About
We are an interdisciplinary platform for
Through participatory arts, cultural and social initiatives,
Active as a group since 2oo7,
Initiatives
Most of our cultural, social and educational initiatives are long-term. This commitment allows to achieve sustainable positive social effects and build strong local, regional and international networks. We know for sure that placemaking, participatory development, and place management are not one-time actions; they require many years to sustain. Our main challenge is a deep emotional attachment to the places where we have been working for years.
Burbuliatorius
Soap bubbles event is arranged in the public spaces every second Monday during the warm season. Our simple scenario for revitalising public space brought together more than 32 cities and towns worldwide. It also was instrumental in bringing Lithuanian communities together to the parks and squares in the Nordic countries and the UK, creating informal places for joy for everyone who wanted to join. Tested in 2008, officially started in 2009.
Šnipiškės
We picked this wooden neighbourhood for study and placemaking initiatives as a challenge. We were fascinated by its unique, multilayered history and village-like atmosphere. At the same time, it was a neglected area with a strong negative image supported by mass media. Together with Šnipiškės inhabitants, we succeeded in revitalising public spaces, creating cultural routes and helping the local community to grow. Started in 2012, ongoing.
Co-urbanism
Co-urbanism is a learning platform in the heart of which are inclusive city development and placemaking. It is run in the form of annual forum, hands-on workshops, round tables and publishing. It brings together urban practitioners, city planners, architects, cultural and social workers, artists and communities leaders from the Baltic Sea Region and beyond for sharing cases, practices and methods. Launched in 2014 in Vilnius and Minsk, ongoing.
Tools
As cultural innovators, we create engaging formats that serve multiple purposes:
Methods for exploring places: helping communities, municipalities and organisations better understand local potentials, everyday practices, and social dynamicsજ⁀𐦂𖨆𐀪𖠋
Tools for communication and trust-building: fostering new connections and networks of mutual support in public spaces and neighbourhoods⋆.-`♡´-࿔*
Learning frameworks: involving diverse groups in playful, hands-on ways of discovering and shaping their environment˖𓍢ִ໋🐾˚❀｡
Creative scenarios: activating places with co-created experiences that make neighbourhoods more vibrant and alive⋆˚꩜｡
Fields of Expertise and Services
Place identity & placemaking
Laimikis helps villages, towns and cities to identify and enhace place identity through creative actions - placemaking, cultural routes and social initiatives. We consult regional authorities, municipalities and cultural organisations on place-based cultural development strategies and help to develop and launch practical solutions.
We believe that the research process should contribute to the well-being of the area's users - this is the primary principle upon which Laimikis activities are founded.
Games and routes
We develop and launch games and creative routes in urban, rural and learningenvironments. We use games to strengthen place identity, to "open" forgotten territories, to educate about culture, history and nature of various places, to support local social initiatives.
We have developed cultural routes and urban games for UNESCO sites and neglected areas, Romania's Centenary and Kaunas 2022 opening.
Workshops and courses
We have over 20 years of experience in formal and informal education. We guide summer schools in Urban Studies and run workshops in placemaking, co-design, games design, urban arts and participatory arts, urban ethnography, and participatory development of public spaces. As lecturers, we navigate the topics of green cities and circular skills, place identity and its creative communication, cultural planning, etc.
We train educators and work with children, youngsters, adults and mixed groups.
Exhibitions and participatory art
For Laimikis team, urban art (interventions and actions) is a way to co-create spaces for dialogue and communication. We enjoy analogue and interactive formats. And our usual audience is mixed: from small children to senior people.
Exhibitions are the result of our arts-based research that we conduct in public spaces. And we love developing participatory formats for the exhibitions space and prolonging exhibitions to the city spaces. Laimikis team participated in collective exhibitions, biennales and triennales in Berlin, Paris, Gdansk, Shenzhen, Minsk, Riga, and Vilnius since 2009.
Conferences and talks
Talks and key presentations at forums, conferences and roundtables, dedicated to placemaking, participatory urban and rural development, creative economies, and cultural development of cities, towns, and regions.
Also, Laimikis.lt arranges and hosts roundtables, seminars and forums, dedicated to placemaking, arts-based research, the role of arts in social welfare, cultural development of the districts and towns.
Research and publications
In the publications, we cover the following topics: usability of urban spaces; place identity and sense of place; emotional and bodily experiences of urban environments; community development and youth engagement in placemaking; revitalization and cultural development of urban and rural areas; engagement with cultural heritage through co-creation; cultural and creative routes; urban games and urban arts; soundscape studies; arts-based research methodologies; action research approaches; and more.
Projects
Our focus is citizen-driven cultural development of urban and rural areas. As urban practitioners, researchers and educators, we explore the role of cultural innovations, arts and non-formal education in fostering the local communities and sense of place, revitalising neglected places, and contributing to the societal resilience and activation of the local heritage. By using arts-based research we map local resources and help local organisations and people to activate them and use strategically. As an active member of several European and BSR networks, that bring together decision-makers, universities, NGOs and activists we cooperate a lot with our partners.
News
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