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Since 2022, the Sommer Foundation has supported the artistic approach developed by photographer Cristina Nuñez, particularly in her work with young people. Through the project “The Self-Portrait Experience (SPEX)”, followed by the “EMoSEE” initiative, she seeks to provide secondary school teachers with methods and tools to engage students in exploring their relationship to images, to themselves, and to others. By promoting the self-portrait over the selfie—which often distorts identity through filters and by rejecting images that do not conform to certain beauty or happiness standards—she works with teenagers on the concept of self-acceptance. At an age when self-perception is especially challenging, she trains professionals in educational settings to guide high school students along a path of self-recognition and openness to others.

This time, we have chosen to support a new stage in the artist’s work. Although Cristina Nuñez has already worked in prisons in other countries, she had never had the opportunity in Luxembourg to engage with young people placed in institutions by judicial order. For the past year, she has been in discussion with the socio-educational center of Dreiborn to explore the possibility of such an intervention. Designed in close collaboration with the institution’s leadership, the project will run from August to December, beginning with an open-setting phase followed by work in a closed environment. Naturally, the theme is particularly relevant to this young audience, many of whom face complex, even critical, situations and experience deep self-doubt.

While artistic activities have already taken place in Dreiborn, the Foundation’s support now makes it possible to envision a longer-term program with hoped-for positive impacts on the targeted population.

“Rise in Bloom” is a participatory community project that invites young people aged 12 to 20 to engage in an interdisciplinary creative process. In collaboration with professional artists, the participants develop a 15-minute pre-performance, presented ahead of the premiere of the choreographic production “Florescence in Decay”, at the CAPE in Ettelbrück.

At the heart of this project is not only the final result, but above all, the creative and collective process. Guided by four workshop leaders with diverse expertise — David Laplant (video), Anja Di Bartolomeo (writing), Natercia Rebelo (set design), and Elisabeth Schilling (choreography) — the young participants are accompanied throughout the entire creative journey.

Over the course of the project, the young people conduct interviews with local communities, associations, and groups in Ettelbrück, focusing on universal themes such as nature, metamorphosis, utopia, and the cycle of life — themes that are also explored in “Florescence in Decay”. During the creation phase, they also come into contact with professional dancers.

The collected material is transformed into two artistic formats:

• A visual installation, composed of video footage, audio recordings, and written statements from the interviews, exhibited in the CAPE’s public spaces.

• An interdisciplinary performance, emerging from the imagination and experiences of the young participants, performed as a pre-show before the main production.

“Rise in Bloom” builds on the success of a community project carried out in 2024 with the same artistic team. The enthusiasm of the previous participants — and even their parents, who expressed the wish to see such an initiative continue — led to the decision to build on this proven interdisciplinary format rather than starting from scratch.

The project is also part of the celebrations marking 25 years of the CAPE, and contributes to the cultural revitalization of Ettelbrück, by encouraging civic participation and fostering social connection. It offers young people a unique opportunity to express their creativity, build self-confidence, meet new people from diverse backgrounds, and learn to embrace difference.

The Sommer Foundation supports “Rise in Bloom” because the project reflects values it holds dear: access to culture for young people, active participation, and the promotion of cultural life in regional areas. Having already supported two large-scale participatory projects led by the same partner, the Foundation has established a lasting relationship of trust with the CAPE — a committed institution rooted in its community.

By encouraging young people to express themselves through a collaborative, interdisciplinary process, “Rise in Bloom”contributes to the vitality of local cultural life while nurturing creativity, critical thinking, and openness among its participants.

“Mat Iech” is the title of a project launched in 2022, which embodies Elisabeth Schilling & Company’s passion for outreach and awareness-building. Today, this project has become an essential programme within the company Making Dances asbl, aiming to create a more flexible format that focuses on mediation and interaction, while preserving the performative aspect. It enables the presentation of Elisabeth’s larger-scale works to a different audience — one that does not have access to performances held in theatres or cultural institutions where these works are usually staged. The goal is to make dance accessible to a wide audience in diverse ways.

“Mat Iech” is structured around two key components:

• Mediation: For each production, the company develops tailor-made programmes designed to support a range of audience experiences. These programmes include post-performance discussions based on Elisabeth’s core methodology, as well as workshops, symposiums, and the publication of catalogues.

• Accessibility: “Mat Iech” brings the world of dance to two groups of people who are especially important to Elisabeth: on the one hand, children — regardless of age, background, language, or life path — and on the other, individuals who, due to financial, social, geographical, or health reasons, are no longer able to attend theatre performances.

The company’s vision is to offer performances — ideally with live music — accompanied by workshops and talks, in or around care homes, socially disadvantaged neighborhoods, hospitals, isolated rural areas, kindergartens, schools, and homes for particularly vulnerable children. These bespoke events are highly flexible and can be adapted to meet the specific needs of the institutions and their residents. For each performance, the team designs a customised workshop structure, taking into account the participants’ needs and age groups, and adjusts it based on the venue and duration.

Supported for two consecutive years as a project, “Mat Iech” has proven its value through the quality of its approach and the commitment of its contributors, notably an artist with whom a relationship of trust and long-term collaboration has been built. The educational component of the programme has shown strong relevance and yielded positive results in institutions working with children and young people in difficulty in Luxembourg, which has strengthened the Foundation’s commitment to continuing the partnership.

Thanks to this renewed support, the company will be able to ensure the sustainability of “Mat Iech” through 2027, organising one to two tours per year in specialised institutions. This funding will also help consolidate the project’s administrative structure, notably through the recruitment of a dedicated coordinator, responsible, among other things, for organising the logistics of the tours.

The “EarGlasses” project is an educational initiative designed to introduce students to podcast creation as a tool for cultural expression, language development, and enhanced media literacy.

Over the course of ten weeks, participants will take part in practical workshops led by a team of media professionals coordinated by Jess Bauldry. The program includes sessions on storytelling, audio production, and editing. Students will be encouraged to explore their cultural identities, share their experiences, and produce their own audio content in a supportive and inclusive environment.

The project will culminate in a public presentation of the podcasts in front of peers, teachers, and families, celebrating the students’ achievements and fostering intercultural dialogue.

Led by the association Youth Work Synergy, the project “Locked Out – Youth Lens on Housing” uses documentary filmmaking as a medium to give young people a voice in the face of the housing crisis in Luxembourg. Through a series of practical workshops led by professional artists, ten young participants aged 17 to 25 will be trained in filmmaking techniques (scriptwriting, filming, sound, editing) while exploring the structural challenges related to access to housing.

The project offers them not only artistic and technical skills, but also a platform to express themselves and bring their voices to the wider public and decision-makers. The documentary, co-created by the participants, will be presented at a public screening followed by a discussion with stakeholders from the housing sector to encourage collective reflection on potential solutions.

In partnership with Life asbl, this initiative combines arts education, civic engagement, and awareness of social inequalities, contributing to the empowerment of young people through arts and culture.