V. Putvinskio st. 56 - 1
44211 Kaunas Lithuania
Lithuania
- Arts
- Democracy and community development
- Gender
- Human rights
- International/Cultural relations
- Youth and education
Kaunas Artists' House (KMN) is a contemporary art and culture institution presenting emerging artists, new ideas and cultural experiments. The institution's directions include socially engaged contemporary cultural activities, coordination of inclusive cultural and community events and dissemination of cultural information. The institution currently employs 17 staff. The main sources of funding: Kaunas City Municipality, Lithuanian Council for Culture Foundation, EU Japan Foundation, Norway Grants and etc. Average annual budget: municipal funds: €220,000, project funds: around €85,000. The main modalities of action are: events of all types and scales (from chamber events for specific social groups to city events); film screenings, exhibitions, workshops, concerts, camps and educations for young people, residencies of Lithuanian and foreign artists. Main partners include NGO Artscape, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Centre for Culture of Different Nations, NGO Rupertas, NGO Community Laboratories, Lithuanian Film Foundation and other Kaunas budgetary institutions (galleries, museums).
Kaunas Artists' House aims to contribute to the strengthening of democracy and the inclusion of socially vulnerable communities in the field of culture and beyond; to bring together a community of artists, cultural professionals and local activists; to encourage the involvement and support of young and community artists, to create active links with local and international communities; to raise the awareness and dissemination of contemporary arts and co-creative practices.
Main activities of Kaunas Artist's House (KMN) - KMN offers a varied repertoire through long-term curated programmes and projects with partners in Lithuania and abroad. - KMN runs thematic residency and event programmes for artists, curators and cultural researchers who critically examine regional identity, gender and sexuality, and other contemporary themes. - KMN's educational programmes offer activities based on contemporary cultural practices, with an emphasis on the inclusion of vulnerable youth groups, participant voice and democratic communication. - KMN organises city-wide cultural and community festivals (e.g. CourtYard festival, Fluxus festival and etc.), the Carillon Music Festival, the Kaunas Culture Fair, and the Putvinskis Street Day. - The KMN Infocentre coordinates the cultural field in Kaunas: it connects artists, institutions and cultural consumers, as well as collects and disseminates cultural information. - KMN also runs film and video art programmes, experimental and industrial music projects and co-creates projects with cultural and social partners and the local community.
Kaunas Artists' House is an organisation that is more than 50 years old and has recently been actively renewing itself and looking for new ways of cooperation. Using our experience and contacts, we can share information, open calls, etc. - the KMN Infocentre is directly dedicated to this. We are also looking for new ways to involve different social groups, to raise topical issues for discussion, to do more networking (we cooperate intensively at local level, but we want to grow international links). We aim to do this through cultural actions, so we can simply organise concerts, trainings, workshops, and we can use our resources to communicate this (including the Kaunas municipality level).
ALF's mission and activities are in line with what Kaunas Artists' House does and aims to achieve. This foundation seems to be an opportunity to expand our activities, contacts and to find new opportunities for cooperation in the field of youth inclusion, equality and diversity. These are topics that still receive insufficient attention in Kaunas, but our goal is to put them in the center of attention with the help of cultural activities. I have no doubt that cooperation with ALF can be extremely beneficial in achieving the set goal.