The Accessibility Guide can be used and applied to the need free of charge. More information can be found at: https://prieinamumas.lt/

It is a tool that is designed to inform people with disabilities and special needs about accessibility of cultural institutions and events, and about access to the content they provide.

It is the first publication of this kind which is designed for cultural organisations, facility operators and event organisers. The publication is aimed at making cultural objects and events more accessible by all groups within society, especially by people with special needs.

The Accessibility Sign System is already used by our partner Kaunas City Chamber Theatre. The Accessibility Guide and all other important information can be found at: http://dizainaskaune.lt/kultura-visiems-prieinamumas/ and https://kaunas2022.eu/prieinamumo-gidas.

The Sign System can be used not only during various cultural events, in advertisements, posters, on websites, in the interior and exterior of cultural objects, but also in and during all other public or private places and activities.

This universal Sign System and the accessibility guide publication have been initiated by Kaunas 2022 Program ‘Designing Happiness’, and the Sign System has been created and donated to society by ‘Critical’ Design Agency.

We want to help adapt cultural spaces and events to society, including people with disabilities. The publication presents the Sign System and guidelines for using signs which will help organise events and adapt spaces in order to make it easier for people to find their way in them and to move easily and independently there.

We update, talk and invite to participate the entire city, society and business representatives. Our aim is to make our events accessible by as broad groups of people as possible.

It is the river dredger, used for construction purposes, which was made in 1965 in what was then Czechoslovakia. Due to its outdated technology causing harm to the river ecosystem, there were plans to dispose of the dredger. Kaunas 2022 and ‘Ars Futuri’ decided to preserve the ship and turn it into a floating green park, which could be operated as a public place accessible to society and suitable for events and creation.

A wide variety of social and cultural activities are planned on board: from children’s education to specialist conferences, from a virtual museum to artist exhibitions, from concerts to performances, from artist residences to representative events of companies. The ship will function as an object of landscape design and light art, as a storyteller of local economic activities, as a new tourist attraction in Kaunas district.

More information can be found at: https://www.instagram.com/nemunoseptyni/, https://www.facebook.com/Nemunoseptyni.

Kaunas District Municipality is the main funder of the Project ‘Nemuno 7’. The municipality is also the designer and funder of the infrastructure in Zapyškis, which is necessary for the Project.

Gediminas Banaitis-Skrandis [Kaunas 2022] and an architect Sigita Kundrotaitė-Savickė are the authors of the Project. The Project is implemented by Asta Ivanauskienė, the head of the Public Institution ‘Ars Futuri’, which is the Partner of Kaunas 2022, and by Gabrielė Lenkauskaitė, who is the member of the public institution.

Although many believe that this name is associated with the address, that is, however, not the case. ‘Nemuno 7‘ is the current name of the dredger, and, therefore, it has been decided to keep it unchanged.

No, in 2022 the Project will be in Zapyškis, the town located in Kaunas district. Later, the ship is expected to be transported to other towns of Kaunas district that are situated near the river Nemunas.

About 70% of the program for 2022 has already been developed. However, the organisers are open to and are looking forward to receiving information and suggestions from interested developers and participants.

The program of the festival is associated with tactical urban works and interdisciplinary art, which combines design, architecture, history, street art, biology, ecology, psychology and other disciplines. There is a broad spectrum of the festival events. They include educational programs, discussions, exhibitions, excursions, objects of public spaces and landscape design.

The festival is aimed at creating a dialogue between society, government, business and landscaping professionals, designers, architects, so that they would look for healthier solutions that improve the relationship between the city and nature.

MAGENTA provokes Kaunas to become a bright international centre of landscape design and green town planning, to abide by a targeted sustainable policy, and to pursue the title of European Green Capital.

Tactical urbanism is the subject of the future festival. This subject is aimed at considering short-term green interventions in urban life and the environment, the long-term impact of these interventions, and at examining the need for complex actions that are of significance for society. Interventions of tactical urbanism are a creative and playful way to enliven urban spaces, to involve the residents of the city in active activities that are related to the environment, green spaces and urban elements.

The Landscape Design Festival MAGENTA will take place on September 9 through 25 of 2022.

More information is available on: http://magentafestival.lt/, https://www.facebook.com/Magentalandsaftodizainofestivalis, https://www.instagram.com/magenta_festival/.

In 2022, MAGENTA will cover not just the central neighbourhoods of Kaunas, but also the entire city.

Magenta is a special colour. It is better distinguished by people with colour blindness disorder. For greater accessibility, instead of red, a magenta colour is used in various diagrams. An important fact is that magenta does not really exist – it is created by our brain trying to interpret a mixture of two colours – red and blue, which our eyes see. In addition, it has been observed that, of the total light spectrum, plants like magenta the most [red and blue light]. These are just a few reasons why the festival has been given such a name.

