“MORE LIGHT! Exhibition and art residencies in Eduards Veidenbaums museum Kalaci : youth building a harmonious and just society

About this project

<p style="text-align: justify"><span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif">Project <strong>MORE LIGHT! </strong>aims to reveal the high potential of arts and culture at improving mental health and well-being of youth. The project will take place in the Eduards Veidenbaums memorial museum <em>Kalāči</em>. By remembering and discovering the poet, included in school curriculum, as a young person with a troubled inner world, youth of nowadays will be able to know better themselves, their peers and learn social-emotional skills.An interactive museum exhibition, 4 contemporary art works, a drama workshop will be created during the project in a close collaboration between Latvian and Norwegian cultural, art and health professionals, and groups of young people from Cēsis district. The results of the project will be accessible for school youth from all Latvia with the support of the Latvian School Bag (<em>Latvijas skolas soma</em>) programme during the project and in the following years.The project will not only improve the accessibility of professional contemporary art and culture for Latvian youth, especially in Cēsis district, but will also widen the understanding of the role that arts and culture can play in our lives. Audience development activities will reach the target audience as well as professionals from education and cultural sectors who are directly involved in providing and designing encounters with arts and culture for youth.</span></span></p>

Bilateral cooperation results

Cooperation with the Norwegian drama expert Morten Bruun contributed significantly to the development of the educational programme linked to the exhibition. Morten trained the involved museum workers as well as local teachers and educators in using drama methods at their work with youth and participated in the development and testing of the Eduards Veidenbaums museum educational programmes in the project. Consequently, not only the educational programmes that will be run in long-term at the museum, were created, but also a wider spread of knowledge was made possible. Teachers and educators who participated in the training are now able to use drama methods at their work independently from the project. There have been conversations regarding possible collaboration between school teachers and Morten Bruun in a similar manner as the new Latvian school curricula includes drama lessons and Latvian teachers are rather poorly prepared in this field. Another EEA grants programme might be beneficial for this eventual, new collaboration.

Project partners

• MORTEN BRUUN Donor project partner· Norway
• Association SANSUSI Project partner· Latvia