Kaunas 2022 final publications
This series of final publications of the ‘Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022’ project is intended for the general public, Kaunas and Kaunas District residents, cultural partners and other European cities aspiring to match Kaunas’s success, who want to renew their city’s narrative to include everyone. These five publications in Lithuanian and English constitute the concluding project overview. They include three methodology books presenting Kaunas 2022’s community engagement, youth empowerment and volunteering practices, and a diptych of final project reports. The latter consists of Kaunas 2022: Body of Evidence, a subjective book of memories written by more than 100 of the programme’s contributors, and Kaunas 2022: Investigation Report, which summarises research and survey results, carried out by Kaunas 2022 and its partners.
Kaunas 2022: Body of Evidence – is part of the collected ‘Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022’ reports. It is a compilation of personal reflections, memories and opinions about the Kaunas 2022 project, consisting of quotes from more than 100 project creators, partners, sponsors and participants. The book covers the period from Kaunas 2022’s beginnings in 2012, marked by sentiments and ambitious visions, to 2022, the year that demanded the most practical skills. This publication, together with three methodology books presenting practices in community engagement, youth empowerment and volunteering, forms part of a report series and complements the data-based summary of research and survey results Kaunas 2022: Investigation Report.
Concept author
Daiva Price
Chief editor
Ana Kočegarova-Maj
Editors
Kotryna Lingienė, Virginija Vitkienė, Rytis Zemkauskas
Kaunas 2022: Investigation Report – presents a summary of the results of research and surveys carried out by the Kaunas 2022 public institution and ‘Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022’ project partners, based on activity report statistics carefully collected throughout the project. These data are complemented by research and regression analysis, based on national statistics data and population surveys, conducted by Mene, an external independent research institution. This publication, together with three methodology books presenting community engagement, youth empowerment and volunteering practices, forms part of a report series and complements the subjective compilation of memories, Kaunas 2022: Body of Evidence.
Researchers
Tadas Šarūnas, Raimundas Vaitkevičius, Jorūnė Chraptavičiūtė
Team
Vaida Venckutė–Nagė, Miglė Morkūnaitė, Povilas Mintautas, Ugnė Ugenskaitė-Joskaudė, Virginija Vitkienė, Ana Kačegarova-Maj, Kristina Laskauskaitė, Živilė Stankevičienė, Viltė Migonytė-Petrulienė
ed. Vaiva Marija Bružaitė, Sandra Karnilavičiūtė, Aurelija Prašmuntaitė
This book is worth having at hand for everyone who cares about empowering the youth to realise their dreams, make influence on their environment, feel an integral part of the society, and take responsibility for what is happening around them.
Based on the example of the youth programme “Kaunas Challenge” created by “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022“, this book serves as a methodology which turns the youngsters’ need of self-realisation into a brainstorm of ideas for the city, into a space for discussing, dreaming, and acting without constraints, into a platform of project development, and into numerous implemented projects. The book presents and offers a methodology for working with the youth, as well as formats and specific advice on group facilitation, activity structure, and communication. Everything described has already been tested in practice during the 6 years of existence of the still active “Kaunas Challenge” programme.
The inspiring experience of “Kaunas Challenge” and the detailed structure of the programme has formed the content of this book that makes this publication no less impactful than the “Kaunas Challenge” programme. Now, all you need to do is roll up your sleeves, and the youngsters of your city, town, neighbourhood, or community will start building their future themselves.
Jurga Knyvienė Chief Manager,
Kaunas City Chamber Theatre
ed. Marija Pulokaitė
Volunteers are key persons at mass events. The creative team and managers can perform their tasks at their best, yet they are usually rarely met by participants of events eye-to-eye. It is the volunteers whom we meet at events, and the entire mood of an event depends on the success of that meeting. A volunteer is an assistant and a guide, a real persons next to us, and this person may be just one of us. Being a volunteer is like being a true patriot: going out to do one’s work, at one’s free will, to make it easier for others. It is a noble work worth of people’s most sincere gratitude.
Rytis Zemkauskas
TV journalist, film producer, writer
ed. Greta Klimavičiūtė – Minkštimienė, Aistė Ptašinskaitė – Paukštė, Milda Rutkauskaitė
This book declares that culture can make a positive effect on the lives of individual people and even of the entire groups of society, and this is not just a meaningless statement. The book presents in detail how the “Kaunas — European Capital of Culture 2022” project has managed to mobilise the residents of different neighbourhoods of Kaunas and the adjacent towns for joint creative activities, aiming to enable them to feel the owners of their living area. What is even more important, it that this book can serve as a beginner‘s guide on the cultural work with communities, inspired by the rich experience of the project that lasted for several years. The authors of this book are willingly sharing their ideas and values which serve as a basis for community creativity, as well as their proven methods and instruments, lessons learned, and practical advice, also revealing the problems and challenges faced in this field of activity. The readers of this book might get inspired not just by its optimistic rhetoric, but also by the numerous examples of the implemented projects that seem to have actually provided an impetus for a number of local communities — from Eiguliai district in Kaunas to Kulautuva resort in Kaunas district.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Linara Dovydaitytė
