Vaasa’s cultural operators active in the Art Testers project

A total of four Vaasa-based arts institutions are involved in Art Testers this year. This is more than ever before! Among Vaasa’s cultural providers, the Vaasa City Theatre, Wasa Teater, and the Vaasa City Orchestra continue to participate, and the Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art joins for the first time this year! The arts institutions offer young people a variety of experiences and tools to have art as a hobby or just to enjoy it.

Theatre about the corporate world and human relations

Both the Vaasa City Theatre and Wasa Teater have been active cultural partners of the City of Vaasa in the Art Testers project. For the Vaasa City Theatre, this is the third year and for the Wasa Teater, it is the fifth. Over the years, the theatres have provided young people with a wide range of cultural experiences in musicals, comedies, and drama.

From 7 to 9 November, Vaasa City Theatre will stage Sami Keski-Vähälä’s play Nokia for eighth graders. The play is a dramatic and humorous interpretation of the rise, fall, and collapse of the corporate giant Nokia. The cultural experience for young people includes a virtual tour of the theatre, a participatory task in the theatre auditorium and a questionnaire afterwards.

Wasa Teater presents Solchanser, a modern urban relationship comedy for young people. The play is written by Johan and Siri Fagerudd. There will be five performances between 23 November and 17 January. Eighth graders will be able to access electronic pre-screening material containing tasks related to the theme.

Juggling and works from the classicism period with the Vaasa City Orchestra

The Vaasa City Orchestra, participating for the second time, will perform the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Lotta Wennäkoski’s Jong, with juggler Sakari Männistö as soloist. The orchestra is conducted by Andres Kaljuste. Before the visit, eighth graders will see an introductory video of the orchestra to learn a bit about them in advance. During the visit, the pupils will also be shown how the score is read and used in the orchestra.

The Jong piece in the programme is an exceptional one, as the musicians of the orchestra perform it with a juggler! The piece itself features a wide variety of instruments, including the rooster whistle! The musicians and the audience are asked to comment on and encourage the juggler’s performance during the performance, adding an interesting dimension to its soundscape.

The Vaasa City Orchestra’s Art Testers project took place this year on 30-31 August in four different performances.

Reflections on modern art

The Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, one of the City of Vaasa’s museums, is organising art experiences for eighth graders in Vaasa in the exhibition Dimensions of a Line. A total of 24 different groups of pupils will be able to enjoy the exhibition from the beginning of October to the end of November. The Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art is participating in Art Testers for the first time this year!

They offer a guided tour of the exhibition and a chance to meet one of the artists in the exhibition, Leo Ackley. In addition, the young people will take part in a reflective workshop, which will provide an opportunity to learn about the Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art and modern art in general. Visitors will be able to test their knowledge of the topics presented in a quiz organised by the museum.

Culture for all, regardless of age!

The Art Testers aim to provide a memorable and inclusive art experience for pupils. Applications are invited through a call for applications, and the selected art institutions will provide young people with tools to experience art and form an informed opinion about art. The activities will provide the arts institutions with valuable and direct feedback from young people, enabling them to develop their programming for young people.

Every year, the Art Testers culture education programme takes all eighth graders in Finland, around 60,000 young people, to one or two high-quality art sites around Finland. The project was launched by the Finnish Cultural Foundation in the academic years 2017–2020. This academic year is the seventh for the Taidetestaajat project.

Vaasa is the city with the highest cultural investment in Finland concerning its population, and one of the city’s key objectives is to invest more in children’s culture.