This summer, the Old Bitola Bazaar became a classroom, a workshop and a gallery. Through our project Youth, Art and Circular Practices for the Revitalisation of the Old Bitola Bazaar, young people from Bitola cleaned up a historic part of their city, sorted what they found, and turned it into art that now stays in the Bazaar.
Learning by doing
In August, 20 young people took part in a three-day training on circular economy, waste prevention and upcycling. Instead of lectures, they learned through games, group challenges and hands-on waste sorting — discovering along the way that reducing and reusing waste matters even more than recycling.
On the final day, artists and mentors Petar Tomski and Stefan Milevski showed the group how discarded materials can become sculptures. By the end of the evening, every participant had made a first piece of their own from collected waste.
Creating the installations
Over the following weeks, the youth ambassadors worked with the mentors to collect, sort and select materials from the Bazaar and the local community. Nothing was used without a reason: each piece of material was checked, cleaned and given a new role in an art installation designed for public space.
A final day in the Bazaar
On 14 September 2026, 41 young volunteers joined a clean-up action in the Bazaar together with the eco-initiative “Meti si so klasneto”, then mounted the finished installations on Veleshka Street. The day ended with a final event and exhibition at Kissa Teatet.
With the support of the Municipality of Bitola, the installations will remain in the Bazaar. Take a walk down Veleshka Street and see them for yourself — every one of them started its life as waste.
Thank you
A big thank you to all the youth ambassadors and volunteers, to our mentors Petar Tomski and Stefan Milevski, and to our partners the eco-initiative “Meti si so klasneto” and the Municipality of Bitola for making this possible.
The project is supported by People in Need within the project “Civil Society and Youth for Inclusive and Sustainable Development through Circular Economy in North Macedonia”, funded by the European Union. This post was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Aurora Network and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.