The Straits Committee’s 3rd call for projects closed in June 2022, and, on 6th July in Arras, the members of the Executive Committee agreed to support the following projects:
Etty Hillesum Exchange
Project partners: The Poetry Practice Ltd. (Kent); Stichting Het Etty Hillesum Huis (Zeeland)
Regions involved: Kent (UK); Zeeland (NL);
The Etty Hillesum Exchange brings people in Zeeland and Kent together to share knowledge on the life and works of Etty Hillesum.
Etty Hillesum, the Dutch-Jewish writer, was murdered in 1943 by the Nazis in Auschwitz. However, as her diaries and letters smuggled out of the Dutch transit camp show, she refused to allow hatred to cloud her response. Her example is as relevant today as it was then and needs to be kept alive for the future.
The project will adapt educational material by the Etty Hillesum Huis for schools in Kent and for the English-speaking world.
To promote Etty’s example, the Poetry Exchange will organise a public event at the Canterbury Cathedral Lodge with two expert speakers, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and professor Klaas Smelik. The Etty Hillesum Huis in Middelburg will present the results of the exchange project to their international network through a hybrid live/online event, with a web launch of a film.
Local greener is cleaner
Project partners: Brockhill Park Performing Arts College (Kent); Lycée Mariette/Lyceum Mariette (Pas-de-Calais); LEGT EPID VAUBAN (Nord); Prizma Campus College (West Flanders); VO Zeeuws-Vlaanderen Reynaert College);
Regions involved: Kent (UK); West-Flanders (BE); Zeeland (NL); Pas-de-Calais; Nord (FR)
This is the winning project from the Straits Youth Event that took place from 21st-23rd March in Bruges, Belgium.
The project objectives are:
- Learning through mobility and finding inspiration in the farm operated and managed within the school in Brockhill in Kent;
- Developing sustainable development and dietary practices in participating schools (producing and consuming locally, eating a healthy diet…) based on each other’s best practices.
Among the actions planned are:
- A 3-day exchange visit, including a site visit to the pilot school in Kent and its farm; a day visiting the Lycée Mariette’s Eco-high school with a workshop on local cuisine; and a day exchanging practices and implementing a sustainable collaboration network at the Hardelot Centre in Hardelot, Pas-de-Calais (managed by Kent County Council).
- Introducing tools aimed at a sustainable diet approach in each of the schools: vegetable gardens, hives, greenhouses, composters, rain water collection containers…
- Producing a “making of” film using a compilation of videos taken by each of the schools. The “making of” will be edited by the Province of West-Flanders.
The Straits Committee wishes both projects every success and hopes they inspire other projects to come forward.
How to submit a project to the Straits Committee
Do you have an idea for a project that implements the priorities of the Straits Committee’s vision and strategy? If so, please get in touch with your member authority. Contact details can be found on our contact us page.
The next deadlines for submitting projects to the Straits Committee are:
- 21st October 2022, with decisions on applications to be taken in November 2022
- 3rd January 2023, with decisions on applications to be taken in January 2023
