When we talk about 'activities' we refer to all kinds of leisure activities for youth in the city of Leuven and Kortrijk. These activities are provided by the organisations discussed. The activities offered by our central actors, Burn and Quindo, are all free and open to everyone who wants to join. Burn offers all kinds of urban arts activities (such as, slam poetry, rap, hip hop, breakdance, singing and beatmaking) and Quindo is focused on activities related to radio and media (such as, video editing, making a radio program web designing, etc.).
Our supporting actor OKAN-MijnLeuven introduces OKAN students into existing activities (sports, arts, theatre, etc.) offered by the city of Leuven or organises specific activities for OKAN students in order that they can slowly adapt to the leisure activities which are prominent in Belgium. The leisure activities of OKAN-MijnLeuven are not open to everyone because they are organised for youth of the OKAN classes to get to know the different activities in their city.
Tabing (2002, p. 9) defines community radio as follows: “a radio station ideally is operated in the community, for the community, about the community and by the community”. Thus, for community radio, community members are more than an audience, they become active agents and play an important role in the very existence of the radio station. There are three differences between public radio and community radio namely; a community radio considers its the audience and community members as active agents instead of as a passive audience, community radio stations are non-profit organisations and community radio are considered as owned by the community. Furthermore, they create content which otherwise may be absent on state radios. Community radio does not only aim to give their audience information or to entertain its listeners, but they also focus on educating and benefitting the local community they work with and on citizen’s participation. Fraser and Estrada (1998, p. 63) claim that this type of media can give a voice to people who otherwise do not have a say in society.
During the process of choosing organisations, we noticed that several organisations worked with mixed groups. Those organisations make a point of targeting an audience that is diverse, this means it includes all genders, races, religions and people from all backgrounds. Moreover, they mix people from all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Our organisations see mixed groups as groups in which Belgians and non-Belgians from all backgrounds participate.
Following multiple discussions amongst ourselves as well as with organisers, we determined that laagdrempeligheid is not easily translated. The nuance of the word (as discussed in depth in the key concepts) is difficult to encapsulate in a single world in the English language and therefore we have made a conscious decision to, for the most part, use the Dutch word laagdrempeligheid. However, there are occasions when an alternative English word or phrase better suits the flow of the discussion and therefore we have decided to use the term 'open door'.
The first focus of our field work is on those working within our central actor organisations to provide leisure activities. Some of our interlocutors are paid and other work on a more informal/voluntary basis and therefore we needed to find a term that described the whole group in spite of some differences in job description. We came to use 'Organisers' and therefore this term will be used throughout our discussions. Most of the organisers get a salary for the work they do for Quindo and Burn, as it is their daily job. Their salary is paid by the funds they receive from several institutions such as regional or local government institutions. Some organisers at Burn are volunteers and do receive a volunteer reimbursement and others are doing their internship at this organisation.
All of the organisers are Belgians, but cultural backgrounds vary. All of them speak Dutch. Not all of them live or used to live in the cities they are working. With one exception they are all under 30 years old and can relate to the world the youngsters live in.
With organisers we understand the individual organisers that worked together with us on our projects. Our organisers are the individuals that we interviewed and who provided us with information. We see the members of all the organisations we worked with as participants in a pool, rather than differentiated by organisation.
With participants we refer to the young people that are participating in the activities organised by the organisers. The participants that were attending the activities, in which we were observing the organisers, were Belgians with different backgrounds and cultures. They were mixed in terms of gender and age and they are also from a different socio-economic backgrounds.
In addition to the two main partners Burn and Quindo, our research also involved the input of a supporting partner OKAN-MijnLeuven. OKAN-MijnLeuven targets youth audiences with activities that they organise to introduce them to the sort of activities that are usually provided in Belgium. When we refer to these participants it will be specified that they come from our supporting actor.
Volunteers are commonly understood to be people working for no payment. In Belgium however, volunteers can receive a reimbursement of up to 35 euros a day. The two organisations we observed understand the concept of 'volunteer' differently.
At Burn, a volunteer is someone who provides classes, workshops or helps at the organisation without getting an employee's salary. However, a volunteer might get a volunteer reimbursement. He or she aims to give another person a an enjoyable experience through the activities provided by Burn.
Quindo defines 'volunteer' in two ways: