Uniwersytet Trzeciego Wieku w Białymstoku

22 stycznia 2025
Środa, 22 dzień roku

Imienieny obchodzą:
Anastazy, Wincenty, Wiktor

Realizowane projekty

Strona główna / Realizowane projekty / Międzynarodowe / BASE / Raport ewaluacyjny projektu (The project evaluation)

The project evaluation.

The Evaluation Report of the BASE project

Programme: Lifelong learning programme, Sub-programme: Grundtvig

Action type: Learning partnership, Action: Grundtvig learning partnerships

Project title: "Bridging Arts by Seniors for Europe",

Project acronym: BASE,

Evaluation activities between September 2013 – July 2015

The evaluation of the BASE project was done in 7 levels.

1. At first, we needed to know the profile of the participants of our project. So we made a questionnaire and/or an interview in order to get the basic information and evaluate their health, artistic skills, the level of English, the level of the computer knowledge, nutritious habits, artistic hobbies, etc..

Every partner did it on his own in every country, because in our project we had participants of the different age and professions: young people from the Spanish orchestra, professional musicians from Turkey and seniors from Poland and Lithuania.

Polish partner

What concerns the Polish partner, at the first meeting of all the participants of the project everybody filled in a special table where it was written about his state of health, his artistic skills and about the level of English and the computer skills. It appeared that nine of them possessed the certificate of physical disability. Not everybody could speak English. Some of them didn't have computer skills. The first film was created concerning the singing skills. This film can be seen on our website: utw.uwb.edu.pl.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2AAEguAFh7s#t=0

1.2. The participants of the BASE project from the Spanish Foundation are the first of all the members of the children orchestra. The Spanish partner did a selection among its musicians and designed form table in which some basic profile information about the participants was written. The data recorded were: education, job, skills, the level of English, ICT knowledge, mobility, health, nutritious habits and hobbies but the most important was the performance level and the possibility for the musicians of all ages to participate in project meetings. According to their profiles, we adjusted and planed the mobility activities.

1.3. The Turkish partner designed a form table in which some basic profile information about the mobility of the participants was written. The data recorded were: “education, job, skills, foreign language, ICT knowledge, mobility, health, nutritious habits and hobbies”. According to their profile, the mobility activities differed. For example, some of them participated in a mobility for the first time in their life. Most of them know English and the rest have enough knowledge needed to communicate in English. After the meetings, we noticed that there was no need of an English course. On the other hand, we reviewed some fundamental phrases in English together. All the participants have an appropriate level of information in ICT so that we did not have any difficulty in communication. And also, it was very practical to learn their nutritious habits because we had the chance to arrange food without pork.

1.4. The Lithuanian partner

Potential participants preselected by oral and printed announcements in the Petrasiunai community and it’s community center filled in the personal profile evaluation table with following information: special needs, special nutrition needs, knowledge of computer, internet, e-mail, skype, Facebook, English, Russian, Polish, other languages, health status, health specifics, education, work experience, previous not job related experience (like experience within Petrasiunai community or Petrasiunai community center pointing duration of it), interests and hobbies, skills, practice within Petrasiunai community center (if applicable), work during retirement (if applicable), expectations for the project, artistic skills. Also we collected personal data. The latter was used for signing agreements with PCC for taking part in the project – for responsibilities about rented stage costumes and for taking part in the dissemination of the project after their mobilities also terms and conditions of the mobilities. After recording personal profiles people were distributed for different tasks in the project (for organizing the meeting in Kaunas), also for different mobilities and for different groups of learning English, ICT and Facebook. Special singing training program was also designed based on these data.

2. There was continuous and constant information about every partner’s activities via e-mail and Skype connection. Every partner knew about the artistic activities of other ones because the artistic director of the project coordinated all these activities. The feedback was managed and dealt by the main coordinator and the artistic director of the project. Continuous monitoring was done by every project coordinator.

Cohesion was the main characteristic feature of all the partners' groups, there was a good understanding between them, a very nice integration in spite of the age differences. The constant contact was by e-mails, telephones and on Skype. There were a lot of contacts during which we created common scenarios, information about spectacles and promotion of them, the staff, because every composition in our common spectacles was done by the representatives of every partner's country, as well as posters, programs of project meetings in every partner's country, various articles, the e-book, etc.

