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.

After its first enriching experience with the “TEMPLE” project in 2021, the CAPE – Centre des Arts Pluriels d’Ettelbruck decided to continue its efforts by involving young people in a new participatory project aimed at teenagers.

Guided by a creative team consisting of Anja Meder-Di Bartolomeo (creative writing), David Laplant (video), and Natercia Rebelo (costumes), and under the artistic direction of choreographer Elisabeth Schilling, young people aged 12 to 19 joined forces for four months to bring a collective work to life, which was presented at the end of September 2024 on the CAPE stage. Through a series of weekly workshops, participants had the opportunity to explore and experiment with various artistic disciplines such as dance, video, music, design, and poetry. This also allowed them to explore their own artistic path, contributing to the creation of this unique performance.

The “Dive into Nature” project offered young participants the opportunity to develop a project that fostered their personal development through various aspects: discovery, exchange, listening, social interaction, confidence-building, empowerment, and emancipation.

Dive into nature (documentary)

Photos: © boshua

A New Role for the Sommer Foundation

The Sommer Foundation has decided to become a partner of the new Kannermusée Plomm in Wiltz, which opened its doors in February 2024. Plomm (“feather” in Luxembourgish) is unique in its kind in Luxembourg as it is a museum dedicated solely to children. With its program, the museum addresses various aspects of life and the themes that children encounter on an intellectual and emotional level. Following the “Hands On!” principle, young visitors can explore topics in a playful way and engage with them. In the context of the museum, this means that touching the exhibits is not only allowed but also encouraged.

The Sommer Foundation is particularly supporting the first temporary exhibition at Plomm, LOVE, which was unveiled to the public on February 14, 2024. Developed by the museum’s educational team in collaboration with three international artists, it offers children and their families fun and intuitive experiences, taking them on a journey to explore love in all its forms.

The Sommer Foundation is very pleased to be a partner of this project. For the Foundation, this involves not only providing financial support but also following its development, launch, staying informed about initial feedback, and participating in the reflection on its role and ambitions within the Luxembourg cultural and educational landscape.

© Michel Logeling | brainplug

The “Le Chemin” project was an innovative artistic and cultural initiative led by the Maison des Jeunes Reidener Jugendtreff in collaboration with various local partners. The main goal of the project was to encourage young people’s self-expression and creativity through musical and artistic creation.

Following the success of the “RE-bondir” project, Le Chemin was carried out in two main phases. The first phase, which began in March 2024, focused on the collective creation of an album consisting of 12 to 15 tracks. The young participants had the opportunity to express themselves through a variety of musical styles, incorporating instruments from different cultures, while also developing their writing and composition skills. Workshops in body expression, dance, and improvisational theatre were also offered to enhance their stage presence and artistic experience.

The second phase started in the summer of 2024 and focused on visual arts and video production. The young people were actively involved in the album’s graphic design, the creation of choreographies, and the shooting of music videos. Photography and video workshops were organized to showcase their work and provide further opportunities for creative expression across different media.

In February 2025, a release concert was held, where the young artists performed their original musical creations live for the very first time. It was a true celebration – a vibrant and authentic moment that beautifully showcased the result of their collective commitment and hard work.

The project aimed to promote cultural diversity, encourage collaboration, and strengthen the participants’ self-confidence. By integrating a variety of educational and artistic elements, Le Chemin offered young people a platform to explore their creative potential while also developing valuable skills for their personal and professional futures.

Le Chemin de l’espoir – ALBUM RELEASE (Aftermovie

© Kevin Eiffener

Through the EMoSEE initiative, artist Cristina Nuñez developed educational and artistic resources to support young people in both formal and non-formal educational settings. The aim was to encourage them to reflect on the influence of digital culture on identity, and on how technological tools can be used to express emotions and broaden one’s perception of self and others. The project sought to create a safe and authentic space in which participants could engage in a process of individuation, cultivate their creativity, and produce participatory artworks of an autobiographical and social nature.

The project was led by CEPAS of the Ministry of National Education, in collaboration with the non-profit organization Art as Experience and artist Cristina Nuñez. It included the training of a group of ten education professionals (educators, teachers, psychologists), transformative photography workshops facilitated by Cristina Nuñez in collaboration with these professionals, and the publication of the “EMoSEE Toolkit,” an educational resource for emotional development.

The images and projects created by the young participants were showcased in three separate exhibitions, one of which was presented online.

Educational project based on the play “Juste un homme, avec un fusil” by Godefroy Gordet (Compagnie Le Barbanchu)

The principle of feedback is defined as “a return of experience”, “a reaction to an event”. It involves giving feedback to a person or a team carrying out an action, while developing critical and analytical thinking.

Over the course of three days of “sensitive feedback”, a first group of young people was invited to discover the dramaturgical dimension of a spectacular creation, under the guidance of director Godefroy Gordet and actor Romain Ravenel, while a second group was invited to discover the scenographic dimension of the same creation, under the guidance of visual artist Éric Chapuis and video artist Guillaume Walle.

Each day was divided into two phases: the first, in the morning, is called the observatory, where the young people discovered a directed rehearsal based on the text and its interpretation. The second phase, in the afternoon, is known as the workshop, where the young people were invited to put their observations into practice through exercises, during which they could tackle the themes observed in the morning, with a practical approach to the notions of space, interpretation and physicality that are essential on a theatre stage, for the first part, and the notions of the volume of that space, of highlighting the subject and the performer at the centre of a play.

This initiative is based on an initial proposal from the Sommer Foundation, in collaboration with the company Le Barbanchu and in partnership with the Escher Theater and the Escher Jugendhaus.

For the 2nd year running, the Sommer Foundation is supporting the Kanner- a Jugendkonferenz (KaJuKo) that was held on 9 March 2024 at the premises of COOPÉRATIONS Asbl. Organised every year by the Jugendbureau Éislek, the KaJuKo is aimed at young people aged 12 and over and adults working in the children and youth sector. It is an event where young people can realise their right to freedom of expression, participation and decision-making, and where their perspectives take centre stage. It is a platform that stimulates exchanges between young people and adults from different fields (politics, education, art, etc.). At the heart of the 2024 edition is the theme of “violence”: what does it mean to the various participants, what do they understand by this term and what do they associate with this subject? This theme has been implemented in different artistic forms as part of workshops combining music, theatre, dance and set design. The four artistic forms were brought together after the conference and presented in the form of an overall performance.

The Éislek youth office is a department of COOPERATIONS Asbl in Wiltz. Through its projects, it offers participatory political education and encourages an understanding of values and democracy. Young people aged 12 and over are motivated to get involved as citizens and play an active part in society. In addition to its project work, the Jugendbureau Éislek is also a point of contact and support for all questions relating to youth participation.