ليتوانيا

We are happy to share an update on the good practices that ALF Lithuania Network Members applied recently. Please, find the pictures from the following recent activities we ran:

1. LITHUANIAN THEATRE, MUSIC AND CINEMA MUSEUM AND COVID 19 QUARANTINE

   Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum like everyone and every institution was hit unexpectedly by COVID 19 quarantine in Lithuania in 2019 spring. We had to learn a lot of new things and to do it immediately.

   Of course, the Museum suffered great losses, we lost our planned visitors, the newly opened exhibition dedicated to Eimuntas Nekrošius "The Square" remained almost unseen by the Museum visitors, because quarantine begun on the day of the planned opening and even after the end of the quarantine, people were still very careful. Facing the reality we decided to present the exhibition online, guided and in 360 degrees that visitor could have the possibility to experience the exhibition atmosphere at least a little bit.

2. Association "AKTYVISTAI"  (ACTIVISTS) 

   Association "Activists" ran a 5-day online project "Human Above All" for professionals from Poland and Lithuania as well as 14 educational events during two weeks in Kaunas.

3. INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS AT SAMOGITIAN MUSEUM „ALKA“

   The Samogitian Museum „Alka“ is increasingly cooperating in international projects. This year we have already finished 2 year (from 2018 to 2020) „Erasmus+ project: Raising awareness of cultural heritage through crafts“. There we have discovered how can we encourage more people to discover and become interested in cultural heritage. The second project that is still in progress is translation of the book „Telšiai Yizkor book“. In 2020, the year of Vilnius Gaon and Lithuanian Jewish history, in cooperation with the project partners Telšiai municipality, Lithuanian council for culture, Philip and Aldona Shapiro from „Remembering Litvaks Inc.“, David and Barbara B. from Hirschhorn Foundation, the Samogitian Museum "Alka" prepared and is currently implementing the project "Memorial book for the Jewish community of Telšiai.

4. Create a Puppet, Create Yourself. Theatre for Social Integration

   New methodology working with people for their social integration. The targets may be from different background, different ages and cultures. We were working with the group of “women at a crossroad”- as we called their situation (unemployed, retired, looking for the way to recover after hard situations, to fill their lives with meaningful activities). Flexibility of the method, variety of techniques to use (theatrical etudes, psychodrama techniques, group building exercises, exercises boosting creativity) made the process challenging, interesting and fruitful both for trainers and for participants.  The trust in creativeness of participants led to reach surprising results in the looks of puppets, their characteristics and creating the etude as well.   

5. New ALF member: Lithuania’s National Assembly of Active Mothers (NAMS) 

   The National Assembly of Active Mothers (NAMS – www.nams.lt) is an NGO and started fostering a more official dialogue with the Lithuanian government through participation in working groups. Today NAMS is one of the most active and important stakeholders representing the rights, issues and interests of Lithuanian families nationwide.

6. Festival "LABAS! 2020" overcame the challenges and crossed virtual borders to bring children aged 0-6 a week of diverse activity online (and a little in person!) from 20-27 September in Lithuania.  We made a decision to try to use zoom for one purpose only - to be the portal by which the artist met the kids. We presented four types of experience.

   - Live interactive sessions - on the spot problems needing to be solved in a live session! (dance and theatre);
   - Pre-recorded storytelling with arts activities which made the listening interactive, if not live. (storytelling and meditation for babies);
   - Live stream performance - YouTube live experiences where the artists did not interact with children and the screen became the live stage for the children. (Music and Theatre performances from Belgium and Germany);
   - Workshops with the leader on screen (visual arts) and the children using the same materials as the artists.                    

The opening of the Telšiai yeshiva will be held on 22nd of September (Friday) 1 p.m.Telšiai yeshiva is another branch of the Samogitian Museum "Alka", which opens doors to visitors. It is the former higher Jewish rabbinical school Telšiai yeshiva.The Higher School of Jewish Rabbis in Telšiai was founded in 1875. The current yeshiva building was built in 1910. It was one of the most famous spiritual seminaries in Eastern Europe. countries. Up to 500 students studied here at one time. 1940 after the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, the yeshiva was closed. at present, the yeshiva acts as an exhibition unit of the Samogitian Museum "Alka" and a space for various events. During the interwar period, Javnė, an essential Jewish spiritual and Hebrew language center, operated near the Telšiai yeshiva. The Rabbinic school developed a unique concept of “Telšiai” teaching in the yeshiva, which became the basis for teaching in many orthodox Yeshivahs in the United States.

Pre-registration is required by September 19: https://forms.gle/qSQL72uQjRNTeWxR7

More information by e-mail by mail info@muziejusalka.lt or tel. +370 614 15 868

We kindly invite you to participate in the exhibition opening event.

Unforgetable DAY 

On this day in 1989, a momentous event unfolded that would leave its mark on history. “The Baltic Way” was when approximately 2 million people joined hands, creating an unbroken human chain that spanned over 600 kilometres, linking the capital cities of Vilnius in Lithuania, Tallinn in Estonia, and Riga in Latvia.

On the last day of summer, Aiste Ulubey from the Art agency Artscape moderated a discussion about the inclusion of foreigners in the culture at the House of Histories exhibition space. At Artscape, an arts agency, they work a lot in programs where the biggest problems of inclusion arise, so they always very happy to have a dialogue about the greater role of culture in this topic.
With Dr. Daiva Price and Farah Mohammed talked about why foreigners are still an invisible audience, about the readiness of the cultural ecosystem to open up to foreigners living in Lithuania. As the number of foreigners residing in Lithuania exceeds 7% of the total population, these issues become more and more relevant.
Diversity Development Group - thank you for the invitation☀ and the Lithuanian National Museum for the fourth festival "My Migration History".

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