19-27 July 2014

Inspiration for a better worldThe YWCA-YMCA of Sweden has for some time planned for a national youth festival… but during the plan-ning process we have realized that the time has come for a YMCA world fes-tival! Hopefully, Sweden will host the YMCA World Council in 2014 - and in the same year, Umeå is the European cultural capital! We see this combina-tion as a winning formula and the events will of course strengthen each other.

The main concept for the festival will be BODY, MIND & SPIRIT - the three building blocks of our movement’s identity. The festival programme will reflect the activities that the YMCA:s in the world offers. Participating countries, associations and persons will be urged and stimulated to take with them what they are proud and want to share!

The festival will be a great experience for everyone that participates and visits the festival area. The main target group is members of YMCA and YWCA in the age 16-30 years, but the festival area is open for everyone. Mini-mum is 10 000 participants.

You will find a fantastic mixture of music, dance, sports, art, learning opportunities, scouting, environmental issues, spirituality, hu-man rights, sustainable development, poverty reduction, religious dialogues, physical outdoor activities, gender equality, diversity, social work and much more. Lots and lots of possibilities to try new things and to learn different activi-ties!

There will be several arenas for concerts and performances, and an international world art-ist will be the drawing card for the festival!We also intend to host world championships in Basketball and other sports. And hopefully, the Norwegian YWCA-YMCA will be inter-ested in organizing a world tensing event! The festival will be innovative, creative, chal-lenging, instructive, active and fun!

The strength of the YMCA movement lies partially in the permanent ongoing exchange of ideas and inspiration throughout the world. We learn of each other in order to create better activities, better values – and a better world. Festivals, camps, courses and seminars are important elements in the move-ment’s development.

The festival wants to inspire, activate, engage and empower everyone that visits the festival (not least members of the YMCA and YWCA!)

Inspiration for a better world

The main goal of the festival

People within the YMCA-YWCA move-ment in Sweden and the world will feel greater solidarity and spirit of community

More people will know what YMCA and YWCA stands for and what we do

The visitors have during the festival taken part of knowledge from the entire world, felt joy, met people from other cultures and built relationships.

The visitors will have a deeper understanding for original inhabitants and their cultures

A lot of positive publicity in local, national and international media.

EnvironmentHuman RightsHealth

BODYBasketballVolleyballClimbing

BMXSwimming

Parkour

MINDSPIRITLecturesSeminars

Workshops

MusicTheatre

PerformanceArts

Dance

DAY THEMESEmpowermentSportsCulture

Sweden - the land of the midnight sun

YMCAfestival com

Sweden