KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE. MAY 2017

ConTEMPOrary Capital

Illustration by Tadas Vincaitis PlĹŤgas

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At the end of March, the City Hall square was filled with people and black balloons, or “Black Balls” as the creator Tadao Cern calls them. A live broadcast from the Ministry of Culture is how everyone found out that Kaunas will become the European Capital of Culture in 2022.

Listening to talks in the square and beyond, also reading comments in the live feed gave the impression of people seeing the Kaunas 2022 project as a mysterious creature, untamed and possibly dangerous.

Maybe it’s the same mythical entity Rytis Zemkauskas invites us all to create, however, unlike any myth, the beast is now very much alive and ready for action.

foreign colleagues, academic discussions, informal training – this is the current prologue of the European Capital of Culture that Kaunas will embrace for a few more years.

After getting to know each other in the learning stage, we’ll enter the phase of changes in 2019 – that’s when the largest preparation events of Kaunas 2022 will occur and most of the city’s communities will be involved. 2021 and 2022, obviously, will both be certain culminations in the process, resulting in welcoming guests and picking fruits of the labour. It would be fantastic if we could be relaxed by that point, all dressed up and free from any internal conflicts. And yes, we should focus on the word “we” more, because all of us need to feel as participants for the project to succeed.

More: www.kaunas2022.eu

Awakened beast Albeit Kaunas will become the “real” culture capital in four years, various processes are underway and the sooner we’ll start spreading the word about them the better. After all, as R. Zemkauskas noted, this title is the biggest accomplishment in the history of Kaunas. Usually we tend to dedicate magazine editions to quite specific subjects (of course, all of them could be included in Kaunas 2022), but this time we’re talking to everyone about everything: about the whole city, its residents and what will happen here in the coming five years and, most importantly, later.

We know it’s a difficult task to cover all this, but it’s not even close to how big the aims of the team that have been working on the Kaunas 2022 programme for two years are.

Those two years were not only work but also a learning process, Virginija Vitkienė, head of Kaunas 2022 project told everyone who came to know more about this beast. Meetings and new partnerships with local and

It’s fairly difficult to talk about how things might look after 2022, yet taking a glance at Wroclaw which just passed the title to other cities shows us that there’s absolutely no reason to stop after.

This and the other 47 pages are only the beginning – all in all, Kaunas Full of Culture and Kaunas 2022 are completely intertwined (no wonder one of the postulates of the project is called “Confluence”). So, if you still think you’ve not tamed this beast, that’s not a problem. We have time.

Read on.

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Everyone has something interesting to say. It’s important that somebody asks them the right questions.

So, after declaring the victory of the European Capital of Culture, we asked four great persons how they feel about the win. What are their personal hopes for year 2022 and what do they wish for the city?

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Photos by Donatas Stankevičius

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Valdas Šerstabojevas, lighting designer at the National Kaunas drama theatre and “Aura” dance theatre

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The capital of culture thing is great. Lots of stuff is going on in Kaunas, and there’ll be even more of everything. It will help people escape the routine that can only take you to being old.

I don’t really feel as part of the community yet, but I am sure I will find my place in it. I think I might do some volunteering.

I’ll be 18 in 2022, so maybe I can start a project myself?

Balys Švedas 6th grade student in Kaunas Art Gymnasium. He plays sax, practices folk dances, volunteers at a theatre and likes art.

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I feel part of the cultural society, it’s part of my job. So, as much as I can, I’ll contribute to the mission. Kaunas has always been a very cultural city. I could use contemporary dance as an argument because I have something to do with it. Kaunas already had “Aura” when Vilnius was figuring out what to do with this genre.

The capital of culture is beneficial for the city and for its people who don’t see much else apart from work,

things and food. It might be an opportunity for them to discover what culture and art generally is and that they exist. There’s a lot of people like that. A lot of people go to events but they don’t really understand what they see. Bureaucrats, for example. If they only start going to the theatre after taking up a job, I wonder if they really understand it. Probably not as they have only been to some opera once in their lives.

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Rasa Jonė Ruibienė, head of the J. Zikaras memorial museum and curator at the L. Truikys and M. Rakauskaitė memorial museum

Ramūnas Jaras, artist

2022 will be a time of implementing grand ideas. It will be a time for bright optimism and shiny flowers. I don’t certainly wish for anger, fights, idle talk, and alcohol.

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What do I wish for, you ask? Well, first of all, I wish it would be mandatory for pupils to visit museums.

It should also be mandatory for bureaucrats. Nobody from the municipality has ever visited the Juozas Zikaras museum! Not a single one of them! I’d say it’s a shame. How can you not appreciate a person like Zikaras, the only annalist that put down the history of Lithuania in the form of sculpture, the one who created the monument for freedom?

His house is very much worth a visit too. Same with the Liudas Truikys museum. There have been just a few artists around the world that

worked on synthesis of arts, and we have two of them in Kaunas – Truikys and Čiurlionis! It’s something we should be proud of! Museums rock!

The network of incredibly interesting memorial museums is part of the Kaunas brand, but the people of Kaunas aren’t really aware of that. Us working at the culture sector should bring our forces together and spread the news. I also wish that, while being the European Capital of Culture, we wouldn’t’ be trying to hide our Lithuanianness. Nobody should be ashamed of being emotional about his or her nation.

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H T N O M E H T F O C I P O T 8

We’ve already covered the moment when it was announced that Kaunas won the title of European Capital of Culture for 2022. Let’s now talk about how and why it happened. What exactly convinced the members of the European jury that Kaunas in fact needs the title more than Klaipėda or the rest of the cities that entered the competition a few years ago? What’s hidden in the slogan “Contemporary Capital” and who are the people that joined their hands and ideas for the greater good?

