2020-2021-2022

Takeaways from the Community Arts Baltic Nordic Network Forum ‘Community Arts: Unexplored Opportunities’

Registration is open for the Community Arts Baltic Nordic Network Forum ‘Community Arts: Unexplored Opportunities’ that will take place on 20-21 April, 2022 in Riga, Latvia 

The keynote speaker of the forum will be François Matarasso, a freelance community artist, writer and consultant, an author of the book “A Restless Art”.
His online speech and following discussion will deal with the notion of ‘participatory art’ and ‘community art’ as well as with the explored and unexplored opportunities which these activities bring to our society.

During the forum of the Community Arts Nordic Baltic network, both international and national participants will present the best community art practices from Sweden, Estonia and Latvia.
A notable attention and discussion will be drawn to the various aspects of community art work, including daily challenges of community arts projects as well as future of community arts projects in time of crisis.
Along with presentations and discussions, two workshops will be organized to learn the steps, examples and exercises to engage in artistic processes. Workshops will be moderated by Ieva Niedra, INITIUM and film and theater director Krista Burāne .

Participation is free of charge.

The forum is organized by #CANBnetwork (developed by Culturelab (Latvia), Tartu Centre for Creative Industries (Estonia) and Virserums Konsthall (Sweden), in cooperation with INITIUM Foundation and ISSP.

The #CANBnetwork is inviting you to become part of a growing network of both – experienced and beginning community art activists, artists, producers and curators in Baltics and Scandinavia. The development of the network and this forum is supported by the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture.
#CommunityArt #Nordplus #Nordicculturepoint #CANBnetwork

 

Online workshop with GUNDEGA LAIVIŅA

“Creating with communities: human, non-human, more-than-human”

[Mar, 2022] On April 6, 2022 at 15:00 (Riga time) an online workshop will take place bringing together  both experienced and beginning community art activists, artists, producers and curators from Baltics and Scandinavia. During this online workshop Gundega Laiviņa will share her experience as a curator and producer working with artistic practices and projects that involve space, time, and different communities as co-creators. It will look at how contemporary theater artists have perceived and collaborated with material world, natural phenomena, human and non-human agents and different spatial contexts and how those relationships have evolved and advanced over time. How does transition from “creating for” or “telling about” to “creating and telling with” impact our being in the world both as artists and audiences? How does it change production and touring pattern on a conceptual and practical level?
Registration for seminar is open till April 4  – https://bit.ly/36VcAN8 
Presentation by Gundega Laiviņa
Video recording by Gundega Laiviņa, part I
Get to know GUNDEGA LAIVIŅA 
Seminar is supported by the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture.
#CommunityArt #Nordplus #Nordicculturepoint #CANBnetwork

Short Guide to Community Art available

[Jan, 2022] As part of the project a Short Guide to Community Art is published and will serve to both new and old to the community art practices. Feel free to read and share.

Community Art Experience Stories from experts and participants

[Jan, 2022] We are glad to present three exciting community art experience stories from Latvia showcasing the social impact that a community art initiative can make as well as various roles and levels of experience the community art project can offer to it’s contributors. Development and adaptation of video materials is supported by the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture.
#CommunityArt #Nordplus #Nordicculturepoint #CANBnetwork

Community art project development mentoring in Estonia

[Nov, 2021] Tartu Centre for Creative Industries will provide individual and group mentoring services for professional artists and cultural producers willing to work with community arts projects. Sessions available face-to-face and online, based on respective Covid 19 situation and regulations in Estonia. Please contact Kulli Hansen to register for mentoring sessions
Tartu Centre for Creative Industries, Estonia
Külli Hansen, Head of TCCI
kylli@lmk.ee , +372 5106865

Open call to artists in Estonia and Sweden for residency in Virserum Konsthall, Sweden

[Oct, 2021] Open Call: community art project development residency in Virserum.
The Baltic-Nordic Community Arts network invites you to an exploratory residency. This is aimed at professional artists in Sweden and Estonia who wish to explore a community art project. The aim is to unconditionally explore Virserum and develop an idea for a community art project that can be implemented in 2022. Virserum Konsthall, which operates in the area, will enable space for conversations and workshops. Two artists will be invited to come to Virserum for 1 week during the period 15/1-28/1 2022. More information on how to apply here.
Applications and Q&A can be addressed to:
Kulli Hansen (EE) kylli@lmk.ee, +3725106865
Carolina Jonsson (Swe) carolina.jonsson@virserumskonsthall.com, +460 49531536

Compendium of Participatory and Community Art Best Practices in Latvia, Estonia and Sweden

[Oct, 2021] As part of the project the community and participatory art best practice cases are collected  by  three founding members of the of the Baltic-Nordic Community Arts network, i.e. cases form Latvia were compiled by Culturelab (Ieva Hmieļevska),  cases from Sweden were compiled by Virserums Konsthall, Sweden  (Carolina Jonsson), and Tartu Centre for Creative Industries, Estonia (Külli Hansen).

New networking and training activities for socially engaged artists

[Sept, 2021] Let us introduce you with an initiative by Baltic Applied Theatre School (BATS), that invests in networking and training activities for socially engaged artists in three Baltic states, Germany and Lebanon. To find out more about provided training of the BATS, please watch this session.

Face-to-face activities of the #CANBnetwork are temporarily suspended due to COVID

[Feb-Mar, 2021] Due to ongoing Covid 19 pandemics face-to-face activities of the network are temporarily suspended until the pandemic situation improves. Thank you everyone for patience.

Face-to-face activities of the #CANBnetwork are limited due to COVID

[Nov-Dec, 2020] Due to Covid 19 restrictions also face-to-face activities of the network are temporarily suspended until the pandemic situation improves. Thank you to everyone who applied and showed interest in joining the #CANBnetwork and working in the field of community arts. We hope that soon we will be able to inform about online and face-to-face meetings.

Suggest the best community art project you know in Latvia, Estonia and Sweden

[Oct, 2020] Dear #CNBnetwork friends, activists and beyond, you are welcome to contribute with ideas and suggestions of community art projects implemented in Latvia, Estonia and Sweden that would qualify as the best practice examples to artists, curators and community activists new to the concept of Community art. Your suggestions will be welcomed by the end of November 2020.

Join the Baltic-Nordic Community Arts network

[Sept, 2020] Fill in the application form here to join the newly established Baltic-Nordic Community Arts network for community art activist , artists and curators.

BALTIC-NORDIC COMMUNITY ARTS NETWORK

[Aug, 2020] The Baltic-Nordic Community Arts network has been developed by Culturelab (Latvia), Tartu Centre for Creative Industries (Estonia) and Virserums Konsthall (Sweden).

You can follow the activities of the network on Facebook page Community Art :: Nordic-Baltic Network.
If you wish to receive the information about  activities carried out by Nordic-Baltic Network or wish to join the first Nordic-Baltic community art activist and artist database, please fill in the application form 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. 
#CommunityArt #Nordplus #Nordicculturepoint #CANBnetwork