[ad_1]
One of the biggest events in Kaunas, European Capital of Culture 2022, the Per_kūnija youth festival, started on Friday in Kaunas and will take place throughout the weekend. But even before the festival, even those who weren’t interested found out.
The Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022 team and the festival organizers asked municipalities for permission to hold a debate on Saturday in Vienybės square entitled “Will young people create an LGBT + friendly culture?”
The municipality delayed the granting of the permit, so the ambassadors of the project “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022”, in disagreement with the disrespectful attitude towards the LGBT + community, one after another rejected the name of the ambassador. Last week, the celebrated director Arūnas Matelis and the performer of the Golden Parazyth group Giedrius Širka announced their resignation.
Culture Minister Simonas Kairys was not left out either. He was surprised that 9 topics were planned to be discussed in Unity Square, but permission was not given for an LGBT-related event, and he urged Kaunas politicians not to interfere with the content of cultural events. Permission was finally granted for this event.
“Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022” Evelina Šuscickytė, curator of youth programs, stated that the most important thematic line of the festival is co-creation and identity. During the festival, we want to pay attention not only to the personal, but also to the identity of the community and the city.
Psychological well-being, non-verbal communication, sustainability, and other topics relevant to youth will also be explored. Some events (exhibition, game, discussion) will be directly related to the residents of Kaunas and Kaunas.
Many events for people aged 16 to 29 will take place in the city center, in the old town, in the Vytautas park.
– Why do you think the discussion about “Will young people create an LGBT + friendly culture?” It was delayed?– The “temporary capital” asked E. Šuscickytė.
– Permit procedures can be discussed by the permitting authority, in this case the city council. We are happy to be able to implement a program based on co-creation with young people.
– One of the festival projects will be an exhibition on modern people and the legacy of modernism for the modern style of Kaunas. What will be exhibited in the exhibition and what is that legacy through the eyes of young people? Will it be possible to see this exhibition after the festival?
– The exhibition “Modern Life” is a series of photographs that capture the interaction of the modern and modern world. They depict modern-day people in modern clothing, but posing in interwar modernist interiors, and the clothing combinations themselves are inspired by modernism.
This project was developed by a team of members of the Komoda project. In his opinion, the period of modernism, during which Kaunas flourished, left us a wonderful basis for inspiration. They can be gleaned from the architecture, style, and interwar stories of the people who lived and created modern Lithuania during that period.
During the festival, the exhibition will take place at the Design Center in Laisvės Alley and in the Old Town, at the Maironis Museum of Lithuanian Literature.
The exhibition can be viewed in virtual format at any time on the “Future of Modernism” website, a post-festival physical exhibition and various exhibition spaces.
– A board game about Kaunas and its inhabitants will be presented. What is the game, what characters are running there, will it be available to everyone?
– In the game “Operation Kaunas: Floodscape”, a traditional fight takes place: the good citizens are trying to save Kaunas from the impending flood and the rebels are preventing it. Kaunas Castle is the epicenter of this game: players who visited the city’s elders try to reach it as soon as possible and do not allow their opponents to fulfill their mission.
The first series of the released game will be a gift to citizens: the elderly, orphanages, hospitals, libraries and other institutions. It will not be possible to purchase the game yet, but once the second series of the game is printed it will be available to everyone.
For now, it will be possible to test the game on July 4 in the old town, in the Folk Music Department of the Kaunas City Museum.
– One of the topics of discussion in Unity Square is “How do we create a city and how do we create a city?”. Participants in the discussion will talk about how we contribute to cultural change in the city and how the city gives us the opportunity to change it. What is your opinion on these issues? What is lacking in the field of Kaunas culture, and not only in the field of tolerance, what must be done so that we ourselves can change the city?
– The main idea of the debate “How do you build a city and how do you build a city – us?” It is to encourage young people to participate and get involved in the cultural activities of their city. We believe this can be perfectly demonstrated by providing examples of active people. We hope the opportunity to speak with activists inspires others to follow suit.
I believe that all residents can build and improve their city, including the theme of openness.
Tolerance in the city does not develop overnight, in order to create opportunities to talk and get to know each other, we instinctively fear what we do not understand.
I believe that culture and its various forms of expression can be a great means of fostering mutual understanding.
– What advice would you give to the townspeople during the festival, as there are many events and they will take place in different locations?
– The youth-initiated program seeks to activate Kaunas nightlife with a high-quality cultural program.
We ask residents to understand noise after 10pm. M. On July 2 and 3 at the Unity Square entrances. There should be no further inconvenience to residents, traffic will not be restricted as a result of this event.
This year’s youth festival will continue to grow and next year, in the year of the title of European Capital of Culture, it will become the festival of the modern city “Audra”.
