IMWe
Encyclopedia
IMWe is an annual Scouting
and Guiding
event run by the German Scout Association Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder
(VCP). IMWe stands for Internationale Musische Werkstatt (International Creative Workshop). It takes place annually, usually at Rieneck Castle
, near Würzburg in Germany
. The aim of IMWe is to give leaders of Guide and Scout groups the opportunity to explore their creative talents in a setting free of their usual responsibilities, within a set theme. IMWe is prepared on behalf of the German VCP by an international group of scouts who meet several times a year to organize the workshop, which is always held around Easter
each year. The workshop lasts for 8 or 9 days and always has a certain theme. All Guides and Scouts of 17 years plus are welcome at IMWe.
, a German Protestant Scout Association, designed to encourage the leaders to bring creativeness into scouting. After a while people from other countries started to show up at IMWe, wanting to take part of this artistic event. The organizers of IMWe, known as teamers, are currently a group of scouts from Germany
, Austria
, Norway
, Britain, Slovenia
, Hungary
and Iceland
.
s are offered to the participants in which they will spend their entire morning. The workshops differ from year to year but always focus on creativeness, such as painting, acting, making music, inventing things, telling stories, and dancing. Throughout the week the workshops prepare something and set up a show at the final evening, displaying the creative work of the week. The teamers make effort in inventing new and special workshops every year so that one can go as often to IMWe as he desires and still always learn something new. Last few years have featured workshops like bookbinding, Flying Objects, UV-Theatre, puppet making, storytelling, cooking etc.
CD from the Alps, the Slovenians offer Honey
and Potica (a nut cake) and the Germans show up with various sorts of beer
and a sip of Butzelmann.
Recent years there has also been the offer of Alternative Dream Time which, instead of having soothing sounds some heavier music is played.
Information on who is whose secret angel is kept a secret until the last night when each angel confesses to his friend that he is the secret angel.
. The theme was The Opera House in Vienna and participants were requested to dress up as employees of the Opera House in Vienna in modern time.
. The theme was Bazaar in Al-Mashewa and participants were requested to dress up in an Arabic style.
from 1.4. to 9.4.2007. The theme was Sherlock Holmes murdered? and participants were requested to dress up as 19th century Londoners. Workshops offered were Mystery Story Book making an interactive detective story, 19th Century Stage Composition doing everything concerned with a stage play, The Times making a newspaper for the citizens of the Empire, The Lego film club making a stop motion
film with lego bricks, The Songwriters Club composing and performing various songs, Experimental Science Foundation doing tests and experiments and The Booker's Club producing books from the scratch.
from 10.04. to 17.04.2006. The theme was The Body from within and participants were requested to dress up as cell
s or microorganism
s. Workshops offered were Bactobusters making soaps and perfumes, Heart Beat Records recording music and making a CD, Body Language making scenes by miming, Magical Eyes making kaleidoscope
s, Woodwork making things from wood, Orchestral Body composing music, From within making cameras out of cardboard boxes and Brain Train making up boardgames.
. The theme was The Cucumber King and participants were requested to dress up as characters from various fairy-tales. Workshops offered were UV Theater where participants used a blacklight to make plays or scenes in a darkened room, Game on making up boardgames, Muffin Man's Lab making up stories, Printing making stamps and printing on T-shirt
s, Art with the artist where participants made a big painting
of everything that had happened with a help from a local artist, Art is everything painting paintings, Magic Lantern making lantern
s and lamps
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
and Guiding
Girl Guides
A Guide, Girl Guide or Girl Scout is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations who is between the ages of 10 and 14. Age limits are different in each organisation. It is the female-centred equivalent of the Scouts. The term Girl Scout is used in the United States and several East Asian...
event run by the German Scout Association Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder
Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder
The Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder is a German Protestant coed Scouting and Guiding association with about 47,000 members....
(VCP). IMWe stands for Internationale Musische Werkstatt (International Creative Workshop). It takes place annually, usually at Rieneck Castle
Rieneck Castle
Rieneck Castle is a castle built by Ludwig I, Count of Loon and Rieneck, in the year 1151. The city of Rieneck is situated about 80 km east of Frankfurt. The castle now serves as a Scouting facility and is owned by the German Christian Guide and Scout Association, VCP...
, near Würzburg in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The aim of IMWe is to give leaders of Guide and Scout groups the opportunity to explore their creative talents in a setting free of their usual responsibilities, within a set theme. IMWe is prepared on behalf of the German VCP by an international group of scouts who meet several times a year to organize the workshop, which is always held around Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
each year. The workshop lasts for 8 or 9 days and always has a certain theme. All Guides and Scouts of 17 years plus are welcome at IMWe.
History
IMWe started out more than 50 years ago as a training workshop for group leaders of Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und PfadfinderVerband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder
The Verband Christlicher Pfadfinderinnen und Pfadfinder is a German Protestant coed Scouting and Guiding association with about 47,000 members....
, a German Protestant Scout Association, designed to encourage the leaders to bring creativeness into scouting. After a while people from other countries started to show up at IMWe, wanting to take part of this artistic event. The organizers of IMWe, known as teamers, are currently a group of scouts from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Britain, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
.
Theme
To set an extraordinary atmosphere every IMWe has a theme and a story-line and are participants asked to dress up in costumes based on the themes. The teamers make up a plot and the theme is involved in several programme activities with each teamer having to act one character in the story-line. The participants themselves are active observers, although they manage to influence the plot as the week passes. Themes used on IMWe include:- 2000: the Millennium Bug
- 2001: the India Express
- 2002: the Gold RushGold rushA gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
- 2004: the Hanseatic leagueHanseatic LeagueThe Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
- 2005: the Cucumber King
- 2006: the BodyBodyWith regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death...
from within - 2007: Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
murdered? - 2008: Bazaar in Al-Mashewa
- 2009: The Final Curtain - Intrigue at the Opera (The Opera House in Vienna)
- 2010: Expedition Lost - Secrets of the Forgotten Diary (Jungle & Indiana Jones)
- 2011: Mission Supernova (space)
Workshops
At each year at IMWe several workshopWorkshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s are offered to the participants in which they will spend their entire morning. The workshops differ from year to year but always focus on creativeness, such as painting, acting, making music, inventing things, telling stories, and dancing. Throughout the week the workshops prepare something and set up a show at the final evening, displaying the creative work of the week. The teamers make effort in inventing new and special workshops every year so that one can go as often to IMWe as he desires and still always learn something new. Last few years have featured workshops like bookbinding, Flying Objects, UV-Theatre, puppet making, storytelling, cooking etc.
Interest Groups
Interest Groups or IGs as they are commonly called are short activities prepared and organized by the participants themselves. Everyone participating in IMWe is offered to teach the others any special talent of his, some customs of his nation or just anything that comes to mind.The Day Out
One day during the middle of the week is called the Day Out, where the scouts go to a nearby town and bring scouting to the world by fulfilling tasks made by the teamers. This encourages the scouts to share their culture and scouting experience with local Germans, and makes them work together regardless of their nationality.European Evening
This is usually one of the first evenings of the week when participants of each nation prepare a table displaying some goods or pictures from their country; Icelanders provide shark and liquorices, Norwegians show pictures of trolls, the Austrians present the newest YodelingYodeling
Yodeling is a form of singing that involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal or chest register to the falsetto/head register; making a high-low-high-low sound.The English word yodel is derived from a German word jodeln meaning "to...
CD from the Alps, the Slovenians offer Honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
and Potica (a nut cake) and the Germans show up with various sorts of beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
and a sip of Butzelmann.
Dream Time
Each day there is a specific Dream time after lunch, where participants can relax after the hard work of their workshop and the events of the night. Dream time usually takes place in the basement which is supplied with blankets and pillows and each day the teamers provide, or ask participants to provide, different soothing sounds, for example a story is read in Hungarian, natural sounds are played on a CD or a musician plays the exhausted participants to sleep.Recent years there has also been the offer of Alternative Dream Time which, instead of having soothing sounds some heavier music is played.
Chatting Time
Each day also features chatting time where participants are offered tea and biscuits and actually, participants themselves often bring some kind of pastry from their country. Mail from the castle's postbox is delivered but participants often send mail to their secret friends in connection to the secret angel game. Chatting time is the ideal for integration and mingling.Secret Angel's Game
Each year each participant receives a name of another participant and is therefore obliged to be especially kind to that participant. It's popular to send candy or kind words to one's secret friend but some secret angels (what the person who sends gifts to his secret friend is called) are more original, sending paintings or riddles to their friends.Information on who is whose secret angel is kept a secret until the last night when each angel confesses to his friend that he is the secret angel.
