The Interreg Aurora funded small-scale project Cultural Platform Kvarken was completed in the end of 2024.
The project arranged two workshops to gather input from the target group. The initial workshop in Umeå, Sweden, took place in August 2024 and gathered 38 cultural actors and organizations from both sides of the Kvarken. The second workshop was held in October 2024 and gathered a smaller group of nine participants in Vaasa, Finland. The goal of the second workshop was to build further upon the results of the first workshop, and to create a plan for a larger scale implementation project.
A key outcome of the small-scale project was the confirmed need for facilitation of cultural actors to meet in the Kvarken region. A future cultural platform could feature physical meetings as well as digital sessions for regional cultural actors. New synergies, better communication, and knowledge exchange across borders were identified as critical needs.
A “Crash the Party” concept was developed, where the cultural platform would participate in existing events, contributing attendees and program content. This approach would strengthen current cultural events as well as contributing with the cross-border dimension.
“I’m very happy with the amount of participants to our project workshop. It seems like the interest for cross-border cooperation is high amongst the actors in the Kvarken region. The small-scale project has given us a solid ground for further discussions on how we can strengthen the cultural collaboration and facilitate creative meetings across borders in the future” says Fredrik Furu, Project Manager for Cultural Platform Kvarken at the Kvarken Council.
Furthermore, the project management says that the Kvarken Council may lead a follow-up in form of a full-scale application to Interreg Aurora, exploring synergies with other interested projects. Several workshop participants did express interest in joining a project consortium.
All photos in this article are from the first workshop of the project.
Read more:
Article about the Cultural Platform Kvarken by the Kvarken Council.
Interreg Aurora project page for Cultural Platform Kvarken.
