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

Guided by a creative team composed 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 will join forces for four months to bring a collective work to life, which will be presented at the end of September 2024 on the CAPE stage. Through a series of weekly workshops, participants will have the opportunity to discover and experiment with various artistic disciplines such as dance, video, music, design, and poetry. This also allows them to explore their own artistic paths, contributing to the creation of this unique performance.

The “Dive into Nature” project offers young participants the opportunity to develop a project that promotes their personal development through various facets: discovery, exchange, listening, social interaction, building confidence, autonomy, and empowerment.

The Fondation Sommer is collaborating for the second consecutive year with IMS Luxembourg – Inspiring More Sustainability to organize the Digital Challenge project.

The Digital Challenge allows high school students to spend a day immersed in a team within the structure of their choice. The goal is to discover the working world while addressing one of the host structure’s issues (a “Challenge” related to digital or sustainable development). At the end of the day, the group of students will propose a solution by cooperating with the employees of the organization.

The Fondation Sommer supports this initiative because cultural and artistic institutions are professional development environments that are rarely highlighted to high schools and students. Thus, a greater variety of structures and careers are showcased to them.

The Digital Challenge day will take place on Wednesday, October 23, 2024.

EMoSEE is a pilot project that aims to develop didactic and artistic materials to support young people in formal and non-formal education contexts, to get them to think about the influence of digital culture on identity and how we can use technological tools to express our emotions and broaden our perception of ourselves and others. The project aims to open up a protected and authentic space in which they can engage in their individuation process and develop their creativity to create participatory artworks of an autobiographical and social nature.

The project is being run by the Ministry of Education’s CEPAS in collaboration with the non-profit organisation Art as Experience and the artist Cristina Nuñez. It includes the training of a group of 10 education professionals (educators, teachers, psychologists), transformative photography workshops run by Cristina Nunez in collaboration with these professionals and the publication of the “EMoSEE” kit, a teaching tool for emotional development.

The images and projects produced by the young people will be showcased in 3 exhibitions (online, for the public and in a travelling interactive cube in Luxembourg secondary schools).

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.

A NEW ROLE FOR THE SOMMER FOUNDATION

The Sommer Foundation has decided to become a partner in the new Kannermusée Plomm in Wiltz, which will open its doors in February 2024. Plomm (“feather” in Luxembourgish) is the only museum of its kind in Luxembourg dedicated solely to children. With its programme, the museum tackles different areas of life and themes that children are confronted with intellectually and emotionally. Under the “Hands On!” principle, young visitors are given a playful way of getting to grips with the subjects and finding their own position in relation to them. In the museum context, this means that touching the exhibition installations is not only permitted, but encouraged.

In particular, the Sommer Foundation is supporting the first temporary exhibition to be presented at Plomm, LOVE, which will be unveiled to the public on 14 February 2024. Developed by its educational team with the help of three international artists, the exhibition offers children and their families a fun and intuitive experience, taking them on a journey to discover love in all its forms.

The Sommer Foundation is delighted to be a partner in this project. For us, this means not only providing financial support, but also following the project’s conception and launch, keeping informed of initial feedback and taking part in discussions on its role and ambitions in Luxembourg’s cultural and educational landscape.

The Digital Challenge project aims to connect young people with professional environments by researching solutions for digital and sustainability issues faced by companies. The Foundation decided to support this initiative so that cultural institutions could participate. This way, a greater variety of organizations and professions are showcased to the youth. In 2023, participants included Casino – Forum d’art contemporain, Trifolion Echternach, Radio Graffiti, Institut Pierre Werner, and Mierscher Kulturhaus, addressing seven different challenges such as: “What digital communication strategy can be used to promote a selection of books related to an exhibition?”, “How can we increase engagement with young people and create lasting connections?”, and “How can we make theater more attractive to young people?”.

By proposing solutions to the issues identified by the companies, young people could actively contribute to innovation and the sustainable development of these organizations.

© IMS Luxembourg

This is the story of young teenagers on the run, who find themselves left to their own devices in an abandoned “temple”: no presence, no adult to show them how to cope… They don’t know each other and yet they will have to learn to live together for an indefinite time. Coming from different backgrounds, will they be ready to trust each other and live together in order to survive? What will happen if the young people start to create their own system of rules and laws? Will everyone find their place in this community? Will they manage to recreate a better world?

This unique participatory project, launched in 2020, allowed young people aged 12 to 20 to discover the performing arts, to experiment with artistic practice and to become artists of their own creation. Accompanied in their work by 4 experienced multidisciplinary artists – Natercia Rebelo, Benoît Callens, Sacha Hanlet and Elric Vanpouille – and directed by Nathalie Moyen, they worked throughout last season to present this innovative show combining theatre, dance and music on the CAPE stage.

This project is based on an initial proposal and with the financial support of Fondation Sommer.

Visualisez le trailer du projet sur la plateforme vimeo.com

The Biergerbühn was one of the first projects supported by the Sommer Foundation between 2017 and 2019. Through this participatory project, the collective Independent Little Lies created a space where children and adolescents could discover and exercise their creativity by staging a play that reflected their worldview. During weekly workshops at Kulturfabrik Esch, conducted by theatre and dance teachers, actors, writers, and set designers, the young participants learned about various practices and techniques of the theatre arts, and became authors themselves.

This project was selected by the Sommer Foundation because it saw great value in creating an alternative meeting-space for youngsters in the city of Esch, as such a space would have the potential to enhance the positive dynamic of the city’s cultural life. Thanks to the participatory process and the importance given to dialogue, the participants felt that they were encouraged to be creative, and they were able to grow in terms of their knowledge, artistic skills, and their sense of engagement.