42 young people. 8 countries. 10 days in the Bulgarian countryside.

Song of the Soul is a 10-day Erasmus+ Youth Exchange that brought together 42 young people from 8 countries – Bulgaria, Lithuania, Italy, Czech Republic, Spain, Poland, Latvia, Netherlands – in the mountain village of Stolat, Bulgaria (Stolat Camp).

Through creative expression, participants explored:

emotional awareness
authentic self-expression
meaningful human connection.

Rather than focusing on performance or artistic skill, the project created a space where young people could slow down, listen, experiment, and discover new ways of expressing themselves and relating to others.

Group of friends posing outside in front of a weathered wooden barn wall, smiling at the camera on a sunny day.

“The deepest part of the human soul expresses itself through art and music.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche

WHAT WAS THE PROJECT ABOUT?

Expression Through Music

Using rhythm, voice, songwriting, improvisation, and collaborative music-making as tools for self-expression.

Emotional Awareness

Learning to recognise, express, and communicate emotions in healthy and authentic ways.

Connection

Building meaningful relationships through listening, empathy, and shared creative experiences.

Presence

Creating space to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with ourselves beyond the noise of everyday life.

International Learning

Bringing together young people from different countries and backgrounds to learn from one another.

Creativity Without Pressure

Exploring art, music, movement, poetry, and storytelling without focusing on perfection or performance.

What came to life

Open Community Day

One of the main events of Song of the Soul was the open day – when we welcomed locals from Stolat Village into the project space to experience the power of authentic creation with the group. Creating opportunities for exchange between them and the international group.

Participants designed and facilitated workshops, created performances and activities which guests could join in.

We closed the program with an open stage where anyone could come up. Where also a band of young local musicians came to share their music and co-create.

This is the powerful moment when what we created in this bubble doesn’t stay only for the participants but is shared, the impact ripples and opens the potential to create real change.

Participants and guests sitting on the grass in the sun, listening to two performers with a microphone and a guitarist at the open community day in Stolat.

Activities that shaped this day

🎵 Opening act – musical performance

🎭 Workshops on the topics of setting boundaries, gratitude, improvisation and sharing creative skills.

💃 Movement and dance activities

👐 Self care and massage sessions

🎨 Arts and crafts practices

🎤 Open stage performances

📖 Stolat infobook – based on research, interviews and talks with the locals sharing their stories

The OUTCOMES

The transformation in the participants was visible –in how they carried themselves with more openness, and trust in their own expression. Using music as a storytelling tool they discovered ways to listen, collaborate, and share. The project became a space to slow down, unleash creativity, and embrace improvisation, where witnessing each other in the imperfect moments of creation developed a stronger sense of confidence. Where the freedom of expression was more important than performance.

Participants left with a renewed sense of self-awareness, connection to themselves and the world around them.

Some of the outputs of the project include:

✅ A digital handbook documenting the methodology and reflection of the team behind the creation of the project.

✅ A playlist of songs created during the project and recorded on the moment by the participants capturing their raw emotions and stories.

(see below)

Handbook

A practical collection of methods, activities, reflections, and learning gathered throughout the project.

Download the complete Song of the Soul Guidebook!

Song of the soul – playlist

There were multiple songs created in the duration of the project that were recorded on the spot and mastered by Mihail Penkov in collaboration with Kris Filipiuk.

You can find them together with their authors here:

Vera – In the Valley

Person playing an acoustic guitar in a dim, cozy room with stone walls; focus on hands and instrument under warm light

Started as an improvisation, no clear direction or intention, pure creation from intuition. It was finished after the project, shaping the message of showing yourself fully and trusting your authentic voice. “In the valley of expression let’s just go” – creation asks for you one thing – to be real and show what’s inside you.

Jad, Eliška & Agnis – Lean on Me

A song about helping each other to overcome a shared fear.

Ecia – Honey

Woman with red glasses singing into a microphone on an outdoor stage, holding a notepad, with a white van and drums in the background.

Gabriel and the troublemakers – Rainy Day

Group of people seated in a rustic room; a young man in a black hoodie holds a round patterned drum while others listen, drinks in hand.

Anastasija – Song of the soul

Marie, Sabrina, Dovile, Neda, Katerina, Gulia & Mihai – Petrunka Adapdation of Bulgarian Folkflore Song)

Group of people standing on a wooden stage beside a van, holding papers under a bright blue sky at an outdoor event to perform or rehearse.

Our curiosity to explore a non-traditional representation of the Bulgarian folklore led to the adaptation of the song ‘Bre Petrunko’ and also we left with ideas to combine the Bulgarian folklore with folklore elements of other countries as well

Neda – Roll the credits

A song I started writing on the last night of the project and finished on the plane home. It encapsulates a moment of grief mixed with the warmth and belonging I felt in Stolat.

Vera – The story we carry

I needed to capture the energy after this purely magical experience I witnessed and had to put it in a melody to hold my emotions.

