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Project “More Light!”* has concluded

Eduards Veidenbaums Memorial Museum “Kalāči” (Cesis Municipality, Priekuli Region) together with the association “Sansusī” (project partner from Latvia) and the Independent Norwegian Artist Company “Morten Bruun” (project partner from Norway) from 1 January 2022 to 31 July 2023 implemented the project “MORE LIGHT! Exhibition and Art Residencies at the Eduards Veidenbaums Museum “Kalāči”.

The aim of the project was to discover the high potential of art and culture in improving the mental health and well-being of young people, through the exploration of the poetry and life of Eduards Veidenbaums (1867-1892), a poet included in the school curricula. Eduards Veidenbaums was a young man with a complex inner world. The project aimed also to give today’s youth the opportunity to get to know themselves, their mates and to learn social-emotional skills. The project combines the strength and energy of Latvian and Norwegian culture and arts professionals to provide meaningful engagement in arts and culture for young people across Latvia, especially in rural areas of Cēsis county.

Video on the project achievements, lessons learned, future plans (in Latvian with subtitles in English)

Project achievements:

1. The new permanent exposition on the literary work and personality of Eduards Veidenbaums aimed at young people

During the project, in close cooperation between museum professionals and local youth in Cēsis county, a new permanent exposition “More Light!” on the literary work and personality of Eduards Veidenbaums has been created at the Eduards Veidenbaums Memorial Museum “Kalāči” and was open in 2022. The target audience of this exposition is young people aged 12 to 18.

The exposition and its associated educational programmes invite visitors to explore the dreams and aspirations of the first modernist of Latvian poetry, his troubled relationships with family and friends, his fragile mental and physical health, his idealistic ideas of democracy and equality, as well as his innovative modernist poetry. This exposition won the Latvian Museums Society’s main Award of the Year in 2023.

Video from the expostition opening (in Latvian with subtitles in English)

Photo: Lelde Goba

2. Sessions on mental health topics for young people and teachers

The project partner from Norway, actor and director Morten Bruun, conducted drama workshops for local youth in Cēsis county and teachers. Based on the knowledge gained in Morten Bruun’s drama workshops, the Eduards Veidenbaums Museum educator developed the museum’s pedagogical lessons on mental health and well-being, which are included in the museum’s educational programme and are conducted for school youth groups.

Video from the Morten Bruun drama workshops for young people and teachers (in Latvian and English, with subtitles in English)

Video about the 2 pedagogical classes created (in Latvian)

3. Artists’ residency programme in Kalāči

In the summers of 2022 and 2023, artists (Anda Lāce, Raimonds Ķirķis, Aleksejs Smolovs, Jinbin Chen, Lexie Owen) from Latvia and Norway took up residencies in Kalāči and created artworks in collaboration with local youth, drawing on the Eduards Veidenbaums Museum collection and focusing on mental health and well-being. The residency programmes were developed in collaboration with the Latvian project partner Sansusī, the artists were selected in collaboration with the Norwegian project partner Morten Bruun. The artworks created during the residencies were shown to a wider audience on the museum grounds.

3.1. Sansusī wellness residency in Kalāči, 2022

Video about the residency in 2022 (in Latvian, with subtitles in English)

Photo: Lelde Goba

3.2. Sansusī wellness residency in Kalāči, 2023

Video about the residency in 2023 (in Latvian and English, with subtitles in English)

Photo: Liene Leonoviča

Thoughts of the young people and Eduards Veidenbaums Memorial Museum “Kalāči” at the end of the project

• At the end of the project, several young people expressed their willingness to continue promoting the museum expostion and educational activities created during the project, as well as to initiate new, similar projects at the museum. As a result, the young people have created a new poetry and music festival “Veidenfests” after the end of the project, which largely continues to address the themes raised during the project through different artistic genres. This festival has already taken place for two years, on 19 August 2023 and 17 August 2024.
• The project promoter – Eduards Veidenbaums Memorial Museum “Kalāči” says: “Overall, we believe that the aims and objectives of the project have been achieved – not only through the formal implementation of the set plans, but also through the activities and educational seminars, through the convincing introduction of a lasting innovation in the Latvian cultural environment, especially cultural heritage – professional, ongoing work on mental health topics, with special attention to the target audience of young people.”

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*full title of the project – “MORE LIGHT! Exhibition and Art Residencies at the Eduards Veidenbaums Museum “Kalāči”