Objectives
IMWe aims to bring together scout leaders from Europe- for an uplifting experience
- for new motivationMotivationMotivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation...
and ideas for the work at home - to exchange ideas, experiences and skills
- to establish international connections (for future exchange projects, international activities etc.)
- to practise intercultural communication and living
- to stimulate awareness of their own and other cultures
- to reflect and present the own cultural background
- to train soft skills: communication, team work, presentation
- to learn traditional skills
- to promote creative work, arts, crafts and music in scout groups as cultural learning
- to train methods of theme-oriented youth work
IMWe 2009
IMWe 2009 was held in Rieneck CastleRieneck Castle
Rieneck Castle is a castle built by Ludwig I, Count of Loon and Rieneck, in the year 1151. The city of Rieneck is situated about 80 km east of Frankfurt. The castle now serves as a Scouting facility and is owned by the German Christian Guide and Scout Association, VCP...
. The theme was The Opera House in Vienna and participants were requested to dress up as employees of the Opera House in Vienna in modern time.
IMWe 2008
IMWe 2008 was held in Rieneck CastleRieneck Castle
Rieneck Castle is a castle built by Ludwig I, Count of Loon and Rieneck, in the year 1151. The city of Rieneck is situated about 80 km east of Frankfurt. The castle now serves as a Scouting facility and is owned by the German Christian Guide and Scout Association, VCP...
. The theme was Bazaar in Al-Mashewa and participants were requested to dress up in an Arabic style.
IMWe 2007
IMWe 2007 was held in Rieneck CastleRieneck Castle
Rieneck Castle is a castle built by Ludwig I, Count of Loon and Rieneck, in the year 1151. The city of Rieneck is situated about 80 km east of Frankfurt. The castle now serves as a Scouting facility and is owned by the German Christian Guide and Scout Association, VCP...
from 1.4. to 9.4.2007. The theme was Sherlock Holmes murdered? and participants were requested to dress up as 19th century Londoners. Workshops offered were Mystery Story Book making an interactive detective story, 19th Century Stage Composition doing everything concerned with a stage play, The Times making a newspaper for the citizens of the Empire, The Lego film club making a stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
film with lego bricks, The Songwriters Club composing and performing various songs, Experimental Science Foundation doing tests and experiments and The Booker's Club producing books from the scratch.
IMWe 2006
IMWe 2006 was held in Rieneck CastleRieneck Castle
Rieneck Castle is a castle built by Ludwig I, Count of Loon and Rieneck, in the year 1151. The city of Rieneck is situated about 80 km east of Frankfurt. The castle now serves as a Scouting facility and is owned by the German Christian Guide and Scout Association, VCP...
from 10.04. to 17.04.2006. The theme was The Body from within and participants were requested to dress up as cell
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
s or microorganism
Microorganism
A microorganism or microbe is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters, or no cell at all...
s. Workshops offered were Bactobusters making soaps and perfumes, Heart Beat Records recording music and making a CD, Body Language making scenes by miming, Magical Eyes making kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope
A kaleidoscope is a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors...
s, Woodwork making things from wood, Orchestral Body composing music, From within making cameras out of cardboard boxes and Brain Train making up boardgames.
IMWe 2005
This time IMWe was held in Mansfeld CastleMansfeld Castle
Mansfeld Castle is a castle in the Mansfelder Land of Saxony, Germany. The castle, which is surrounded by forest, stands on top of a large boulder overlooking the town of Mansfeld. The Late Gothic church of the castle, as well as the ruins, moats and the remains of the battlements from the time of...
. The theme was The Cucumber King and participants were requested to dress up as characters from various fairy-tales. Workshops offered were UV Theater where participants used a blacklight to make plays or scenes in a darkened room, Game on making up boardgames, Muffin Man's Lab making up stories, Printing making stamps and printing on T-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s, Art with the artist where participants made a big painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
of everything that had happened with a help from a local artist, Art is everything painting paintings, Magic Lantern making lantern
Lantern
A lantern is a portable lighting device or mounted light fixture used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as 'torches', or as general light sources outdoors . Low light level varieties are used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to...
s and lamps
Light fixture
A light fixture, light fitting, or luminaire is an electrical device used to create artificial light and/or illumination, by use of an electric lamp...