I’m grateful for having the privilege to touch the souls of everyone through their creation during the course of the Song of the Soul project.

Thank you for sharing!

Agnis Vanags – Comfort me

Three people outdoors in a park; man with long hair and beard in a gray hoodie stands between two others in casual clothes.

Originally written before the project, but completed during it, and recorded using a 12-string guitar owned by Kris. The song lyrics, as with every song written by me, reflect my personal feelings during the time of writing.

Give a little love – Collective song

Song created by participants recording individual sounds on the open day and then were composed into a collective piece.

Captured moments

A collection of moments from the Song of the Soul youth exchange. Somewhere in the process of listening and expressing, in the spontaneous stories, unpredicted laughter, around the fire, in improvisation and creation.

DISSEMINATION

The most inspiring part in how the energy of the project continued to develop has been the organic initiatives that started. What we shared sparked a wave of creativity that continues to grow:

→ A song a day: One of the participants organised a challenge in the course of a week, to write a new song daily, guided by prompts and invited in reflection afterwards.

→ Community Support Group: A participant took the lead in creating a group for supporting each others’ physical and mental health by weekly calls, discussions, shared resources and guided meditations.

These outcomes show that Song of the Soul project created the context for lasting international connections to form and build the foundation of an international support network around the project.

Local follow up

Participants took the inspiration they gained from experiencing the creative methods of the mobility, and organized their own local activities, recreating some of the activities or the context we’ve had built. Through these events the project’s spirit and participants’ learnings spread in all of our partners’ communities.

What are activities that happened:

A connection-building workshop in Vilnius where young people explored creativity through musical improvisation, while using nonviolent communication as a tool.
An open mic night in Valencia that brought people together to share music from different cultures.
An open jam session where participants experimented with various instruments and vocal techniques.
A songwriting workshop focused on lyrical free-writing and melody creation.
Local workshops and an online info-session to help young people discover and apply for Erasmus+ opportunities.

THE TEAM BEHIND SONG OF THE SOUL

Program Lead, Facilitation, logistics, Communication

Kris Filipiuk

Lead Facilitator, Program Designer

Toni Lyubenova

Facilitator, Project Manager

Vera Nedelcheva

Project Coordinator

Ivaylo Petrov

Logistics Coordinator

Eve Enfer

Photographer & project PR

Nadejda Popova

Kitchen Team Lead

Ewa Tomicka

Kitchen Team

Gavriil Nikolov

Kitchen Team

Partners

A Note of Gratitude

This project would not have happened without the support and trust of our partners. Meaningful things happen when we care.

🇮🇹 YouNet APS, Italy
🇪🇸 One Sun, Spain
🇱🇻 KALM International Trainings, Latvia
🇵🇱 SuperYouth, Poland
🇨🇿 YOUnique, Czech Republic
🇱🇹 Innoved Lietuva, Lithuania
🇳🇱 Stichting Wake, Netherlands

We are deeply grateful for Yavor and Sevda and the collaboration with Dream in my Pocket Foundation. They hosted us in the beautiful venue of Stolat Camp providing a home base for the project.

Mihail Penkov with Studio Trepet who came on site and engaged in the process of making the songs of the group come to life.

The residents of Stolat Village that were so open to share their stories, to listen to ours.

And the community members in Sofia who contributed materials for our instrument-building workshop.

To everyone who contributed in any way—whether through their time, expertise, or resources—thank you. Your collective effort turned this project into a shared journey of creativity and connection.

The project is possible thanks to the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Participant Voices

Testimonials

“It felt like expression without the pressure of being good at it. I realized how much I was keeping inside without knowing.”
— Zuzana, Czech Republic

“Creating within the Creatosphere community revealed creative sides of my soul that were brought into the daylight through the voices, poetry, and openness of others.”
— Dovilė, Lithuania

“Music creates a space where people can be vulnerable, expressive, and connected in a very honest way.”
— Mihai Vier, Poland

“I felt like this was the place to explore my creativity and emotions, and to make mistakes, because nobody would judge.”
— Neda, Lithuania

AND IT ALL STARTED WITH JUST ONE IDEA

Erasmus+ Infopack

Before participants arrived in Bulgaria, they received an invitation to begin the journey through small reflection exercises and preparation activities.

The project was designed around a simple question:

What happens when we create a space where people can truly listen—to themselves and to one another?

Read the Participant Information Pack

Song of the Soul_infopack Download

What Did We Learn?

Song of the Soul showed that music does not need to be about performance.

It is also:

🎵 A language for emotions

🤝 A bridge between people

🌱 A tool for personal growth

🌍 A way to connect across cultures

This project demonstrates how creative practices support wellbeing, communication, and community-building, and can be especially supportive for young people navigating in a fast-paced environment.

Growth and transformation can happen through art. And we don’t stop it here.

The song does not end when the project closes.

It continues through the people who carry it forward.

Song of the Soul was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Erasmus+ National Agencies. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Song of the Soul