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Description
The goal of the project is to improve access to professional contemporary art and culture for children and youngsters in Jelgava Local Municipality (JNP), to promote and increase their involvement in creation of new art and cultural products. The objective will be achieved through development and provision of art workshops, master classes, led by professional artists of different genres, and provision of capacity building measures for culture related teachers at general and professional orientation schools, culture and youth workers of JNP, led by Latvia’s and Norwegian experts of different fields: arts, psychology, pedagogy. 8 new professional cultural products, created within the workshops and master classes, will be integrated into the main cultural product - Final Creative Performance, and it will be done with strong involvement of artists and target groups, including children and youngsters. The methodology on how to work with and to integrate contemporary culture into the culture lessons and activities will create preconditions for improvement of the whole culture system in the JNP and Zemgale region.
Summary of project results
The goal of the project was to improve access to professional contemporary art and culture for children and youngsters in Jelgava Local Municipality, to promote and increase their involvement in creation of new art and cultural products.
The objective was achieved through development and provision of art workshops, master classes, led by professional artists of different genres, and provision of capacity building measures for culture related teachers at general and professional orientation schools, culture and youth workers of JNP, led by Latvia’s and Norwegian experts of different fields: arts, psychology, pedagogy.
During the project implementation, new contemporary cultural products created: Literary publication - the brochure "Grauda stāsti" (Grain Stories), developed within the educational expedition "Maizes stāsts" (Bread Story); Performance created in the Community Theatre;Animated film based on a script co-created by artists, children, and youth in an animation workshop;Artworks produced in a ceramics workshop;Toys created in a Toy Design workshop;Site-specific dance and sound workshops for young people;joint creative thinking workshops with the participation of children, youth, and professionals. All the aforementioned cultural products are integrated into the main professional contemporary cultural product - the "Culture Plant" contemporary art festival for young people. All the products are created under the guidance of professional artists, involving the target group of children and youth aged 12 to 18. A training cycle was organized to enhance the knowledge of educators, cultural and youth workers in working with children and youth, as well as to explore contemporary art trends in Latvia: a seminar titled "Contemporary Art - History, Trends, and Development in Latvia", "The Model of Personal Sustainability and Its Implementation for the Youth Audience" and "Relationships”. As the result of the project youngsters of the municipality have had possibility to engage and get to know modern forms of art, municipal workers boosted their knowledge and awareness regarding methods in work with children and youngsters regarding contemporary art.
Summary of bilateral results
A training cycle for educators, cultural, and youth workers was organized by the project partner from Norway, Fargefabrikken, and its leader Nina Molven. The training took place on November 21-23, 2022 (onsite), March 2-3, 2023 (online), and March 27-29, 2023 (onsite). As a result, the "Art Laboratory in a Suitcase" and a methodology for working with children and youth audiences were developed. At the end of the project, an exchange trip to Norway took place from June 5-8, providing an opportunity for participants to share their experiences.It was quite a change of mindset as teachers and culture workers in Latvia are not very much engaged in work with contemporary art. Therefore really valuable experience was gained for the to be used not only during project implementation, but also after its completion.It is planned that certain cooperation could be continued between Art schools of Jelgava Local Municipality and Fargefabrikken.