Sound in the Silence 2026

About

Time: 3 October – 11 October 2026
Location: Gernika, Basque Country, Spain
For who? The project is aimed at teachers and students, aged 16-19.
Applications can only be submitted by teachers from secondary schools based in European Union member states.
Costs: Free of charge
Project language: English

Sound in the Silence is an intercultural and international remembrance project designed for youth. At historically significant locations, high school students collaborate with artists from various disciplines to explore how the past connects to their present-day questions and experiences.

Through artistic workshops, it provides young people with new perspectives on European history, encouraging them to develop their own understanding using different means of expression. To date, the project has been organized in various locations, including Memorial Places Neuengamme, Ravensbrück, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Gusen-Mauthausen, as well as Denkort Bunker Valentin, Kaunas 9th Fort Museum, Warsaw, Jasenovac, Pitesti and Pruszków.

The 2026 edition of Sound in the Silence will take place in Gernika, Spain, focusing on the history of the bombing of the town on 26 April 1937 and the broader context of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939).

The bombing of Gernika, carried out by German and Italian forces in support of the Franco’s Nationalist forces, became one of the most symbolic and devastating attacks on civilians in 20th-century Europe. The destruction of the town and the suffering of its inhabitants resonated far beyond Spain, marking a turning point in the perception of modern warfare and foreshadowing the atrocities that would soon unfold during the Second World War. At the same time, the bombing of Gernika was immediately surrounded by disinformation – most notably the false narrative that the town had been burned by its own inhabitants. In contrast, foreign journalists present in the region played a crucial role in revealing the truth to the world, ensuring that the scale and nature of the attack could not be entirely concealed.

The Spanish Civil War was not only an internal conflict but also a deeply international one. It involved foreign powers, ideological struggles, and competing visions of Europe’s future. For this reason, the project will approach the events in Gernika as a prelude to the global conflict that erupted just two years later, highlighting the civil war as a testing ground for political alliances, military strategies, and propaganda.

At the heart of this edition will be the experiences of civilians – those who endured violence, loss, displacement, and fear. Their voices, often overshadowed by military narratives, reveal the human cost of conflict and the long-lasting trauma it inflicts. The war led to a profound and enduring divisions within Spanish society, the consequences of which have been felt for decades.

Sound in the Silence in Gernika will also address the period of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship that followed the war, providing essential context for understanding how these divisions persisted and evolved over time. By connecting the past with the present, the project will explore how memory, silence, and unresolved tensions continue to shape contemporary society in Spain.

Through artistic expression, young participants will engage with the history of Gernika, reflecting on themes of violence, memory, and resilience. By working with historical sources, personal testimonies, and the physical space of the town, they will uncover stories that speak not only to the past but also to present-day challenges.

This immersive experience will encourage participants to critically reflect on the impact of war on individuals and communities, fostering empathy and awareness. By bridging history with contemporary realities, Sound in the Silence in Gernika seeks to ensure that the memory of those who suffered is preserved and that the lessons of the past remain relevant for future generations.

Recruitment

Applications are now closed.
Click here for the recruitment results.

Applications can be submitted by teachers only.
Please note that eligibility is limited to teachers from secondary schools based in European Union member states.
Only schools scoring the highest in the application assessment take part in the project.

Please read the rules governing the recruitment and the information clause regarding the processing of personal data before applying.

About the Artists

Dan Wolf

PROJECT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS

Dan Wolf is a hip-hop artist who works with rap, theater, personal narrative, and history to give voice to the problematic world we live in. His multi-sensory work draws its power from years of experience working, teaching, and performing with the critically acclaimed hip-hop music and theatre collective Felonious. His projects have traveled all around the world from concert halls to museums to schools and memorial sites where he engages history and culture as a prompt to make vital music and theater that can only live in this moment. He is the Artistic Director of Sound in the Silence and a co-founder of both the Bay Area Theatre Cypher and Felonious. He is a board member of the Playwrights Foundation and a member of the Recording Academy and Actors Equity Association.

Kat Rampackova

DANCING WORKSHOPS

Kat Rampackova is a choreographer, dance activist, and dance facilitator from Košice, Slovakia, specializing in interdisciplinary and inclusive dance projects. She is the co-founder of PST – Space of Contemporary Dance in Košice, and the dramaturg for Move Fest Košice, an annual festival of contemporary dance and new circus. Currently based in Barcelona, Kat is expanding her expertise in somatic practices through Body-Mind Centering. Since 2009, she has been a freelance choreographer and performer, with a focus on inclusion and artistic projects for children, as well as dance and site-specific performances in both traditional and non-traditional settings. Since 2016, Kat has been a choreographer for Sound in the Silence. Her work emphasizes cross-cultural communication, community-building, and the integration of art and education.

Sean Palmer

VOCAL WORKSHOP

Sean Palmer (1977) trained in theatre and arts in Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. After almost a decade of theatrical collaborations between PL and the UK, he moved to PL permanently. He is an active creator, collaborator and educator. Between 2010 and 2020 he ran his own experimental choir - GRE BADANIE - exploring the boundaries of sound and energy as a carrier of meaning. 2014 - 2018 he was the resident artistic director/conductor of the POLIN choir which performed original material concerts twice a year alongside current exhibitions. He currently co-runs MONT - a youth orchestra and a fun community choir for foreigners with the support of artistic institutions Warsaw. Sean is not a trained musician, but has found himself composing for theatre, dance and choirs as well as singing and recording in multifarious settings. Since 2015 he is the front man of the White Kites (Missing, Devillusion) and jazz trio William’s Things (William’s Things, A Heart Not all of Wood, The Robots are Coming). Every day Sean works as VO artist from his studio in Warsaw. Apart from all the above ‘arty stuff’, he’s also a dad, a husband, has two kids, two cats, loves running and doesn’t eat animals.

About the Educators

Karolina Jastrzębska-Mitzner

FACILITATOR OF GROUP DYNAMICS

Karolina Jastrzębska-Mitzner is an educator and Educational Program Coordinator at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. She designs and leads educational workshops for school groups and develops learning materials. She has extensive experience in youth education, gained through collaborations with organizations including Forum for Dialogue, Center for Citizenship Education and Civis Polonus Foundation. She holds a degree in Theatre Studies from the Theatre Academy in Warsaw and is a gradute of the NGO Trainers School.

Julia Machnowska

teacher's workshop leader

Julia Machnowska has graduated from the University of Warsaw with an MA in History and a BA in Journalism. Between 2015 and 2023 she worked for the NGO Forum for Dialogue, coordinating programmes for students and teachers aimed at exploring and commemorating Jewish history in medium and small towns across Poland. She also cooperated with various institutions in the field of audio reportage, podcasts and oral history – such as Polish Radio, Yahad in-Unum, the Museum of Warsaw and the University of Warsaw. She is experienced in historical research for documentary productions and scholars. She is co-author of the guidebooks 'Cities of Memory' about places of memory in Berlin and Bucharest.

Idoia Orbe Narbaiza

teacher's workshop leader

Idoia Orbe Narbaiza holds a degree in Philosophy and Humanities and has completed specialist training in museology, museum education, peace studies and community management. She is responsible for educational projects in Gernika Peace Museum, President of OndarHez, the association of heritage educators in the Basque Country, and a board member of Almazuela, the Spanish federation of associations working in cultural, museum and heritage mediation and education. On behalf of the Gernika Peace Museum, she was one of the co-organisers of the Ibero-American School of Mediation in Sites and Museums of Memory (EME), which was delivered online from 2021 to 2025. She has also participated in a number of European projects.

Anna Pastor Roldán

teacher's workshop leader

Anna Pastor Roldán is a historian. Her research focuses on projects to recover historical memory linked to the Spanish War (1936-1939) and the Spanish Revolution of 1936. She has worked as a documentary researcher at the Memorial Democràtic de Catalunya (Catalonia’s Democratic Memorial) and as an archive technician for the photographic fund at the Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation archive, one of the largest anarchist heritage archives in Europe. Her research has contributed to the creation of the Catalan Graves Map including the discovery of 31 new of them. Since 2022, she has been the educational coordinator of the youth memory project ‘Ruta al Exilio’.

Iwona Szelewa

teacher's workshop leader

Iwona Szelewa is a project and grant management professional at the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS), where she coordinates international educational, cultural, and historical projects. She has extensive experience in developing grant applications, managing international partnerships, and implementing projects. During this workshop, Iwona will share practical insights from her work, helping participants turn their project ideas into funding proposals.

Workshops for teachers

During the project, we organise workshops for teachers. Over the course of six days, teachers will have the opportunity to take part in five blocks of workshops at the Gernika Peace Museum.

The programme opens with a session led by Karolina Jastrzębska-Mitzner, Educator and Educational Programme Coordinator at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, who will introduce games and training exercises as tools for building a positive classroom community and fostering collaboration among students.

Historian Anna Pastor Roldán will lead two sessions exploring the legacy of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime: the first examining primary sources connected to mass graves and the emancipatory movements linked to them, and the second analysing worksheets on the experience of childhood under Francoist youth organisations.

A further block, led by Idoia Orbe Narbaiza of the Gernika Peace Museum, will use the 1937 bombing of Gernika as a starting point for reflecting on fake news and the manipulation of historical memory, helping teachers equip students with critical tools for assessing how the past is communicated.

Julia Machnowska will lead a session introducing ENRS educational resources, including Hi-Story Lessons, with a focus on materials addressing disinformation and the construction of historical narratives.

The final block, delivered by Iwona Szelewa over two sessions, will guide teachers through the fundamentals of fundraising for educational projects, from designing objectives and budgets to writing successful applications for EU programmes such as Erasmus+.

For more information click here.

Project Coordinators

The coordinators of the 2026 edition of Sound in the Silence are Justyna Radziukiewicz and Julia Machnowska.
Contact: justyna.radziukiewicz@enrs.eu and julia.machnowska@enrs.eu

Read more about Justyna.
Read more about Julia.

Partners

Organiser

Partners

ENRS is funded by: