‘Kids tell pros what to do’ – young people co-produce arts and culture in Umea, Sweden

Learning points 

The City of  Umeå has been delighted that its work has been so successful and has engaged a great many children – and has also been recognised in other parts of Sweden and abroad.

It believes that one of the key success factors has been the way that it brings cultural institutions and the local university together with school classes in its projects. This partnership has created unexpected networks and relationships, and combined resources in imaginative ways.

It suggests that the most important success factors in co-producing arts and culture with children are: 

• Maintaining ambitious goals for each project, making sure each project has a proper “ending ” e.g a show, concert, exhibition, with opportunities for the kids to see what happened with their ideas and artistic material.
• Sticking to the ideas of children in the project work, without compromise or over-simplification. Children and young people are able to recognise their own words, music and pictures, even after the professionals have worked them up into their final shape.For our activities and projects it is important that the involved professional artists see a benefit for their own artistic development in their work with children. This way the kids benefit from meeting and working with professionals, giving a new dimension to their school work, and at the same time the artist working with the pupils is inspired in a new creative process.

Finally, it is important to keep reminding ourselves to think in new ways and not get stuck in old patterns, even where those patterns seem to work just fine at the moment. ‘Kids tell pros what to do’ continually prods professional artists and cultural organisations to find new ways of working and helps to keep their own curiosity and creativity alive!