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Description
Within the project, 2 partner organizations, one from LV and one from NO, will join forces to co-create a traveling contemporary art exhibition for school-age children, in which at least 4 artists (from LV and NO) will participate with newly created, interdisciplinary, innovative, artworks, with a common topic - creativity in a digital age, artworks will be created (co-produced) together with pilot-group of pupils from Riga. During the project, the exhibition will tour up to 50 locations in Latvia, as well as visit at least 2 locations in Norway. The tour will be accompanied by a well-considered educational program that will stimulate children''s creativity, encourage their expression and explore the creative process (especially in a digital era), in a supportive and encouraging way (the program will be run by art mediators). Additionally at least 2 informative days for teachers about the project and methods of use of contemporary art (based on the example of works in the traveling exhibition) in the teaching process will take place.
Summary of project results
In short the project’s goal was to create a mobile contemporary art exhibition for children and young people, fostering creativity and accessibility to contemporary art in Latvian regions.The project was needed to address the problem of accessibility contemporary culture in regions of Latvia and the divide that the inhabitants of the capital and regions have towards it. Contemporary art in Latvia outside the capital city is not easily reachable (for many children this project will be their first encounter with professional contemporary art). For example, Cultural Policy guidelines of the Republic of Latvia for years 2021-2027 (https://www.km.gov.lv/lv/media/13169/download) set one of the obstacles for use of contemporary culture is the distance from the home of people to the venue of the event. The significant place for the visit of cultural events for people is the place where people live (city, parish, and town). According to research conducted by the Ministry of Culture, the consumption of culture is significantly influenced not only by material security, but also the place of residence. According to Eurofound data, the proportion of Latvians who have difficulty using the offerings of cinemas, theatres and cultural centres due to physical accessibility, distance, working hours or other reasons is 32%. This shows that access to culture is limited for about one in three people in the country. This data did not divide adult and younger audiences, but still was shocking to us and we wished to find a solution for it.
By choosing the novel format of the exhibition (traveling exhibition in buses that reached remote areas of Latvia), we addressed this problem in a manner that no other institution in Latvia had done before (For example, during our research visit to Latvian National Museum of Art we discovered, that their Youth club has only one (!) member that resides outside of Riga, thus the youth activities did not reach children in regions). We created a mobile exhibition of contemporary art created specifically for children and youth, that in an encouraging and welcoming manner invites younger audiences to encounter contemporary art and foster the creativity of the visitors of the exhibition.
It was initially planned that the project would be experienced by 2000 children, but in the end the demand was much higher and the exhibition hosted 7621 young visitors. The exhibition visited 50 locations in Latvia, but the demand was much higer. Since the initiation of the project we kept in mind the large percentage of people in Latvia, for whom the access to contemporary culture is limited, and this project would be one of the first encounters with contemporary art. In reality, according to our surveys, this exhibition was the first encounter with contemporary art to 81.2%.
Additionally, a survey shows that 81.2% learned something new about contemporary art. The exhibition inspired 65.2% of visitors to attend other cultural events, and 76.7% felt inspired to try something creative.
The project took place simultaneously with school reform in regions (55 small schools in Latvia) were reorganized by the 1st of September, 2024. We visited many of them - some of them in most remote regions had less than 50 students in total, for example, Stacijas pamtskola. Without a supported, funded programme it is impossible for such schools to invite any cultural programme or develop interest in contemporary culture to its pupils. Any activities in such schools largely depend on the enthusiasm of teachers. During the project almost 100 teachers participated in our seminar. We paid a special effort to reach teachers in the Latgale and Sēlija regions and smallest schools. Instrumental for the reach of these schools was knowledge previously gained by the team of the project and our cooperation partner START IT foundation in Latvia.
The "Art on Wheels" project has been successfully implemented and has made a significant contribution to increasing children and young people''s access to contemporary art in Latvia. The project has demonstrated that mobile art exhibitions can be an effective way to promote creativity and cultural diversity in regional areas and that NGO work in reaching remote audiences can be much more effective than the institutional.
Summarising the key achievements of the project are:
- Positive Impact on Children and Youth: The project reached over 7600 children and young people, fostering their interest in contemporary art and creative expression.
- Professional Development: Over 100 educators and cultural workers were trained to work more effectively with children and young people in the field of contemporary art.
- New Art Product: Four new, interactive artworks were created, specifically tailored for children and young people.
- Educational Program: A detailed educational program was developed, incorporating various learning methods such as art mediation, and interactive elements.
- Mobile Exhibition: A unique exhibition format was created, allowing for easy transportation and reaching a wide audience in Latvian regions.
- Positive Public Response: The project received widespread recognition from both children, young people, educators, and cultural workers and general public. Publicity reached not only Latvia and Norway, but also USA and Canda.
- Strong Partnership: A successful collaboration was established between Latvian and Norwegian organizations, involving regular exchange of experiences and knowledge.
Summary of bilateral results
"Mākslas centrs NOASS" and "Fargefabrikken" partnered to combine their strengths. NOASS focused on curatorial work, the exhibition''s logistics and production, and technical aspects, while “Fargefabrikken” contributed expertise in educational program development for children.The knowledge of NO partner was essential to initiate the cooperation with schools and plan the programme for schools , since NOASS was more experienced working with adult audiences. In Latvian context, the most useful for us was the knowledge sharing of how to manage expectations of the schools and what are the limits of our work (for example, the conflict solution between children are teacher''s responsibility and we do not step in it, or we do not take the role of a teacher or directly follow school curriculum, but rather in informal educational manner allow children to explore the art-experience in welcoming, inclusive manner).We are planning to continue cooperation and have applied for ERASMUS+ grant (small scale partnerships) for the second stage of the project. Results of this grant are expected in January, 2025. If successful, “Art on Wheels II” will be enriched by one new artwork and the project will allow to visit 10 more schools in Latvia and 5 in Norway.