The JAM Project, a community initiative based in Gozo, has recently been crowned the national winner of this year’s European Charlemagne Youth Prize.

Founded in November 2021, the collective is a centralised community base which facilitates engagement between Gozo’s diverse communities.

They were among 26 other national winners across the European Union who each were awarded for their youth-run projects promoting European and international understanding.

The JAM Project won on the merits of their Creative Communities programme – an initiative aiming to use the arts to celebrate the coming together of community, diversity and culture.

“We launched a three-month-long pilot project in 2022 which focused on refugees living in Gozo and the programme exceeded our expectations, so we decided to relaunch it this year to focus on Gozo’s youth,” says Micaela Bogen, director of The JAM Project.

“Our programme offers accessible and interactive arts workshops, educational talks and provides a non-biased and non-judgemental space where professionals, creatives and others can educate a diverse audience on different topics and ideas.”

Alongside their Creative Communities programme, JAM provides a weekly Language Café to support access to English learning, hosts an eclectic mix of events ranging from artisan Moonlight Markets, Activism as Cinema film nights to culture exchange dinner parties and provides mentoring, opportunity and on-request information and support for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants living in Gozo.

The JAM Project is run by a group of volunteers from their hub in Gozo.

The collective also provides space to other NGOs and initiatives to offer their services, such as Checkpoint Malta who run a monthly free HIV testing from The JAM Project.

“As a small group of passionate volunteers running this programme, there have been moments where we start to question if we’ve got it right, or if what we are doing actually works,” says Bogen. 

“Not only does winning the national award mean that we have the opportunity to meet, connect and learn from 26 other incredible initiatives which support Europe’s youth, but it also comes as a kind reminder of the work we do at the JAM, and just how far our Creative Communities programme has come.”

Visit jamproject.eu for more information on the collective.