SPY Story: Training against disinformation through storytelling

In collaboration with Arts of the Working Class (AWC) and Energie-Alternative in Palermo, we have been developing SPY STORY, a project (supported by ERASMUS+) that invites young adults (18 -35) to push back against disinformation through the art of storytelling.

The project starts from a set of questions that feel more urgent by the day, as fake news, propaganda, and AI-generated content spread further into our lives: What narratives keep getting co-opted, twisted, or turned into tools of manipulation? What do we already know, in ourselves, in our communities, that could be used instead to tell stories that are honest and caring? And what tools, what allies, do we need to bring that knowledge into the light?

Since meeting in Berlin and Palermo, the three partners have been shaping an open-source toolkit built around three methodologies, each rooted in a guiding question: What matters locally? What connects to a wider European conversation? And what can actually be verified, dug into, and told with depth? Out of that groundwork, each city is now opening its doors, inviting 30 people per partner to take part in a five-day course in podcast-making or zine-making.

In Berlin, Refuge Worldwide, will guide participants through podcasting from 7 to 11 September, with sessions hosted by Chloe Lula (Resident Advisor) in English and Dena Zarrin (ACB Stories) in German. The sessions will take place at Refuge Worldwide's Niemetzstrasse 1 space - apply here.

This call is for people who see themselves, or their communities, reflected in the distortions of media disinformation and propaganda, and who don't just want to name that experience, but to take the mic and tell it differently. After the first three days of workshopping, the last two days will be studio time for participants to put their new skills into practice and create podcasts, in groups of three, loosely based on the topic of stereotypes.

Applications for the storytelling workshop (Sept 7 to 11) at Niemetzstrasse are now open here.

You can also apply to the Arts of the Working Class zine-making workshop (Sept 9-13, Berlin) by filling out this FORM. Deadline to apply: August 20

Selection process: Shortlisted applicants will be contacted by email by August 25. If you are not selected, we will let you know regardless.

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.