City Re:Frame – Exploring Well-being Through Performance brought together young people from across Europe for a powerful week of artistic exploration, movement, and reflection. Set in the heart of an urban landscape ( Malaga – Spain), the project invited participants to reimagine the city, not as a source of stress, but as a space for connection, creativity, and emotional resilience.
In today’s fast-paced world, many young people face overwhelming pressure, especially in urban environments. This youth exchange responded to that reality by offering a space to pause, move, and express. Participants explored how public spaces can become places of support and transformation, using tools such as storytelling, improvisation, and performance-based activities.
Throughout the week, the group engaged in creative workshops, movement sessions, and collaborative dialogues. Each participant developed a personal “animal persona” symbolising their instincts, strengths, or vulnerabilities, helping them explore identity, boundaries, and emotional regulation through embodied experience. These personas became central to a street performance developed by the group: a shared artistic response to urban stress, and a public invitation to reframe how we live in the city.
The final performance, “Metamorphosis in Public,” was staged in open urban space blurring the lines between audience and performer, between everyday routine and spontaneous creation. The city became a living stage for the participants’ voices, movements, and stories. Through the performance, they took ownership of the streets, reclaiming them as inclusive and creative environments.
To use movement and performance to explore how cities impact our mental health
To transform urban stress into opportunities for expression and connection
To build emotional awareness and resilience through collective creation
To encourage young people to see public space as a right, not a barrier
To promote intercultural exchange, shared learning, and solidarity
To leave with practical tools that support well-being in daily life
This exchange empowered participants to reflect on their relationship with city life—and to reshape it through movement, imagination, and collective action.
Co-funded by the European Union
♥ Special thanks to all the amazing participants for their energy, openness, and creativity. You turned the city into a space of transformation, and we are proud of each and every one of you!
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.