Free time? It’s the fourth place of education: in Vienna, art, sport, and music become a shared good.

It is from this belief that Hobby Lobby was founded in 2019, an organization based in Vienna that offers free weekly courses in sports, art, theater, music, foreign languages, and creative activities for children and adolescents. The idea is simple: to ensure everyone has access to opportunities that, increasingly, are reserved only for those who can afford them. Because while school is a fundamental place of learning, what happens after the bell rings can make a difference in shaping one’s identity.

“70% of our knowledge and skills are acquired outside of school and educational institutions,” explains Rosa Bergmann, founder and director of Hobby Lobby. “From family, from friends, and during our free time. That’s why free time is the fourth place of education. If we fail to engage young people there, something else will.”

While some children can rely on sports activities, music classes, creative workshops, and strong social networks, others have no access to any extracurricular opportunities, either for financial reasons or due to a lack of accessible options in the neighborhoods where they live. The project began in Favoriten, Vienna’s 10th district, one of the city’s most multicultural areas, characterized by a strong presence of families with a migrant background. The goal was to create an easily accessible space where children and adolescents could try new activities without cost being a barrier. Since 2019, Hobby Lobby has grown rapidly: it has offered over 1,200 courses, provided more than 200,000 hours of activities, and made around 17,000 free places available to children and adolescents. In 2023, the project received its first funding from UniCredit Foundation through the Call for Education, followed in 2024 by a further and more substantial grant through EduFund, which supported the expansion of the project beyond Austria, reaching Germany and Romania.

“It is important for children to challenge themselves, for young people to experiment with different things and develop their abilities driven by curiosity,” says Kaya, a volunteer and combat sports instructor who once a week works with a group of twenty young people aged 8 to 15. For her, sport is not just a physical activity, but an educational tool through which to learn how to communicate, build self-confidence, and understand the value of perseverance. “You learn to keep going and to realize that it’s worth it, because results will come.”

It is a pathway aimed at adolescents aged 14 and above that allows them to take on an active role within the organization and gradually become role models for younger participants. Those who have taken part in the activities can choose to support instructors during classes, putting their acquired skills into practice and experiencing a new form of responsibility.

Among them is Saskia, 14, who has been attending Hobby Lobby for nearly four years. She started with a dance course before moving on to theater and boxing. Today, she finds herself on the other side of the gym, in the role of Junior Trainer. “The best part is seeing everything from a different perspective: that of someone who teaches, not just someone who learns,” she says. For her, the project has also been an important journey of personal growth. “I used to be really shy and hardly ever spoke, especially when I was in new places or with people I didn’t know.” Thanks to the activities she has taken part in over the years, however, she says she has gained much more confidence: “Now I can speak much more freely, and this has helped me a lot.”

The opportunity to practice a sport, attend an art or music workshop, meet peers with whom to share interests, and try new activities are experiences that have a profound impact on young people’s growth, offering opportunities for exchange, tools for self-expression, and spaces in which to develop a sense of belonging to a community. The goal will be achieved, Rosa tells Open, “when we are able to recognize that education does not end in the classroom or within the family, and that free time is not simply a break between one commitment and another, but a true space for growth: ‘the fourth place of education.’”

Here you can find the original article by Open. Below is the full video of the episode.