The basis of the project is the cultural educationial youth work of the Bad Harzburg Kunstkarussell Association. In cooperation with schools and kindergartens in the region, we teach with the aim of personality development in a variety of artistic skills. The main sphere of activity is in the area of non-formal education, incorporated within the school's timetable, in addition to free courses offered as after-school activities in regional youth centers. Furthermore the Kunstkarussell has adopted more than 200 refugee children and youth since the end of last year and offered them age-appropriate German lessons.By getting to know many refugee families from different areas of conflict in Africa and the Middle East, our team's interest in the polical dimensions of the global refugee crisis increased. In our project we want to consider the phenomenon of the recent “refugee influx”, which challenges the whole European Union, from various points of view. Therefore we are glad about the participation of delegations from six countries, which represent the different regions of Europe and divergent political perceptions: Turkey as the main transit country, Spain and Italy as Mediterranean Sea neighbors, Poland as a representative of the sceptical nations, France as the major partner of Germany in Europe and Germany as the destination of justified or illusionary dreams of hundreds of thousands of people.The International Youth Exchange will take place from the 6th through 15th of October 2016 in Goslar-Oker, a neighboring place of Bad Harzburg. Equivalent to the main concept of the Kunstkarussell we will deal with the subject not only intellectually but with the instruments of the arts as well. Each delegation will bring with it experiences from a particular artistic genre, which they integrate into the collective work: So we expect musicians from Poland, jugglers from France, actors and actresses from Italy, a group of art students from Turkey, a dance crew from Spain and acrobats from Germany. Each delegation consists from approximately 8 members and one social and one artistic leader.The morning time will be dedicated to the political debate in the plenary and in the work groups. In the afternoon, our guests will meet together with refugee kids and teenagers, who have found a new home in the region of Bad Harzburg. The refugees will be spread according to their interests in various workshops, in which they are taught the respective artistic disciplines by the participants of the Youth Exchange. In a peer-to-peer process, they will work together towards a closing event. An event representing a colorful revue about fleeing and arriving, about fear and hope, pain and joy of life. In order to make the standards of a real integration project, also local native children and young people will be invited to attend the workshops and the performance. We expect a lively and controversial exchange of views, intense human encounters and a supra-regional interest from politicians, the media and the public. We hope to make the Youth Exchange an exciting contribution to the much-vaunted culture of welcome and to send a signal that supposedly irreconcilable political positions can find common ground.