How do young people see their world? What’s on their minds, what worries them—and what do they hope for their future? “Our (View of the) World—Our Song” gives teenagers and young adults from the city and district of Osnabrück a space to share their perspectives. Not through a traditional educational format, but through music, interaction, and people who share their own life experiences and struggles. Together, Stigma e.V. and MICDROP e.V. create spaces where young people can express their concerns, develop their own lyrics and songs, and experience that their stories and their view of the world matter. “It’s not about giving young people a voice. They’ve had one for a long time. We want to create spaces where that voice is heard.”
Music as a Door-Opener
Hip-hop is more than just music. It is a language, a means of expression, and a starting point for conversations about topics that truly matter to young people: identity and belonging, the future and societal expectations, consumerism and addiction, mental health challenges, conflicts—or, at a fundamental level, the question of which path one wants to take. The focus isn’t on musical ability. It’s about developing something of your own, putting your thoughts into words, and finding a form of expression for them.
The Kickoff: Our First Weekend Workshop
During the first intensive weekend workshop in May 2026, this idea became a reality. Together with musicians, coaches, and experts with lived experience, the participants worked on their topics, wrote lyrics, performed at the microphone, and produced their own songs. Thoughts became lyrics, lyrics became music—and individual young people became a group that spent a weekend working creatively together, discussing, laughing, and supporting one another.
Out of the Workshop—Into the Real World
“Our (View of the) World – Our Song,” however, is not meant to be a project that reaches only those who sign up for a multi-day music workshop anyway. That’s why we take short workshops to youth centers and youth welfare facilities—the very places where young people spend their everyday lives. Together with the young people, we talk about music, their everyday lives, experiences, hopes, and challenges—and invite them to become part of the project themselves. Music and personal experiences serve as a gateway to connections that can extend beyond the workshop itself.
Peer Coaching: When an Encounter Becomes Support
A central component of the project is therefore the combination of cultural education and peer coaching. Experienced mentors draw on their own life stories and engage with young people as equals. They know about crises, detours, and fresh starts not just from textbooks, but from their own lives. This special form of interaction can build trust and facilitate conversations that are sometimes inaccessible within traditional educational and support structures. If young people want to continue the conversation, the workshop shouldn’t be the end of it. Through peer coaching, conversations can continue, questions can be answered, and, if needed, further support can be arranged. In this way, a cultural project simultaneously provides low-threshold access to guidance and personal development.
From Workshop to Production to Session
Young people who discovered the project through the short workshops can participate, as can those who have already had initial experiences with the project. Once again, their topics take center stage. They write, discuss, experiment, and produce. New songs are created—and with them, further very personal snapshots of how young people experience their world. And then the stage belongs to them. The journey doesn’t end with the production of a song. At a joint MICDROP SESSION, workshop participants get the chance to perform their songs live themselves. A thought becomes lyrics. The lyrics become a song. And the song becomes a moment when others listen. The MICDROP SESSION thus brings into focus what the entire project is about: self-efficacy, self-expression, and social participation. Young people not only experience the joy of creating something of their own; they also experience their perspectives being given a public platform.
A project that fosters relationships
“Our (View of the) World—Our Song” combines music, cultural education, biographical learning, and peer coaching. It’s not about telling young people how they should live. We want to listen, work alongside them, and create spaces where they can discover what matters to them and where they want to go. The weekend workshop can be the beginning. A short workshop can be the first point of contact. A song can express something for which the words were previously missing. And an encounter can lead to long-term support. Step by step, a network of music, connection, lived experience, and peer coaching is growing in the city and district of Osnabrück. After all, personal development rarely begins with a counseling service. It begins with connection, trust, and the feeling of being taken seriously. And sometimes it begins quite simply with a microphone and the question: What do you have to say?