Several colleagues were able to take part in the trip to Plovdiv, who have gained experience and knowledge of aufBruch work and methods in numerous projects and workshops: Sabine Böhm, who has played in aufBruch projects for a long time and carries out her own theater projects with children, Franzi Kuhn, who has been working at aufBruch for several years as an assistant, dramaturgy employee and PR supervisor, and Maja Borm, who took part in workshops, has also been part of the team as an actor for many years and has realized many projects with her own band. Holger Syrbe was also part of the project as a project manager.

A visit to the theater project developed in the prison was planned in Plovdiv. The exchange of experiences with the Italian project partners Teatro die Venti, who have been realizing theater projects in several prisons for 15 years, and the project partners UPSDA from Plovdiv and Jubilo from Wroclaw and their operators was also an important goal of the trip. Shortly after arrival, we received the negative message that three people in the theater group had tested positive for Corona and that the visit to the prison had to be removed from the agenda. The project results were explained to us by our colleagues in the cultural center in the city with photo, video and text materials and reports, two of the participants from the previous project were present and reported on their experiences with the theater work. In this way we were able to experience the work very vividly and get an idea of ​​it.

UPSDA is also active in other hot spots of social life. An important part of the work are artistic projects with Roma children. We then visited the Stolipinovo district, the largest Roma ghetto in Europe. The visit to the cultural center there also left a lasting impression on us. The clash of different cultures and ways of life and the complexity of the problems of integration processes became extremely evident there.

The following morning there was a press conference on the work of the Freeway project, in which the importance and dimension of the work in the socially disadvantaged areas, but also the special challenges and problems caused by Corona were presented. Subsequently, the next points of cooperation were discussed and the planning for the next meeting was continued.

The working meeting was framed by tourist activities in the historic old town of Plovdiv and culinary highlights from Bulgarian cuisine. The discussions with the colleagues and operators of the partners occupied a large part at this meeting. Even if the main event did not take place as planned, there was an intensive exchange between the participants and left lasting impressions.