The pandemics and the quarantine has had an impact on the activities of many cultural institutions around the world, including the office of “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022”. Numerous meetings and workshops have been either postponed or transferred online, the travels, both internal and international, have stopped, etc., but the team is still working hard on fulfilling the tasks and rescheduling their plans.
Fact is, the quarantine in Lithuania started a few days before March 20, the International Day of Happiness, which is one of the key events sparked up by “Kaunas 2022”. This year, the city was supposed to celebrate it for the third time in a row. In essence, by ‘the city’, we mean most cultural institutions, many private businesses and thousands of residents in various locations around town. Like all the other public events, this one had to be cancelled, but this is where the communal creativity at the “Kaunas 2022” office came in handy straight away – right away, a project “Culture at Home” was launched.
The ongoing project consists of short video recommendations. Ambassadors of “Kaunas 2022, artists and representatives of festivals and cultural institutions are eagerly their tips and tricks to fight boredom and enhance one’s cultural life while staying at home. Some suggest physical activity, such as sit-up challenges and contemporary dance lessons, while others recommend books remind of various legal music and film streaming services available in Lithuania. Many offer insightful psychological tips on how to cope with isolation and social distancing. Moreover, the “Culture at Home” project has become a fantastic means of sincere self-promotion for theatres, festivals, concert halls, magazines, podcasts and event services, and even attracting new audiences. First, the team of “Kaunas 2022” had to ask people to become video stars, but as soon as the project went online, culture activists began applying themselves. All of the videos – twenty, as we speak – are available on Facebook as well as Instagram.