The project in a few words
SolaNova is a 12-day Erasmus+ Youth Exchange that will bring together 36 young people from Germany, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, and Poland in Hildesheim, Germany.
At its core lies SolaNova: an imaginary world and a speculative space of possibility co-created by participants. Through storytelling, workshops, games, and writing, young people will explore what a greener, fairer, more caring future might look like.
SolaNova is both a place and a process. It invites youth to imagine utopias not as distant fantasies, but as blueprints for action. The project culminates in a powerful public moment: the participants will share their stories at PROSANOVA 2026, a local festival for young literature.
Main Objectives
- Develop storytelling and writing skills as tools for youth voice, identity, and expression
- Address climate anxiety and hopelessness through imagination and shared narrative creation
- Explore solarpunk and hopepunk as frameworks for resilient, just futures
- Create a safe and inclusive learning environment
- Encourage teamwork, initiative, and peer learning
- Foster intercultural collaboration and collective authorship
- Guide participants through the full cycle of cultural production: writing, editing, crowdfunding, publishing
- Present youth-created works at a professional literary festival
Activities
Over 12 days, participants will:
- Join writing, worldbuilding, and storytelling workshops
- Explore solarpunk aesthetics and speculative fiction
- Participate in storytelling circles and creative labs
- Co-create short stories and visual elements
- Rehearse and prepare their public presentation for PROSANOVA
- Optionally join SolaRPG micro-sessions for gamified storytelling
- Begin planning the crowdfunding and publication of their collective book
We will create:
- A public performance at PROSANOVA 2026
- A published short story collection (digital + print)
- A youth-led crowdfunding campaign to support the publishing costs
The final event of SolaNova will take place in the PROSANOVA 2026 Festival, a festival of young literature organised by BELLAtriste e.V. This allows the participants to showcase their work to a public audience of artists, publishers, and cultural stakeholders.
Slow Travel
Participants are invited to travel using a slow and green travel means, such as train, bus or car-sharing. They have up to 2 travel days for arrival and 2 travel days for departure, and we highly recommend to travel in the national teams.
You will receive:
- A Green Travel budget (see travel slide for details)
- Up to 70€ per person to cover one night accommodation and food for the travel for each way
We highly recommend travelling by Interrail. It is a flexible and affordable way to move across Europe by train, and gives the freedom to explore different routes and places along the way. We would like this to be an experience in itself, not just transport, but part of the adventure.
Who can apply?
Youngsters that…
- … are residing in 1 of the partner ountries (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Poland)
- … are passionate about art, creativity, and social change
- … are interested in discovering utopian thinking, solarpunk and how to challenge dystopian and doomerist narratives
- … are beginner or emerging storytellers, poets, writers, illustrators etc.
- … are open-minded and motivated to live a collective experience and co-create with others
- … are willing to participate in the full duration of the project and travel using slow travel
Hosting Organisation
Dreaming OPEnly e.V. is a youth organisation based in Leipzig, Germany. It is focused on offering developmental experiences based on non-formal learning approaches and mobility opportunities to young people in Germany and abroad.
We are convinced of the necessity of developing new learning methodologies which address the needs of the youngest generations using new and innovative languages present in the contemporary youth culture.
Our mission is to facilitate transformative change through non-formal education, critical thinking and artistic expression. We dedicate ourselves to crafting innovative projects to promote awareness and disseminate values aligned with the socio-environmental transition we hope for. We are advocates of the role of individuals in bringing about social change which can lead to fairer and more sustainable societies.
Partner Organisations
