Projects

Baltic-Nordic Community arts network

The Baltic-Nordic Community Arts network has been developed by Culturelab (Latvia), Tartu Centre for Creative Industries (Estonia) and Virserums Konsthall.

The network aims to increase knowledge about so-called Community art projects and increase the interaction between Baltic and Nordic artists who carry out participant-based art projects.

You can follow the activities of the network on its Facebook page here.

Community art is an artistic activity (in any of art fields – dance, music, visual arts, performing arts etc.) that is based in a community setting, characterized by interaction or dialogue with the community and involving a professional artist collaborating with people who may not otherwise engage in the arts. Community art activities tend to have high social value besides the artistic one, thus contributing to the wellbeing of the local community.

However the notion of community art is not well known in the Baltic countries – there are a few very good examples of the good work done, but not many artists have the knowledge/wish/time/resources to get engaged in community arts projects.
In order to improve this situation the Baltic-Nordic Community Arts network has been established with following goals:
1) to raise the awareness of the importance of community arts projects and to educate cultural producers and artists in Baltic-Nordic countries, improving their knowledge and skills working with participative arts methods in order to bring the best results for communities via creative work of professional artists;
2) to boost an interaction among Baltic and Nordic artists undertaking community art projects learning from each other.

At the core of the new network are two Baltic organizations with the experience of providing trainings for cultural managers and supporting new creative partnerships – Culturelab in Latvia and Tartu Centre of Creative Industries in Estonia along with Nordic partner – Virserums Konsthall in Sweden, an active regional NGO working with local and regional artists and communities for more than 20 years. After the first year the network could be expanded with members from other Baltic and Nordic countries, promoting the idea of community arts and raising the capacity of organizers and artists willing to work with local communities.

The development of the network is supported by the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture. Read more here.

Contact: Carolina Jonsson, carolina.jonsson @ virserumskonsthall.com or +46 496 315 36.