The main website of the project and Facebook appeared to be very good tools for monitoring all the activities of the project where all the partners put lots of photos, films, articles as well as photos for the photo contest in Kaunas.

3. The evaluation of the project meetings and other activities were performed by the participants by filling in the relevant evaluation forms and questionnaires, after each project meeting and making the summary of them by all partners. The results were summed up and published on the BASE website by the Lithuanian partner.

At the end of every project meeting all the participants filled in the evaluation forms. It was very important because it helped us to improve our activities. At the end of the project the common evaluation report was created where marks from the evaluation forms were summed up.

After every project meeting all the participants of that meeting also filled in the questionnaire created by Rūta Vaitkevičiūtė from Lithuania, in which they answered the questions about advantages of all the activities and described their opinions about the project meeting. All these questionnaires were summed up by her and put on 2 project websites. You can find it in the enclosure No.1 of this report.

When considered all the questionnaires after every project meeting the final evaluation was concluded as in the following:

The Fulfillment of Expectations:

All the partners were fully satisfied. At the kick-off meeting, there were some unclear points especially about the common spectacle. This situation turned to a total satisfaction after a sincere correspondence between partners before the first project meeting in Poland.

A good experience was gained at the rehearsals and concerts during the first project meeting and it helped to improve other concerts at the next 3 meetings.

As a result at the last project meeting, the coordination between partners has reached a valuable level, resulting no trouble. A very interesting activity was the photo contest. The criteria determined at the kick-off meeting were fully applied and the winners of the contest were voted by the participants of each project meeting via project website and were selected by a committee.

The participants of all the countries and of all ages built up the concrete friendship at the end. So all the participants definitely decided that there were no need of any kind of prejudices.

The Quality of the Arrangements:

Like every document, the schedules and programmers were prepared with all partners’ decisions. Meetings were very well organized by all the host partners. All the arrangements about the meeting rooms, rehearsal places, concert halls were absolutely perfect. The transport choices from/to the airport to the host city, accommodation, meals, cultural visits were all discussed and decided together.

The Effectiveness of the Communication:

The partners exploited various channels for communication effectively, efficiently and always in time. There was no delay. The documents were shared transparently and prepared jointly if necessary. E-mails, the website/blog, BASE FACEBOOK, DROPBOX, the BASE website on the UTA platform, were the main tools. When sending any message, every partner shared the content with all the project participants.

The Organization of Meetings:

The host partners organized the meetings very carefully because the agenda was always very busy. The concerts were the main activities of our project, the time management was made very critically with enough rehearsals and comfortable transport to the concert places. Besides, the presentations at the meeting were always as they should be. All the participants had very important information about the host partners, cities and countries. The cultural visits showed that participants of the project could gain a very interesting experience by such a partnership, which is not possible by reading or by an ordinary travelling.

The Greatest Impression:

Music can naturally build a concrete bridge between nations. All the partners are proud of this impression because at the beginning of our project we have dreamed of Bridging Arts by Seniors for Europe /BASE/. and our dreams have come true.

The Improvement:

The limits of the grant restricted performing more complicated artistic activities. Actually, it was not possible to foresee such a great success. Consequently, if the partners could have formed an orchestra with more musicians, we would have performed more acoustic.

4. During every project meeting, the coordinators' meeting took place, partially devoted to the internal evaluation, to check the project objectives and the participants' satisfaction. Some appropriate project modifications were planned and carried out.

Coordinators' meetings were held during project meetings in every country where all the activities were discussed and appreciated. The list of common final products was established as well as the persons responsible for the evaluation report, the e-book, blog, Facebook, the film with all common spectacles, etc. After finishing of the project meeting every partner has done the mobility report which was very important for making the final report. You can find these reports on the BASE website and in Dropbox.

5. The final project meeting focused on all summaries, outcomes and reports which every partner ought to do and what activities of every partner was generally evaluated. Its outcome was put on 2 BASE project websites, on the EST base website and in an e-publication.

During the last project meeting in Kaunas at the coordinators' meeting all the points concerning the finishing of the project were discussed: the evaluation report, common final products, the e-book, the final report, the film with all common spectacles, and the summary of the questionnaires which Rūta Vaitkevičiūtė ought to do, etc.. The main coordinator of the project created the first version of final common products which were included by all the partners in their final report and the first version of the evaluation report.

