Young arts focus on “Our Need for Consolation”

Last year, Volt – the culture and language programme for children and young people, supported a creative and innovative project by Vision Forum, in collaboration with Tomorrow’s Art Audiences in Sweden, Danseatelier in Denmark, Nordiska Konstskolan in Finland, and others.

The project titled, Our Need for Consolation was inspired by a text by the same name, written by Swedish writer and journalist Stig Dagerman. They felt the text offered important tools to address the relevant questions such as how art creates reflections and how Nordic languages shape our cultures and lives.

The process included workshops in Denmark, Sweden and Finland and focused on both private and public readings, discussions and various exercises for promoting artistic autonomy. The project also wanted to investigate methods of performance teaching in art schools and raise the general understanding and importance of artistic expression in society. The meetings brought a little over 100 young artists and academics together with experienced artists and workshop leaders to work in both institutions and public spaces. The age ranged from 16 years and upwards.

According to Vision Forum, Our Need for Consolation became an important milestone. The project has been carried out in a strictly horizontal manner, meaning that the organisers mainly created a framework for the young artists to develop further.

“Inside these boundaries there was total freedom to create their own projects. They have actively shaped the project’s content and the public presentations. The value of this responsibility has been greatly appreciated by the participants”, says project manager Rudi Heinrichsen.

The project does not stop here. They were able to connect and have serious discussions about future projects that would similarly be based on other works by other Nordic writers.

The Nordic Culture Point are pleased to have been a small part of the journey and we wish them all the best in their collaborations in the future.

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Volt is a culture and language programme. Volt support projects where children and young people get involved in projects that focus on their interest in Nordic arts, culture and language. Read more about the criteria and find the upcoming application deadline here.