After the second round of the Open Call „Support for the Creation of Professional Art and Cultural Products for Children and Youth” Ministry of Culture has signed 6 contracts with project applicants to realize projects in the EEA grants programme „Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Cultural Cooperation”.
Projects recieved co-financing from the Programme in the amount of 1 259 336,71 euro. Within the framework of the approved projects, new professional contemporary art and culture products will be created, as well as the development of an audience will also be promoted.
Valmiera Municipality government together with the project partner from Latvia – LLC „Story Hub" and with the Donorstate project partner from Norway – NGO „Culture Break Borders” („Kultur Bryter Grenser”) till March 30, 2024 will realize the project „Valmiera Multimedia Festival Youth Arts and Education Programme.”
The aim of the project is to create a youth programme strand of the Valmiera Multimedia Festival, which would be created through the cooperation of young people and professional artists from Latvia and Norway. The project will include training for different target groups on working with young audiences, an in-depth youth audience research lab, a hackathon for young people and artists, art work creation and prototyping workshops, accompanying educational programmes and the development of a digital platform. The project will culminate in a youth arts and education programme as part of the festival on February 2024.
Jelgava Local Municipality together with the project partner from Latvia – NGO „Interdisciplinary Art Group „Serde"" and with the Donorstate project partner from Norway – NGO „Fargefabrikken” till June 30, 2023 will realize the project „Culture Plant.”
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.
Limited liability company „Lielais Dzintars" together with the Donorstate project partner from Norway – Julian Sæther and the Donorstate project partner from Iceland – Greta Clough till February 29, 2024 will realize the project „Performing Arts Laboratory „CirqueMusique”.”
Liepāja Concert Hall Great Amber, together with partners from Norway and Iceland, will work on the creation of a mobile full-scale interdisciplinary music production for young audiences (aged 12 to 18) with the elements of circus and choreography. The creation process will be based on creative ‘ateliers’ in four regions of Latvia, which will include various artistic experiences, networking, workshops, and performances with young professionals and younger audiences. The Project's goal is to create a meaningful connection between professional artists and teenagers from regions to promote learning new performing arts skills and broaden their experience of arts as active participants or audience members.
Foundation „Rucka Art Foundation” together with the Donorstate project partner from Norway – „Vitenparken Campus Ås” till November 30, 2023 will realize the project „Art+Food+Next Generation.”
The „Art+Food+Next Generation” project uses art and food as a medium for critical reflection on the ongoing environmental crises. The project helps the next generation to creatively address and deal with anxieties and uncertainties related to climate and geo-political uncertainties. A series of online and onsite activities are created in a close collaboration between the Rucka Art Foundation (Latvia) and Vitenparken (Norway) targeting children and youth between 10 and 18. The project brings together an international and interdisciplinary team from both countries. The experts come from fields such as visual arts, performance, design, media arts, technology, bio-arts, environmental sciences and gastronomy. „Art+Food+Next Generation” enables children and youth to shape and co-create their own future through art and culture. The project takes a sustainable approach to food as an artistic material and product. The participants are directly involved as co-creators of the artistic events, art objects and the final exhibition in Cesis.
Association „Mākslas centrs NOASS” together with the Donorstate partner from Norway – NGO „Fargefabrikken” till April 30, 2024 will realize the project „Art on Wheels.”
During the project „Art on Wheels" two project partners – „Art Center NOASS" (Latvia) and „Fargefabrikken" (Norway) combine strength and knowledge to co-create a travelling contemporary art exhibition for school-age children. The exhibition, thatl explores creative diversity will be displayed in 2 minibuses and travel to schools and festivals around Latvia as well as visit Norway. The tour will be accompanied by a well-considered educational programme. The educational programme will focus on promoting children's creativity in an informal, supportive and encouraging way. Additionally, informative seminars for teachers will be held about the progress of the project, and methods on how to use contemporary art in the learning process.
NGO „Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art” together with the Donorstate partner from Norway – „TENTHAUS” till April 30, 2024 will realize the project „The artist is present – contemporary art residencies in schools.”
In year 2023, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in 5 different regions of Latvia will implement project „Artist is present – contemporary art residencies in schools". Six Latvian artists will spend some time in schools all over Latvia – Kurzeme, Vidzeme, Zemgale, Latgale, Sēlija and also in Riga. Together with the school children, they will get to know contemporary art and develop ideas that will result in collective art projects, which will be shown within the framework of the International Festival of Contemporary Art SURVIVAL KIT 14. All the school children involved in the project will also meet at the summer camp in August 2023. Together with the artists' collective - contemporary art center TENTHAUS from Oslo (Norway), Latvian artists will gain experience in working with children and educators. The results of the project – methods and creative techniques will be collected in a special toolbox / publication that will be useful for teachers in the future, creating content for integration of contemporary art into the content of school programs.
As a reminder – on 4 January the Ministry of Culture launched the second round of the open call „Support for the Creation of Professional Art and Cultural Products for Children and Youth” of the EEA Grants Regional Development and Culture Programme with total available funding of 1 276 941 euro. In total, 31 project submissions were submitted within the set deadline and almost 5 times more funding was requested than the available funding.
The goal of the EEA Grants open call is to provide support for the development of cultural and artistic events that improve the accessibility of professional contemporary art and culture to children and youth in all regions of Latvia and to increase the involvement of children and youth in art and culture.