6. Participants' competence growth evaluation: based on the initial profile of the participants, it was being monitored how their specific competencies evolved (for example: artistic skills, the level of English, educational competencies, the project management, presentation skills). It was recommended that such evaluation should take place, at least, twice during the project (at the beginning and after the completion of the project).

Every partner realized this task independently in its own way, because of different participants of the project in every country: beginning from young people from the Spanish orchestra, professionals from Turkey and seniors from Poland and Lithuania. That's why every partner worked in a different way with his participants.

6.1. Polish partner

What concerns the Polish partner, at the beginning the group consisting of 40 participants was organized. While doing the project we regularly had dancing and singing classes, the spectacle rehearsals, 2 courses of the English language, the Facebook course, etc. The monitoring was done during the realization of the whole project. The lists of attendance were filled in at every meeting, workshop and class. Special regulations were worked out, according to them punctuation of the commitment in the project activities was done by every participant as well as the improvement of their artistic skills was also fixed. The choice of the participants for going to the project meeting in every country depended on the number of points.

The following tables were done for the statistics:

1. The table of the prepared compositions and pieces by every Polish participant of the project.

2. The table with the description of all local and common spectacles.

3. The list of attendance in the English language studies and other courses and meetings.

6.2. The Spanish partner organized short seminars about the culture and customs of each partnership country we were going to visit. We didn't organize any English classes, nor ICT course, because the participants had that knowledge. The most important were the artistic skills, so many special rehearsals and master classes were organized for the participants of the project. They learnt many new pieces, between them also Polish and Turkish and at the end of the project achieved much higher musical level than at the start.

6.3 The Turkish partner

At the local meeting organized before the coming mobility, the participants were generally informed about the previous project activities, the partners and countries. After discussing the need of an English course, it was decided to have practical usage of English for daily life phrases. Most of the participants know English at the intermediate level and the others enough to communicate with the participants from other countries. Therefore no specific English course was organized. On the other hand, it was very pleasing to see that all the participants suppressed their excitement when speaking with the others. Foreign language competence was gained.

ICT skills were also increased when considering the high level of usage of communication tools like e-mail, Facebook. In addition, making films and uploading on YouTube gave some of our participants an experience on media tools.

In any case, on top of all, the artistic skills were enormously increased because the participants had the chance to work with the musicians and singers from 3 other countries, to make rehearsals and to perform together in front of public audiences. This was the most important competence gained in the project.

6.4. The Lithuanian partner

Several of the participants were already attending the musical ensemble classes twice per week, while others didn’t. All of them joined those classes to prepare new songs for BASE spectacles. Their singing competence growth was all the time monitored by the artistic coordinator of Lithuanian partner – Arvydas Paulauskas and Lithuanian coordinator Tomas Senūta. The persons having lower skills were given special program of training. First half of the project they had also English courses once per week and Facebook + ICT courses once per week. For both of courses learners were divided into two groups by their competence and skills. Their competence growth was evaluated by English teacher, media coordinator of Lithuanian partner Rūta Vaitkevičiūtė and coordinator of Lithuanian partner Tomas Senūta by special adult teaching methodologies.

7. The quantitative evaluation of the cultural events produced by the project: twice during the project, the coordinators made quantitative estimates of the cultural events and their impact on local communities.

This kind of the evaluation was also done by every partner in a different way.

7.1. The Polish participants showed 13 spectacles for the local community, during which the information about our project was always given. The spectacles were done for different groups of the community: in local clubs, for the disabled people, for seniors from the UTA, etc. Our spectacles were always a success, we had great applause from the audience and we were invited to come again. In total 2012 persons were present at our spectacles. So these invitations and this number of the audience were the evaluation information about our events.

7.2. During the project duration, the Spanish partner in 24 spectacles which were organized by the Foundation included the children's orchestra so means the participants of the project. This orchestra had the concerts and others performances in Alcala, Madrid and other places. There were some interviews on the radio, during which the information about our project was given.

