Five teenage curators from Latvia with the support of the EEA grant in April 2023 will go to Trondheim, Norway, where from April 26 to 29, the International Art Festival “Bastard”, created in cooperation with Norwegian teenagers and the “Rosendal Teater” team will take place. The festival every year introduces Trondheim’s public to the freshest contemporary performing art, involving the local community in experimental art events.

The festival program created by a group of teenage curators includes the installation “The Inflatable Museum” by the Danish artist Pelle Brages, which is dedicated to the idea that there is too little humor and too much hierarchy in the art world, the musical project “Ladies” by the Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė, in which kankle players with 30 years experience on stage will offer listeners a perfectly synchronized and monotonous concert of a traditional instrument. The programme will be complemented by a performance and parties by a queer death metal band of Sami origin, Nagirčalmmiid. Representing Latvia – Jānis Balodis (Latvia) and Nahuel Cano (Argentina) show “The Last Night of the Deer” will travel to Trondheim, which takes the audience with them into a snowstorm, memories and away from an anthropocentric vision of the world. The performance will be shown again in Riga on April 23 at 18.00 at the cultural center of the Latvian Association of the Deaf “Rītausma”. Tickets can be purchased here. In their curating style, the new curators try to follow the principle of decentralization. Avoiding the official conference format, they want to give the audience the opportunity to meet the artists in a more personal atmosphere after the performances. Thinking about the audience with a wide variety of needs, the festival organizers have ensured the availability of anti-stress fidgets for people who experience anxiety in social situations.

The new curators from Latvia and Norway – Ikars Graždanovičs, Estere Dimitere, Samuels Ozoliņš, Alberts Roze, Karu Treij, Annie Strand Mølster, Margit Adde, Nikolai Furseth Rushfeldt, Hedda Osmo Rohde and Zahida Kardou – in September 2022 created a three-day program in Riga called “The Shake Down” at the International Festival of Contemporary Theatre “Homo Novus”. Since the beginning of 2022, they have all been participating in the curatorial training project “The Shake Down”, which is organized by the New Theatre Institute of Latvia in cooperation with the Norwegian partners – “Rosendal Teater” with the aim of giving teenagers their own platform for organizing the cultural life of the city according to their own rules.

The project has been created with the support of the European Economic Area (EEA) Grants Financial Mechanism funding period 2014. – 2021. program “Local Development, Poverty Reduction, and Cultural Cooperation” open call “Support for the Creation of Professional Art and Cultural Products for Children and Youth”. The project’s total eligible costs are 249 635,00 EUR. “The Shake Down” benefits from a € 212 189,75 grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants and 37 445,25 EUR from national co-financing. The project’s realisation period is from 15 December 2021 until 1 June 2023. The aim of the project is to promote the involvement of young people in solving issues of public importance and participation in the cultural life of the city. Learn more about the EEA Grants here: www.eeagrants.org