When ideas are being thought through and changed into projects, a lot happens. Experienced project creators, producers or leaders could tell you that making an idea happen is a roller-coaster of events, insights, feelings and decisions. Sometimes you fall into a black hole where nothing makes sense anymore and you wonder what happened to that dream that used to ignite you, and in the next moment something happens that makes allows you to look at your baby's first steps with pride and a shiver in your heart. There are also days when you bang your head against a wall and wonder why on Earth did you even go down this path - especially when you realize that making an idea happen takes a lot of work. Work that no one but ourselves will do. But all good projects differ from the bad ones in one thing - they are all done, carried out. They didn't just stay in our heads. The desire to solve a certain problem gave them the necessary wind to sail across broad seas, both rough and calm, only to be able to finally cry out: "Yes, I did it!"
So we asked our Idealists, the participants in the current edition of 'What is good and could be better?' in the City Incubator of Ljubljana's Young Dragons, what is the progress in their process of transforming their ideas into live projects. Let's have a look at the photos they sent us and what they had to say about them.
From Ljubljana to Tirana
A sea of words and even more ideas for the realization of the summer tour, staring in Ljubljana. We (Anita Volčanjšek and Alen Grželj) are currently in the phase of setting up the web-page that will allow the participants to register for the event. In the meantime, you can send any questions (and applications!) to tourdebalkan2018@gmail.com. - Anita Volčanjšek
Sports through play
Since the day my projects was approved until today, I've learned that not everything goes down the foreseen path when carrying out a project. Instead, we discover the right paths as we go. From the planned weekly sports sessions I've arrived to the final shape of the project which will see 2 days diverse sports activities for Ljubljana's youth in the long and warm spring days. - Doroteja Mesarič
Street football Slovenia
This is a photo of the workshop we carried out in the youth center ULCA. With the help of Pumovci from Zavod BoB we successfully started gathering out crew. - David Velkovski
The legend about the Dragon and the Tarragon
I kicked off my project with a short survey on whether people drink flavored water, and why yes/no. After I got the results, I started my cooking experiment with tarragon "extract" and organized some flavor testing with my family and friends. Currently, I am in the process of contacting local bottling and other enterprises necessary to make my vision happen. - Lana Urbančič Rak
Board game What makes me happy?
The project started with an idea in my head, grew through written drafts and progressed through talking, which in turn generated new ideas and insights. In the last few weeks the project was modified a bit to include also a booklet which will contain several possibilities for playing the game, useful for youth and youth workers. - Maša Cvar
Let's communicate without keyboards
Since handing in the application form, we have realized that a) not everything always goes according to plan, b) you can't always have a plan, and c) if you believe in your idea you should persist anyway! We have managed to finalize the visual part of the project (which we love!), we are actively searching for sponsors, and we regularly post on our Facebook page - allowing us to bring our project to life at the beginning of March! - Tara Duralija
Basement studio
With a short delay, the project of sound proofing the Basement studio has begun: we managed to buy all the necessary equipment in Bauhaus. The next step in the realization phase is gathering the team and organizing the work to be done throughout March. - Staš Kramar
Rainbow rhetoric
This project has already materialized in physical space. So far the project has included a lot of thinking and rethinking: How often should I organize it and for how long? Where should I publish? Which sources should I use? How can I include LGBTQI+ groups in the work? When is Tiffany available? How does their sound system work? How should the workshop be timed? And so forth... Of course I expect new questions to arise, and that is just fine. - Zoran Fijavž
The City Incubator team is extremely proud of the current progress, and especially of project leaders and their teams and coworkers. Keep up the pace, step by step - and don't forget that realization of ideas is also (or foremost) fun. Well done and good luck!
