The purpose of the study is to bring together cultural actors from the Kvarken region to explore the interest in and needs for a shared cultural platform in the region. During the project period, the Kvarken region’s cultural actors have been mapped and two workshops have been organized.
The initial workshop in Umeå, Sweden, took place in August and gathered 38 cultural actors and organizations from both sides of the Kvarken. The workshop provided participants with a unique opportunity to meet and get to know each other.
“We chose to involve as many cultural actors as possible in the first workshop, because we wanted to gain a broad understanding of the needs among actors on both sides of the Kvarken. We aimed to invite similar actors from both sides of the Kvarken to compare the needs in the Ostrobothnian regions with those in Västerbotten and Västernorrland”, explains Fredrik Furu, Cultural Platform Kvarken’s Project Leader.
The second workshop was held in October and gathered a smaller group of nine participants in Vaasa, Finland. The goal was to build upon the first workshop’s results and create a plan for a future application for a larger implementation project.
“There were different opinions on what the platform could look like in practice, but the need for a recurring physical meeting place was clearly highlighted”, says Furu.
Participants from the second workshop proposed a concept where the platform would visit other events, contributing with both participants and program content. In this way, the platform could support existing cultural events in the region while also participating in and contributing to high-quality content.
Connecting Cultural Actors
The overarching result from both workshops was that the invited cultural actors greatly appreciated the opportunity to meet in person and discuss a future meeting place. The actors saw a strong need to connect across borders in order to learn from each other’s similarities and differences.
“Surprisingly many of the cultural actors who met during the workshops had never met each other before. This really says something about how underdeveloped cross-border collaboration within the Kvarken region’s cultural sector still is”, Furu states.
One of the feasibility study’s most important tasks has thus been to connect actors and encourage them to actively consider collaborations that can strengthen the region’s impact in the cultural field moving forward.The results of this feasibility study, which will conclude at the end of December 2024, can be used to create an application for a platform concept that connects cultural actors and contributes content to existing events.
Read more about the project HERE.
The initial workshop in Umeå gathered 38 cultural actors and organizations from both sides of the Kvarken.
The initial workshop in Umeå took place in August.