7.3. The Turkish partner

It was not practical for Global Development Association to organize local cultural activities like concerts for the public. Because there is no concert room belonging to GloboDev, it was necessary to rent it. But it was not possible financially. In fact, the financial management of the project was not so easy for GloboDev because the visa applications and long distance flight tickets cost a lot in Turkey.

7.4. The Lithuanian partner

The Lithuanian partner showed 7 public local spectacles with presentations about Petrasiunai community center activities during mobilities of BASE. These spectacles are in more detail described in the Dissemination table of the project which is presented in the project’s web. Some of them have videos, photos or short films presented in project’s Facebook or elsewhere in Youtube or Facebook. Approximately 1550 spectators viewed those spectacles.

Made by:

Danuta Sajur, Hakki Bilgen, Tomas Senuta, Vicente Ariño Pellicer, Helena Łukaszewicz.

The enclosure nr 1

Evaluation of the international project meetings organized in the BASE project

Summary of the questionnaires

The international partner meeting nr 1: 2014.08.29-31, Białystok, Poland

Poland group
Questions	Answers
How did you work with your participants?	“We organized the English language study, singing and dancing workshops, organizational meetings with our musicians and a lot of rehearsals. Our participants learned a lot of music pieces, lyrics of songs in different languages: Polish, English, Lithuanian and Spanish. We worked very hard preparing our spectacles. We forgot about our illnesses, we didn’t have time to go to the doctor’s because we had to prepare our project meeting. It was a very responsible task for us.”
How old was the youngest and the oldest participant of the group?	“The oldest lady is 82 years old. Her name is Łucja Tryburska. Robert Panek is 81 years old. The youngest is Teresa Lautsh. She is 56 years old.”
How did you manage to incorporate disabled people or other kinds of people of social exclusion?	“There is a group of disabled people at our University and some older people who are not very active. We tried to persuade them to participate in the project and encouraged them to come to our workshops and rehearsals. There were some difficulties at the beginning but later they willingly began to take part in all our activities.”
What was the most difficult thing for seniors about the common spectacle?	“To learn so many songs by heart, to remember all the steps in dances and to harmonize it with music.”
How did the participants of the project develop and what new skills did they gain?	“First of all our participants felt real Europeans. They learned how to work together in the group, to help each other, how to be useful and responsible. With pleasure they came to the English classes and tried to speak English. All of them were very satisfied after our spectacles. They convinced that we can do so many useful things in spite of our old age.”
Was it managed to lay the bridge between four countries?	“We are sure that the bridge between four countries has started during our project meeting, during our common spectacles and it will be continued in our partners’ countries.”
Lithuania group
What left particular impression or surprised you mostly while visiting Bialystok?	“We arrived to Bialystok on good time – the city nights were lively, a lot of people and music sounds in the streets, wonder weather. Spanish musicians are amazing. They danced and amused with seniors. We have a number of concerts in Lithuania and we know that our youth are not very willing to communicate with older people, to sing or dance with seniors. Young persons from Spain were friendly and cheerful. The different age wasn’t a barrier for our communication.” Povilas, one of the Lithuanian participants, admitted that he was surprised when he played solo the harmonica “Santa Lucia” on the stage and Turkish, Spanish, Polish, Lithuanian people started to sing the song. “They sang so beautiful and I felt how it easy to play. I felt that we understand each other without words, but through the music.”
What was the most difficult thing about the common spectacle?	It was rather difficult to learn lyrics in Spanish or Polish languages, to but they did. “The Poles and Lithuanian singers had little time to harmonizing their voices, to sing with Spanish orchestra, so it was rather difficult to play songs so well as we could.”
What did you learn during preparation for the project?	According participants the language is one of difficulties of this international project. The seniors from Lithuania admitted that their skills of English language aren’t good and they have better knowledge of Russian language. “Our coordinators took care that we could have English lessons in the Community Centre.”
Did the preparations for the project and participating in it help you to improve and develop yourself?	“We are sure that BASE project brought together participants from Spain, Turkey, Poland and Lithuania. The main links in Bialystok were music, song and dance. Later we met again on Facebook. Our life became more interesting.” Seniors don’t hide that this project expanded their cultural horizons. The seniors gained stage experience, had English lessons, learned two Spanish and one Polish songs. “We had uncountable rehearsals, language lessons in the Community Centre. Sometimes we tiff, sometimes we had tea breaks. But the most important that we spent more time together, not at home with household work”
Spain group
Which country people did appear to be closer, get more familiar to you?	“The people from Turkey were the more familiar for us.”
Did you manage you make friends with anybody?	“Yes, of course. We make a lot of friends from the different countries.”
The age of participants is very different. Was that an obstacle to make friends?	“No, it wasn't. We think it's more difficult to make friends with such as different ages, but thanks to the music and art that was very easy.”
What did leave particular impression or did surprise mostly while visiting Bialystok?	“The music festival, was a lot of fun to share the music with all the people mixing cultures, languages, typical dances, regional clothes... It was very impressive for us. Also the vitality and strength of the people of the third age was incredible for us.”
Please tell any funny or surprising adventure of your group in Bialystok?	“We had a lot of funny moments, singing and improvising music in the streets was a lot of fun. Also adventures in Bialystok's night.”
What impressions did you bring to your home?	“Very good impressions, a lot of histories to tell our families and a lot of new knowledge. Magic experience!”
Were the expectations of the fulfilled?	“We think that you mean about the last night. It was a lot of fun. We danced with a lot of people, singing different songs for every country... was a wonderful night.”
What was the most difficult thing about the common spectacle?	“A Polish song “Mazury”, we had to do a lot of changes in the score and it was a little bit difficult, but finally everything works fine. “
Was it succeeded to lay a bridge between countries by your opinion? What did unite you with others? What did separate?	“Yes, it was – the art, the culture and the music. Maybe a little bit the difficulty of some people to speak English separated us.”
What did you learn during preparation for the project?	“During the preparation for the project we learned new musical pieces.”
Did the preparations for the project and participating in it help you to improve and develop yourself? How?	“Yes, because we have learn a lot from different countries. As well as the costumes and traditions. And we have experienced how the music and the art can connect people with different ages, traditions, languages... Was a wonderful experience. Thank you very much.”
Turkey group
Did the preparations for the project and participating in it help you to improve and develop yourself?	“We learned to work together to prepare Turkish songs for an international organization. We hadn’t worked as a music group before. We adapted the sound of folk music as polyphonic together. At first, we’ve learned to make decisions in a group. During the preparations at home, it was not clear for us what kind of facilities we were going to have in Bialystok. Therefore, we selected the music which could be performed in various places. At second, we’ve learned to generate solutions in an international group. During the activities, all members of all partners from all generations made effort to go with the flow. Learning from countries is another opportunity because we worked, performed and participated in social activities for so many hours.”
Was it succeeded to lay a bridge between countries by your opinion? What did unite you with others? What did separate?	Musicians noticed that the level of English is adequate to communicate for most of them. Although songs had different sounds and the lyrics couldn’t be understood by the other countries, the sense of music could be shared with all. “So we could understand more clearly that the feeling is more important than the language. Let’s say that we all grasped that the music is the only powerful tool which cannot be beaten by the other bridging tools.”
Which country people did appear to be closer, get more familiar to you?	Turks admitted that their team made friendships with all the countries, but Spanish people were closer to them: “We have never thought that the three activity days would be enough time to build a warm friendship with everybody.”
The age of participants is very different. Was that an obstacle to make friends?	At first sight, the age gap may look like an obstacle. And we grasped once more that the music is a wonderful tool to bring together the people of different ages. And of course, the people of different countries.”
What left particular impression or surprised you mostly while visiting Bialystok?	The most surprising to musicians was the open music festival. According the participants from Turkey, “it was unbelievable to coincide with such a weekend full of music, with crowded people on the street dancing together or listening to a classical music at the two sides of a town hall.”
Were the expectations of the fulfilled?	“Very good impressions… Everybody was very tolerant to each other. Sometimes passed very noisy and active (farewell dinner), some passed with lots of speaking (excursion bus), some with full of strict directions (concert program). Anyway, each of them was very nice individually and all of them were very nice completely. Everything was a part of the project meeting. None of us expected to see such a lovely people in such a wonderful place. The project made it real to experience to work with friends from different countries and ages.”

