WEXFO YOUTH LILLEHAMER
About the Event
WEXFO Youth Lillehammer (WYL) is an event about freedom of expression where youth can learn, discuss and express themselves through workshops, activities, and panel talks.
WYL will be arranged for the first time in May 2023.
The target groups are middle- and high school students, age group 14-18 years.
The event will consist of many different arenas where young people can learn about freedom of expression, discuss and express themselves. The program is developed by a program committee where all participants are from the target group.
We plan to arrange WEXFO Youth in Lillehammer every year in connection with WEXFO. This year’s event will be a pilot for learning. If it is successful, we plan to scale up at Lillehammer but also arrange it at other places, nationally and internationally.
WEXFO Youth Lillehammer aims to help youth to learn how to be aware of their actions and to be more reflective about their own opinions. We want the participants to learn how to express themselves and how to discuss factually.
By sharing opinions, experiences, and thoughts with each other, we hope that the participants can learn and reflect on why we need freedom of expression, and also about the challenges it brings.
The program is developed by a program committee where all participants are from the target group. We plan to arrange WEXFO Youth in Lillehammer every year in connection with WEXFO. This year’s event will be a pilot for learning. If it is successful, we plan to scale up at Lillehammer but also arranging it at other places, nationally, and internationally.
WEXFO will:
- be an inspiration internationally, nationally, and locally.
- be a hub, the central international meeting place for everyone who is concerned with freedom of expression.
- influence developments through reports and projects, discussions in the Forum and summary afterwards.
- share experiences, but especially search for best practices for improvement.
- seek cooperation with others to develop offers of Forum gatherings elsewhere as well.
- participate in developing the local cooperation in the region on freedom of expression, with
institutions such as the Norwegian Festival of Litterature , Lillehammer UNESCO City of Litterature and ICORN. - reflect diversity in the work and in the organization.
WEXFO was established as an ideal joint stock company on August 20th2021.
The World Expression Forum takes place annually in Lillehammer, Norway, in May/June. Norway ranks highly on Freedom of Expression indexes. The town of Lillehammer is a UNESCO City of Literature, an ICORN city of refuge for artists at risk and host of the biggest literature festival in Scandinavia. The city, the region (Innlandet) and the country are committed to supporting freedom of expression around the world.
WEXFO wants to inspire progress at all three levels: local, national, and international.