T  It is a three-dimensional K-shaped spatial object. Its visual design in Kaunas will be constantly updated and this will ensure the opportunity to show themselves to as many local developers as possible. It is a space for self-expression by local graphic designers, illustrators and other artists who specialise in design. It publicises the program of ‘European Capital of Culture’ and strengthens the identity of Kaunas as a city of design.

K-Totem will be installed at the end of 2021

K-Totem will be installed in the Constituent Seimas Square in Kaunas.

K-Totem is a gift of a Belgian city of Kortrijk to Kaunas.

K-Totem has been created by 15 companies, design agencies and research institutions based in Kortrijk.

An open call will be launched at the end of 2021 for developers wishing to provide ideas for this Project.

Kortrijk is also a member of the UNESCO’s Design Cities network. For this reason, Kaunas has been looking for a while for cooperation opportunities. K-Totem marks the beginning of the establishment of contacts.

5×5® is a design program that encourages creative thinking. The program has been initiated by the Belgian company Designregio Kortrijk and VOKA Chamber of Commerce West-Flanders. This year, the ‘5×5®‘ method, which is being developed by Designregio Kortrijk, is also applied in Kaunas. It aims at increasing competitiveness of small and medium-sized local enterprises in creating meaningful products, services and good design.

The Design Innovation Program 5×5® is implemented by Kaunas branch of the Lithuanian Union of Architects (LUA), Designregio Kortrijk and Kaunas 2022 together with partners Kaunas Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts and Lithuanian Design Association. The Project is sponsored by the Flemish government.

It will be possible to see the results of the Project that is being implemented in Kaunas and of the Flemish companies at the exhibition, which will become a part of Kaunas 2022 Design Program.

Objects of street art, graffiti, environmental landscape and design, created in the public spaces of Kaunas and Kaunas district, can be found in the Open-Air Gallery.

The Open-Air Gallery Project has been launched in 2017, in parallel with the start of Kaunas 2022 Project, and new works are still added to it.

All design and art objects are in Kaunas and Kaunas district. They can be reached on foot.

A map of the Open-Air Gallery is planned to be drawn up and introduced in 2022. This map will help people discover design and art objects by choosing different routes around the city and district spaces

New works are added to the Open-Air Gallery during various Kaunas 2022 projects and events, when program curators, together with partners, organisations, and the community, involve various artists in the activities. These artists add new design and art objects to the public spaces of Kaunas city and district.

The visiting international organisations will hold their closed annual meetings in Kaunas

The International Assembly of Design Networks target the design community, design policy makers, and people for whom the design field is important.

The participants will be offered the opportunity to participate in a series of interdisciplinary events (exhibitions, workshops, meetings, conferences, installations in public spaces of the city). During them, Kaunas residents and guests will have the opportunity to get to know the roots of authentic Kaunas design, Lithuanian contemporary design creators, design innovations, advanced practices of foreign creators. We are looking forward to seeing you at the Good Design awards ceremony and winners’ showcase organized by the Lithuanian Design Forum. We will invite visitors to the retrospective Tare exhibition, the exhibition in the showcases of Laisvės Alley, which reveals the history of Lithuanian design, and to take part in many interactions in design art.

The Design Festival, also called Kaunas DESIGN event, will take place on October 10 through 14 of 2022.

The International Assembly of Design Networks will take place on 14 October 2022 during International Kaunas DESIGN event.

The following international and local organisations will take part in the International Assembly of Design Networks: BEDA, ico-D; EIDD, the UNESCO’s Design Cities network, Lithuanian Design Association, Lithuanian Design Forum.

Kaunas DESIGN event is organised by Kaunas 2022 Program ‘Designing Happiness’ and its partners.

Yes, such an international assembly of design networks will be held in Lithuania for the first time.

We invite you to share your thoughts and ideas by sending them to the e-mail address [email protected]. At the beginning of 2022, follow the information that is published via Kaunas 2022 channels and wait for an open invitation to create the happiest festival in Kaunas.

The main subject: a happy community is the foundation of a happy city / a happy community in a happy city.

The Day of Happiness has been celebrated in Kaunas since 2018, after the Kaunas 2022 project team became the official ambassadors of the International Day of Happiness in Lithuania.

Officially, the International Day of Happiness is celebrated on 20 March. Therefore, the main events of the Day of Happiness will take place on that date. However, in order to have more happy people in 2022, we will celebrate the International Day of Happiness of March 18 through 20. Companies or organisations, which normally do not work on Sundays, also will be able to join the program of the Day of Happiness.

More information about the Day of Happiness can be found at: https://www.laimesdiena.lt

The main events of the International Day of Happiness will take place in Kaunas and Kaunas district, but we hope that in 2022 it will also be celebrated throughout Lithuania and Europe.

Everyone can celebrate the International Day of Happiness. Therefore, all organisations, initiatives, companies, schools, universities, nurseries can offer their ideas. All the ideas, especially if they are open to people and the community, will be included in the official program of the Day of Happiness.

Because Kaunas strives to become a city of happy people. The International Day of Happiness has become one of the means to achieve this title more easily.