INSTITUTE for CREATIVE CIVIL STRATEGIES /ICCS/ is Bulgarian non-governmental organization that supports personal and professional development of university students and youth interested in various aspects of contemporary visual culture (media and film studies, visual arts, journalism, social advertising etc.) as well as in recent visual methods and practices in the field of humanities and social science.  The  long term strategy of ICCS is to mix the boundaries between creative industries and civic participation, implementing on this base different educational and cultural projects. Our work is focused on youth visual media literacy, defined as the ability to access so-called visual media, to understand and to critically evaluate different aspects of visual media and visual messages, and to create visual communications in a variety of contexts.

  

The organization was founded in 2010 with general aim to assist the successful personal development, professional realization and social integration of young people who work with, developing their creativity as a model for active participation in the civil, social and cultural dimensions of society and promoting the European youth and lifelong learning policies. Since 2011 the president of ICCS has been an official member of decentralised multipliers network of National Centre "European Youth Programmes and Initiatives" /NCEYPI/. In that way ICCS's team assists the Bulgarian NA at giving information and counselling to youth workers setting up European YiA projects and taking a part in the multiplying activities of Bulgarian NA of YiA programme.

The team of ICCS is composed by a group of PhD and MA students in Media & Communication Studies, Cultural Studies, Fine Arts and Social work with specific biography profile - ex EVS volunteers, youth and social workers, interested in career development, European youth, lifelong learning, media and culture policies. The permanent task of our team is to provide to the student communities a well-timed informational support, related to development opportunities as national and international academic scholarships, internship programs as well as non-formal education projects and volunteering opportunities. That's why ICCS works purposefully to involve university students in international trainings, youth initiatives and intercultural exchanges and thus developing a sense of European identity, based on common values and extending their critical understanding of European Citizenship.