The international partner meeting nr 2; 2014.09.26-28 … Alcala de Henares, Spain

Questions	Answers
Poland group
What left particular impression or surprised you mostly while visiting Alcala de Henares?	The seniors were charmed by old architecture, red roofs, lots of monuments, especially the monument to Cervantes and the bench with his main heroes: Don Kichote and Sancho Pansa. Polish people brought home the most beautiful impressions and memories. They fixed their beautiful moments and created some movies.
Lithuania group
What left particular impression or surprised you mostly while visiting Alcala de Henares?	In Madrid we felt like in open-air museum: architecture, streets, squares, trees and flowers, charming fountains. And of course, the bench of two famous heroes – Don Quixote and Sancho Panca – created by Miguel de Cervantes! It was unique feeling. Traveling by train from Alcala to Madrid we discover the variety of Spanish nature: landscape was hilly, in some places was green, in other – grey, in some places we could see the sandy slopes. It was amazing image”
Please tell any funny or surprising adventure of your group in Bialystok?	The seniors remembered Spanish people as very kind and helpful persons. When Lithuanians arrived in Alcala they began to look how to reach their hotel. One elderly man decided to help them even though he didn’t speak English. The man escorted Lithuanian group to the bus stop and asked the bus driver to release them near the hotel. “Everywhere we were accompanied by attention. The parents of children, the musicians of The Orquesta Ciudad de Alcalá, showed us the capital of Spain. We had very good time together.”
Did the preparations for the project and participating in it help you to improve and develop yourself?	The seniors felt that they were accompanied by success and had a good concert. “We think that we sang rather well. Our conductor Arvydas sang with us, so we have more confidence in ourselves. We heard applause of the audience and it was the cause of our gladness”
Turkey group
What left particular impression or surprised you mostly while visiting Alcala de Henares?	“It was a big chance to have one of the meetings in Alcala, because it is great value to have seen the home of Cervantes, the great author of adventures of Don Quixote. We had an excellent time both on the excursions and the free time spent in the narrow streets and cafes drinking and eating tapas! We had the chance of trying very special Spanish foods in very traditional and authentic restaurants. We learnt about the history and culture of the place, which is another worthy aspect of the project”. Turkish musicians remembered amazing Madrid tour which with Spanish friends and their families became very intimate. “Cake party before the concert with the families was another memorable time.”
Were the expectations of the fulfilled?	“Our expectations to the project are fully fulfilled as the whole event was organized well. Especially the concert hall was amazing! Having given a concert in a historically precious opera house was something we wouldn’t dream of. This was our greatest impression indeed.”

International partner meeting nr 3; 2014.10.23-25, Ankara, Turkey

Questions	Answers
Spain group
What left particular impression or surprised you mostly while visiting Ankara?	“It was an unforgettable experience. There were many good moments, enjoying the company of participants from other countries and Ankara hosts, who were very nice and helpful to everyone.”
Did the preparations for the project and participating in it help you to improve and develop yourself?	“It was extraordinary to participate in the common spectacle with college students, our Turkish hosts and participants from Lithuania and Poland. It was an enjoyable and rewarding for all of us work, which helped us to improve as people and as musicians.”
Poland group
What left particular impression or surprised you mostly while visiting Ankara?	“Our spectacles, participation of schoolchildren from Primary school and a wonderful reaction of the audience while we were dancing “The Turkish dance”, – all these events left particular impression. The audience was wild with excitement.”
Please tell any funny or surprising adventure of your group in Bialystok?	We had some funny adventures in Ankara. One of our ladies fell out of bed, we were laughing then very much. One more: one of our participants went out to smoke before our spectacle, suddenly the door was slammed, she was frightened and she had to jump over a very high fence.”
Which country people did appear to be closer, get more familiar to you?	The seniors from Bialystok became very good friends with many participants but most of all with Lithuanian ladies, with Arvydas Paulaskas, the conductor of Lithuanian choir, and Tomas, the coordinator of Lithuanian group.
Was it succeeded to lay a bridge between countries?	“The BASE project helped us to lay a bridge between all the partners’ countries. Our spectacles united us. We sang songs in different languages: in Spanish, Polish and Lithuanian. We made friends with participants from all the countries, we improved our English during our project meeting.”
What was the most difficult thing about the common spectacle?	Remembering about the common spectacle, the seniors told that it was difficult to fit in with the orchestra while singing and dancing “La Paloma”. “The orchestra at the spectacle played different music than it was at the rehearsal. Also changing of clothes for our 4 dances was also very complicated.”
What did you learn during preparation for the project?	“We learnt very much. First of all, we learnt to work in a group, we became more tolerant to each other, we learnt many lyrics in different languages and we learnt to dance in a group and with the orchestra.”
Did the preparations for the project and participating in it help you to improve and develop yourself?	“The project helped us to improve our English, we learnt so much, we developed ourselves in various aspects. We felt more confident and proud that we, amateurs, could participate in spectacles with professional musicians and have a success.”
Lithuania group
Please tell any funny or surprising adventure of your group in Bialystok?	“When we were singing, we noticed a solid man who was sitting in front row and showed a lot of especial attention to our performance, loudly applauded then we finished singing. Later Hakki Bilgen, the project coordinator in Alkala, introduced him to us. This man was The Ambassador extraordinaire and plenipotentiary of Lithuania in Turkey Kęstutis Kudzmanas. This unexpected meeting was really great present for us.”
Did the preparations for the project and participating in it help you to improve and develop yourself?	During the third common spectacle in Ankara participants from four countries together sang songs in different languages – Spanish, Polish, Lithuanian. “We didn’t have too much time to rehearse. So we were a bit anxious, had some uncertainty for our singing. Also slightly changed Spanish song lyric and we had to adapt very quickly. But in some minutes on the scene our thrill was gone.”
What left particular impression or surprised you mostly while visiting Ankara?	Seven seniors from Lithuania spent three interesting days in the capital of Turkey. They visited the Museum of Civilization, old town, the castle of city. Ankara impressed them with bright colors at night illuminated city. Also the city left unexpected novelty impression. Lithuanians were charmed by Turkish cuisine. “The slow pace of lunch allowed participants to have more conversations, to sing more songs and even to dance”
What did you learn during preparation for the project?	“The third meeting was in Ankara. And it was possible to observe that the seniors bolder communicate in English, to observe how improved knowledge of English. Our English teacher is strict and encourage as much as possible to talk in English. Most importantly boldly say what comes into your head”, – said Tomas Senūta, the project coordinator in Lithuania. However, the seniors admit that they are afraid to make mistakes. For several months, project participants interact in social network Facebook. “We share the photos, impressions, send congratulations to each other. But sometimes we avoided to write in English, because we afraid to do some mistakes”,

