Praga Północ.

We invited Roma artists and activists from Warsaw, as well as prominent Roma scholars, to participate in the project. With them we jointly organised the Festival, which was attended by the Roma community living in the region, invited guests, as well as random passers-by and tourists.

The 4th edition of the Wandering Festival “Romani Culture” took place on Saturday 8 June 2024 at the Multicultural Centre in Warsaw. It lasted all day. In front of the Centre, we were welcomed by a model of a tabor wagon created by artists Józek Gałązka (design) and Róża Łakatosz. It was a special combination of modern art and traditional Roma art used to take souvenir photos. In the rooms of the Multicultural Centre, we organised an exhibition and ethnographic corner presenting the collections of the Museum of Roma Culture in Warsaw and visually narrating their history, from the oldest to the present day. Andrzej Grzymała-Kazłowski, curator and founder of the Museum, talked about history and his collections in a richly illustrated lecture. Artistic activities took off from the beginning of the Festival – under the guidance of the artist Noemi Łakatosz, we painted a picture entitled Manusza, or People. Once again, this was an opportunity to make individual graphic statements about the participants’ identities, which formed one collective statement on the subject. No special skills were needed for these intuition-based activities, anyone could take part and join in the collective work at any time.

Immediately after the painting workshop, the “Miro Iło” art workshop took place, during which Rajmund Siwak told Roma fairy tales of his own creation and talked to the participants about Roma culture. At the same time, the audience created graphic signs inspired by Roma culture on canvas bags. The art workshops were led by Noemi and Róża Łakatosz.

After midday, we began a panel discussion entitled ”Bareforytka Roma – the Warsaw Roma community – past, present, future challenges”. The panel discussion on the current situation of Roma culture in Warsaw was moderated by Agnieszka Caban from the “Home on the Borderland” Foundation. Participants included Ewa Pawłowska, Roksana Mroczek Wajs and Patrycja Jenny Mroczek Wajs from the Warsaw Roma community and Andrzej Grzymała-Kazłowski from the Museum of Roma Culture in Warsaw. The panellists raised very important issues concerning the Roma community in Poland, in Warsaw, the discussion was substantive and emotional, but we had to cut it short due to the fact that there were new guests waiting for the musical feast, i.e. a concert by Jędrek Pawłowski and his band. We closed the 4th edition of the Festival “Romani Culture”, dedicated to the culture of Warsaw’s Roma – Bareforytka Roma – in a cheerful and dancing mood.

This year, Warsaw’s Roma communities were less represented in the Festival audience, most of the participants were from outside. Our guests took part in the festival events with great interest and asked questions about the Roma community, sometimes bold and profound, receiving factual answers from experts – Roma from Warsaw, as well as the Łakatosz family from Poznań, our friends.

Photo documentation from the Wandering Festival “Romani Culture”: Warsaw 2024 (Bareforytka Roma) was made by Ada Szulc and video by Delfin Łakatosz.

The coordinator of the 4th edition of the Wandering Festival “Romani Culture” was Małgorzata Brus, supported by the team of the Dom Kultury Foundation. We were hosted by the Multicultural Centre in Warsaw.

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Co-financed with funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the programme of the National Centre of Culture: EtnoPolska. Edition 2024

Działania nasze realizowane są w siedzibie CENTRUM Wielokulturowego w Warszawie w ramach bezpłatnego użyczenia przestrzeni.

Photo Małgorzata Brus

eWkratke.pl – a blog written from prison

Lead
eWkratke.pl is a project unique on a global scale: a blog whose posts are written by people serving prison sentences.

“My name is Zołza. I have been in prison for over five years; I ended up here for credit fraud. I like silence.
I have been attending the Foundation’s workshops for several years, although I didn’t start writing for the blog right away. I needed time to break through.
The classes give me a lot – a break from this place, a glimpse of freedom. You can always talk things through and feel like a human being.
I try to function as normally as possible. The biggest plus is that I can work in the prison radio station – the day passes much faster there.”
Zołza, blogger at eWkratke.pl

The blog eWkratke.pl has been running since 2014. It is created by the Fundacja Dom Kultury (House of Culture Foundation) together with women serving sentences at the Warsaw-Grochów Remand Prison and at the External Unit in Warsaw-Bemowo. For many years the blog was developed entirely through voluntary work. Today its continuation is also possible thanks to funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the Cultural Education programme.

At the heart of the blog are regular cultural education workshops organised by the Foundation in selected prisons. It is during these meetings that the texts, drawings and ideas for new posts are created. The blog is not an addition to the project – it is its natural outcome.

A blog without internet access

Prisoners do not have access to the internet. For this reason, the entire process of creating the blog happens offline.

Texts are written in prison cells or during workshops. They are then sent to volunteers outside prison who transcribe them and publish them online. At the next workshop, facilitators bring printed copies of the published posts together with readers’ comments. The bloggers write their replies by hand on paper. These responses are then typed up and published online.

In this way, a real dialogue develops between the world behind prison walls and the world outside.

Workshops and the project’s aim

The project “Blog eWkratke – Cultural Education for People in Prison” aims to develop the cultural, linguistic and social competencies of women living in prison through regular participation in cultural education and creative workshops.

The workshops take place four times a month:
– twice in Warsaw-Grochów Remand Prison (closed units),
– twice in the External Unit in Warsaw-Bemowo (semi-open units).

The new phase of the project will run from March 2026 to December 2027. During this time participants will write texts, discuss literature and culture, meet invited guests and publish new posts on the blog.

The experience of the House of Culture Foundation shows that long-term, regular educational activities are the only ones that bring real results. Regular meetings help develop self-discipline, cooperation and a sense of agency. In the conditions of prison isolation they also have a therapeutic dimension, creating relationships based on trust and continuity.

Who creates the blog

The blog is created thanks to the work of many people.

The texts are transcribed and edited by volunteers from the Maria Grzegorzewska University (Academy of Special Education) in Warsaw, working under the supervision of Dr Katarzyna Nawrocka.

The visual design of the blog was created by Małgorzata Brus.
The editorial concept is developed by Justyna Domasłowska-Szulc.
Promotion on social media is coordinated by Ada Szulc.

Since 2025, the editor-in-chief of the blog has been Agata Maczkowska – a trainer, educator and actor who regularly leads writing and editorial workshops in the prisons in Grochów and Bemowo.

A new visual identity for the blog is currently being developed by Klaudia Borawiak, a student at SWPS University in Wrocław.

Artists, writers and specialists from different fields are also invited to lead guest workshops in writing and cultural education.

A voice that remains

Some stories on the blog unfold over many years. One of the authors, Anna, wrote the following during her time in prison:

Visit the blog

We invite you to explore eWkratke.pl and follow the project on social media:

facebook.com/ewkratke
instagram.com/fundacjadomkultury

There you will find current and archived posts, photos from the workshops and graphics created by the participants.

You will see what our blog lives with every day.

„2016
My name is Anna.
I am 39 years old.

2017
I am Anna – prisoner Anna.
I am 40 years old.
I am serving a prison sentence for the sin of omission.
I live within the prison routine – a difficult routine.
Thank you for visiting our blog.
Well… we are “devils, souls in purgatory, and divine all at once.”

2018
I am Anna.
I am 41 years old.
Perhaps already free…”
– Aniucha, blogger at eWkratke.pl

Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund.

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