What?

Zarika Association is excited to invite you to an immersive Erasmus+ training course:

“Yes, and… Go! Entrepreneurial Resilience Through Improv.”

This project is designed for youth workers, trainers, facilitators, educators, and anyone working with young people who want to explore entrepreneurship in a more practical, creative, and human way.

For us, entrepreneurship is not about business creation or financial models. It is a mindset. It is about having the confidence to take initiative, navigate uncertainty, communicate your ideas clearly, collaborate effectively with others, learn from failure, and turn creative ideas into tangible actions.

The main methodology of this training is improvizational theater. Through active “learning by doing”—including games, scenes, storytelling, role-play, and group challenges—you will practice active listening, reacting to the unexpected, taking creative risks, accepting mistakes, and building collaboratively on other people’s ideas. To support this journey, we will integrate selected Design Thinking methods to help us understand needs, generate ideas quickly, prototype, and test possible solutions.

And yes—at some point, we are even taking our improv skills onto a real stage in Bansko!

To participate, you should be:

• curious about using theatre improv and experiential methods in youth work.
• willing to participate actively, play, and step outside your comfort zone.
• able to communicate comfortably in English.
• legally residing in an eligible Erasmus+ Programme Country* and supported by a sending organization.

*Eligible countries include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye, and Norway.

You do not need any previous experience in improv, theatre, or entrepreneurship. All you need is curiosity, openness, and a willingness to try.

Why?

By participating in this training course, you will have the opportunity to:

• Become more confident in expressing and developing your ideas.
• Strengthen your creativity, initiative, adaptability, and resilience.
• Become more comfortable with uncertainty, risk-taking, and failure.
• Practice active listening, empathy, and understanding people’s real needs.
• Learn how to generate and develop ideas quickly, and experiment with prototyping.
• Improve your storytelling, presentation, and pitching skills.
• Discover practical improv exercises that you can adapt to your own youth work.
• Create international connections and explore future collaboration opportunities.

How?

Hosting organization: Zarika Association

Financial details: This program is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. All costs for accommodation, food, training materials, and local transport for study visits are 100% covered. Travel costs from your hometown to Bansko and back will be reimbursed after the training up to Erasmus+ distance limits.

Insurance: Participants must arrange their own travel insurance. Having an obligatory European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is required.

Bringing the learning home: After the residential mobility, each participant will put their learning into practice by organising a local follow-up activity with young people in their communities.

Participants will be required to actively disseminate the project, following our dissemination guidelines.

Read the full info pack here. | Apply here.

Application deadline: September 15, 2026. Applications are processed on a rolling basis, so don’t wait!