Think Culture Foundation (TCF), a Delhi based organisation dedicated to promoting cross-cultural understanding among the youth, took an initiative Project “Kultura” towards youth empowerment by organizing an Origami Workshop with 30 students in association with an NGO- “Yes! I Am Happy” and “Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar”, a part of the Ashok Hall Group of Schools, Kolkata recently.

“Kultura”, or ‘the cultivation of learning’, is derived from the Spanish word for culture – Cultura, While Project Kultura ensures a curated set of culture-driven workshops to enrich youth with cultural capital and creativity, it also secures other skills such as problem-solving, discipline, teamwork and organization.

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The project aims to curate a set of culture-driven workshops for youth enrichment. In the times of COVID 19 crisis period when Culture is fighting to stay relevant, TCF is targeting youth to inculcate cross-cultural understanding and celebrate culture through positive human interactions and utilize lockdown period in a best possible manner.

“Each culture inherently has a common human good at its core. Our vision through Kultura is to bring that out to the forefront. We believe in empowering the youth via propagation of cross-cultural understanding and enabling them to take over the global stage, with an appreciation for all cultures,” said Yan Han, Founder & Chairperson, Think Culture Foundation. She continued, “We have got a positive response on the program so far and are hoping to touch the lives of thousands through this.”

TCF held recently the project’s first online workshop to ensure cultural awareness among the students during the lockdown. The workshop was focused on a Japanese art form, Origami, where a batch of 30+ students of Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar participated.

Origami is the art of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture. Its name derives from Japanese words ori (“folding”) and kami (“paper”). Traditional origami consists of folding a single sheet of square paper (often with a coloured side) into a sculpture without cutting, glueing, taping, or even marking it. In modern usage, the word “origami” is used as an inclusive term for all folding practises, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques.

“In times like these, it becomes very important to engage the students and enrich them with cultural understanding and creativity. We are glad to have collaborated with Think Culture Foundation for a successful Origami workshop. All the participating students had an enriching session,” said Shivam Kapoor, Founder, Yes! Am Happy.

Going ahead Think Culture Foundation aims to scale Project Kultura across various schools via different cultural forms.

With its constant efforts to uplift and empower the youth, Think Culture Foundation has also initiated soft skills training and workshops in the past. The project Sill++ was conducted by skilled trainers from MasCom and Skills Infinitum as a series of public speaking and communication workshops.