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

Objectives

The City of Umea aims at making learning more creative by involving school pupils of different ages in arts and culture projects which they co-produce.

The City set up Kulturverketas a new cultural unit in 2005 to implement a new approach to children services, learning and arts and culture. “Kulturverket” literally means ‘department for culture’, which emphasiss the important status of the department within the local council. Its overall objective is to give all children in the municipality access to cultural experiences and to integrate creative learning processes into the everyday work of the schools.

Most projects start in the schools but end up being presented professionally – e.g. in the Opera, in theatre venues or in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Umea.