Go back WORKSHOP “UNWEIRDING THE EXPERIMENTAL ART // “BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?”
06.03.2023.
The creative team of the Riga Circus international project “Circus for Climate” is organizing a two-day workshop for professionals from the cultural sector “UNWEIRDING THE EXPERIMENTAL ART // “BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?”
The workshop will take place on March 7 and 8, 2023 in the Concert Hall “Great Amber” in Liepaja.
The main goal of this workshop is to look into methods to make contemporary and experimental art more comprehensible and accessible to Latvian society in different age groups in various Latvian regions. Professionals from Latvian towns Brocēni, Cēsīs, Jaunpils, Liepāja, Saldus, Smiltene, Talsi, Valmiera, and Ventspils will be attending the workshop.
During the workshop, different ways of achieving this goal will be discussed and examined, for example, actions are already being taken and what can still be done to reach new target audience groups in Latvian regions and how to communicate and what methods to use to address the chosen target audience, in order to make experimental and contemporary art more accessible and understandable among the target audience. Sustainability in the field of art and how art can serve as a powerful tool for change, both on a local and a global scale, will be paid special attention.
The workshop is part of the “Circus for Climate” project, a collaboration between Riga circus and the Norwegian circus artist company “Acting for Climate”.
“One of the goals of contemporary art is to provoke, ask questions and encourage reflection on various processes and current events. The project “Circus for Climate” sees art as a medium through which to appeal and excite, in order to talk, for example, about environmental and climate problems. In this workshop, working together with colleagues from different regions of Latvia, we hope to make experimental and contemporary art more accessible and understandable, and through it also promote conversations about various issues important to society,” says Ieva Ozoliņa, Manager of “Circus for Climate”.
“We are glad that with such workshops we can strengthen the cooperation with a partner like the Riga Circus, which, like us, sees the value of contemporary art in the cultural space of Latvia and the need to strengthen it in the regions. At the moment, one can observe how important the public’s understanding of contemporary art is, which is why it is necessary to talk more widely about its role,” says Timurs Tomsons, Director of “Lielais dzintars” concert hall.
The workshop will be led by the contemporary dance and circus artists from the Norwegian circus artist company “Acting for Climate”: dancer Amund Bentsen (Denmark) and contemporary circus artists Emma Langmoen (Norway), Abigael Winsvold (Norway) and Michele De Riu (Italy). The methods developed by them will also be complemented by guest lecturers from Latvia – culture producer and chairman of the board of the INITIUM foundation Ieva Niedre, visual art and performance artist Anda Lāce, and director and playwright Jānis Balodis.
The Circus for Climate project created by “Rīgas Circus” was created in cooperation with “Acting for Climate”. The main goal of the project is to create a space in Latvian regions where young people, artists and environmental experts can meet in order to understand and learn art activism as a creative process and a possible response to climate change through cooperation.
The project has been created with the support of the European Economic Area (EEA) Grants Financial Mechanism funding period 2014. – 2021. program “Local Development, Poverty Reduction, and Cultural Cooperation” open call “Support for the Creation of Professional Art and Cultural Products for Children and Youth”.
More information about the EEA Grants Financial Mechanism can be found HERE.
Read more about the project HERE.
