Do it Yourself, Do it Together

The partnership project between Kiasma and the energy company Vattenfall Oyj, URB on Tour was inspired by the URB Urban Festival of the Kiasma Theatre. URB on Tour features innovative art forms and young artists-to-be. URB on Tour will start in autumn, and the first stop will be in Central Finland.

URB on Tour continues the national project aimed at encouraging young people to work together with contemporary art and spurring local people and authorities into co-operation.

“We have created an extensive network during the URB Festivals, and it has enabled us to develop the concept further and keep it active. We now wish to share this know-how at the national level. People have been excited about the idea in different parts of Finland, which means that one of our main targets, the development of regional co-operation, is becoming true,” says director of the URB Festival Virve Sutinen from Kiasma Theatre.

NATIONAL CO-OPERATION

URB on Tour offers young people an arena for the making of urban art in Central Finland and the regions of Pirkanmaa, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa, Kanta- and Päijät-Häme. The project aims at bringing together regional institutions, authorities and residents, listening and creating ideas together and then organising a programme of workshops and performances characteristic of each region.

“Social responsibility is an inseparable part of all our activities at the energy company Vattenfall. Kiasma and Vattenfall work together to promote social responsibility and create opportunities for young people to find something new and exciting in their lives. We want to contribute to local co-operation in the provinces where we provide services as a reliable energy company,” says Anne Westersund, Communications Director at Vattenfall.

Networking and dialogue are used to find new resources for young people and challenge them to develop the workshops’ activities and supply of contemporary art in their home region. A national network for the URB Festival will be created during URB on Tour. The long-term goal is for local people also to continue organising similar events after the two-year period of URB on Tour.

CENTRAL FINLAND IN OCTOBER

The first regional event will be organised in Central Finland – Jyväskylä, Hankasalmi, Muurame and the Jyväskylä Rural District – in October. In 2006 and 2007, URB on Tour will visit the regions of Pirkanmaa, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa, Kanta- and Päijät-Häme.

The event in Central Finland will comprise four workshops organised on 16–20 October. The dance workshop studies the relationship between dance and different spaces. Participants will learn the basics of break dance and contemporary dance with the break dancer Jussi Sirviö and the dance artist Inga Sippo from Hankasalmi. The video jockey workshop studies video mixing, or combining two or more videos into one video stream. The workshop will be hosted by the video artists Jenni Valorinta and Petri Ruikka. The visual arts workshop will concentrate on the young participants’ surroundings which will be studied with the artist Karri Kuoppala. The result can be posters, murals, graffiti or an installation. The rap workshop will create a choir work that will be sung with rap vocals. Led by Matti Pentikäinen from the band Ceebrolistics, the workshop is targeted at young people interested in rap music and part singing.

URB on Tour in Central Finland will climax on 28 October with an event for young people, urban artists and the general public of the whole region. The workshop hosts will be presented through their performances and exhibitions. Material and documents produced by various workshops on visual and performing arts organised in the Jyväskylä region will also be on display. The event will take place at the small stage of Jyväskylä City Theatre and Suoja exhibition space.

Piia Laita