International partner meeting nr 4; 2015.05.23-25, Kaunas, Lithuania

Questions	Answers
Turkey group
What impressions did gests from Ankara bring home from Kaunas?	Talking about it Turkish musicians they joked that they were met by Lithuania in cold. “The first day in Lithuania was rather cold to us, but at the second day the weather became beautiful and we felt very well.” In three days they visited not only Kaunas, but also Vilnius, castles on a river Nemunas, the Open Air Museum of Lithuania in Rumsiskes. They were impressed by beautiful nature, Lithuanian dishes, large choice of beers, smiling people. “The nature in Lithuania is fantastic. Your cities are very green and the air is so pure, it’s easy to breathe. It’s amazing to see so many trees in Kaunas streets.” “We were pleasantly surprised by Lithuanian people. They jolly, kind, good communication people. One young man come to me and said that he likes me, that I look nice, shared her impressions Şafak Akkoyun Yurtseven. – It was interesting to meet well playing people in the streets. One of them was young man Vytenis Danielius, about 16-18 years old, and he played the accordion very professionally. He’s really talented.”
The age of participants is very different. Was that an obstacle to make friends?	Talking about others partners of the BASE, Turks thought that age difference wasn’t the obstacle to communicate or to find friends. Maybe bigger problem was the language. “But sometimes the language isn’t the most important thing. Common songs and dances can open all hearts. Sometimes we just smiled and felt good together.”
Did the preparations for the project and participating in it help you to improve and develop yourself?	Turkish musicians were happy that they could meet with Lithuanians, Poles, Spanish, to learn more about Europe countries.
Polish group
What left particular impression or surprised you mostly while visiting Kaunas?	“We were impressed by the modern Christ’s Resurrection Church, by its acoustics, how beautiful was the singing of “Ave Maria” by our Zofia Król in this church! The church represents the masterpiece of modern architecture, it stands on the Green Hill of Kaunas, a wonderful panorama view of the city can be seen from its roof. The singing and dancing of the ŽAISA crew made a very nice impression on us. They managed to create a wonderful atmosphere with the public and we enjoyed the time while we were dancing and singing together.”
Please tell any funny or surprising adventure of your group in Kaunas	“The funniest moments were when our 3 ladies were dressed in the same red jackets with the same orange bows in their hair and appeared among the participants. Everybody paid attention to them. They looked so funny! Some people wanted to take photos with them.”
Were your expectations of the visit fulfilled?	“Yes, our expectations were fulfilled, there was real integration among the participants, the common spectacle was successful and all the tasks were fulfilled.”
Participants from what country appeared to be closer, got more familiar to you? Did you manage to make friends with anybody?	“Of course, people from Lithuania were closer to us, we could speak Russian and English to them, the Turkish team was also very sympathetic, most of us had a very good contact with them. We made friends with some of Lithuanian and Turkish people.”
The age of participants is very different. Was that an obstacle to make friends?	“The age was different but it was not an obstacle to make friends.”
Was it succeeded to lay a bridge between countries by your opinion? What united you with others? What separated?	“Of course the bridge was laid between all the countries because we were united by the common spectacle. We had the same tasks of the project and we tried to do our best to fulfil them. “Music is the universal language of mankind’, wrote Longfellow. Really music and art united different generations and various countries on one stage in our project. The BASE project lightened our mood and made us feel better. We felt to be real Europeans.”
What impression did the excursion in Kaunas leave on you, during which you had an opportunity to know about the modernism in Kaunas’ architecture, to see some examples? What were the seniors interested in: architecture of building, decor details or others?	“Kaunas is a very attractive city. It made a great impression on us. We were surprised how nice the old town is composed with the modern architecture of the first half of the 20th century. We all admired the internal and external decorations, the urban layout of modern architecture. We saw that Lithuanian architects created unique modern style in your city.”
Spanish group
What did leave particular impression or did surprise mostly while visiting Kaunas?	“It was different to other cities in Europe because of its history, since it had less monuments as a capital of a country, or those regarded as the emblems of the city weren’t as impressive as one could think. Nevertheless, the landscape and the river was impressing since we can’t find that huge amount of green and trees in Spain. Going back to the city itself, we would have loved to discover the city ourselves, wonder its streets in our pace and be able to meet the people-culture-nightlife on first hand, we found it rather difficult with the schedule planned.”
Please tell any funny or surprising adventure of your group in Kaunas.	“The ones who attended the Lithuanian presentation with the folklore group dancing definitely had a good time, but in general we cannot pin up just one adventure, but the whole of them that made our group to get closer, probably this strengthening of our bonds was the surprised.”
Were the expectations of the visit fulfilled?	“It is difficult to say since we had no previous scope from Lithuania or Kaunas, therefore we didn’t expect much. However, from our condition of musicians we have to highlight that it was impossible to fulfil the artistic part because at the moment of the concert we were under such pressing because of the organisation that, sadly we didn’t enjoy at all the common performance.”
Which country people did appear to be closer, get more familiar to you? Did you manage you make friends with anybody?	“Definitely the Turkish group, we really fancied this group, they were awesome, regarding both their music and their attitude towards us. They really knew how to have a good time, and we had the chance to meet them and create a beautiful friendship of cultures.”
The age of participants is very different. Was that an obstacle to make friends?	“This was for sure one of the problems, but the problem was in the different way of thinking, we could clearly see a wide gap between the northern and the southern groups.”
Was it succeeded to lay a bridge between countries by your opinion? What did unite you with others? What did separate?	“From the precedent questions it can be inferred that it was the relations depended on the way of being what separated or united the different cultures. Each country had their way to do things and to behave with others, for instance, some appreciated the fact of having such a tight timetable and some others don’t. Also the problem of language surely separated.”
What impression did leave excursion, during which you have an opportunity to know about the modernism in Kaunas architecture, to see some examples?	“For historical reasons, we are not accustomed to see modernism in our country, therefore we could not compare it with any building here, except for post-modernism. We think from what we experienced here that the examples of modernism in Kaunas were example of the functionalism present in Lithuanian culture.”

Made by Ruta Vaitkeviciute