The winning words Illustrations by Asta Didžiokaitė

You can be the jury now. We’re stoked to publish five of the speeches that were addressed to the members of the commission in the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture at the end of March.

The speeches were delivered after the grand excursions in Kaunas and Klaipėda, during which the jury was able to witness the most interesting parts of both of the cities with their own eyes.

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Very different personalities chose to represent Kaunas, the city they believe in. Hear the tone of their shivering voices and feel their palms. You can also give them a round of applause and, if you have something as powerful to say, do send them your resume. Five people are to be hired this year by Kaunas 2022. Not considering changing jobs at the moment but still feel the synergy floating around?

That’s also extremely important. This is what the Contemporary Capital is all about.

[…]

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of how memory works is the Courtyard gallery. Some of you visited this gallery yesterday and talked to Bella Shirin – an amazing woman who after half a century had found her way back to Kaunas and to this former Jewish quarter. But a couple of years ago this courtyard looked exactly the same as many unloved places in Kaunas – piles of garbage, crammed with cars and estranged residents. But when the artist asked his neighbours who lived here before how they remember the life of the courtyard in the past, those questions changed everything. Revived memories of the place brought back the community spirit. It changed the residents‘ perspective of the place they lived in. Estrangement was replaced by togetherness; piles of rubbish were substituted by artworks.

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I strongly believe that memory cultures can help to heal the past wounds and broaden the liveable spaces. That’s why in today‘s Europe it is so essential to talk about the memory of the place and the hurtful consequences of collective amnesia.

Bella likes to say: “Kaunas is me. Every street, every building. I live here”.

Bella‘s memories dwell here, that is why this city is so precious to her.

I wish every Kaunasian would feel this way.

Daiva Citvarienė Art critic, curator

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As a student, I worked as a guide at the National Museum of Art. I really loved the work and I have always loved living in Kaunas, but I started wondering what is wrong with this city and its cultural situation.

I noticed that the museum attracts very few local visitors, but I also realised how little the museum changed since I first came to see it twenty years ago with my parents.

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I often got upset hearing that my friends didn’t know the organisations or events I worked for. But then I also realised how little we as organisers know of them, our audiences.

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The people behind our cultural events have lots of talent, good connections with Europe and the world, they can deliver European quality content and always go that extra mile for what they love. Despite that, the cultural field does not work as well as it could.

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And if I were asked how the success of the project would look like, for me it means that: - our cultural institutions step outside their walls and into the public space; - our museum lady guards will smile more to the visitors; - our cultural institutions become advocates for innovation and contemporary living and attract young visitors; - Kaunas becomes one of the leading cities in Europe for community arts and culture.

Ana Čižauskienė Art critic, culture manager

I grew up in the Šilainiai micro-district in Kaunas.

I studied in England for 12 years and in 2015 I came back and set up a creative project in Šilainiai, because it inspires me and because I felt the urgency to do so.

I had discovered a large number of creative people living and producing work in Šilainiai, but later found out that none of them had any recognition whatsoever. I found that young people who desire to follow a creative path were unable to pursue their ambitions due to the lack of support and space for them to practice and share ideas. Even larger number of residents who simply want to engage in activities closer to home or after work, there is no place for. I also noticed that the people within this district have become disconnected and the communities fragmented.

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I am very proud of what the Šilainiai Project has been able to achieve in a year and a half – through community activation, support and empowerment of creative individuals a trusted platform was created where locals can share their creative ideas and act upon them. Šilainiai Project is one of the inspirations for Fluxus Labs that are part of the “Consciousness” programme for Kaunas 2022 in which creative hubs will be created in every part of town that will engage with local communities.

The Tempo Academy will prepare and support the local creatives running them. This process can be a model for other cities in Lithuania and across Europe.

Evelina Šimkutė Artist, curator

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Kaunas 2022 is our chance to change this. That’s why we have developed a big capacity building platform called

the Tempo Academy which addresses some of the key challenges that we face in Kaunas, for example, the insufficient direct communication and marketing for the audiences, the evident gap of participative culture, the limited cultural services in our neighbourhoods, the lack of knowledge on sponsorship and many others.

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So we have become a temporary city. The cliché was that we have low self-esteem, we are not important, we are number two, boring and angry.

Thus the concept is to recreate Kaunas, to show it in its true colours. To make it a contemporary city which understands itself as a continuum of meaningful events and decisions made by the community.

To become truly contemporary, we need to overcome confusion in history and mentality, to understand that we are a confluence of very different people and ideas, and finally we have to create a consciousness which can productively lead us to become a more successful community in Europe and for Europe.

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[...]

Our city has a complicated history of being neglected, denied and censored.

And we had some brighter periods in between. A bit like a remission of a disease. But the remission was always temporary.

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KAs a part of our concept we want to create a contemporary myth for Kaunas. A unifying narrative that every citizen can contribute to and relate to. I call it the Beast of Kaunas. Or a dragon. A real one as the character on my T-Shirt. You will see it present at all our big events and pictured on merchandise, books and films. And a symbolic one as a metaphor of ancient European traditions of chivalry gone contemporary. The Beast of Kaunas is a complex public relations project never attempted before.

And, above all, along with the Beast and with becoming contemporary, I want my city to have fun.

Rytis Zemkauskas Writer, journalist […]

I feel extremely excited of what will follow next. I have no doubts that the project is already of great success for my city.

I am very proud of my team and of what we all together have managed to do: as a team, we have got stronger and bigger - today there so many more of us. As a community, we have got closer; as partners, we got much more collaborative But for me, as a researcher, it is extremely important that we have employed not only our imagination but also investigation. For I do believe that all good ideas should be well-grounded, grow out of place and be site-specific if we are truly to achieve positive long term effects and changes.

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So I am happy that we have executed two major research studies: research on quality and accessibility of cultural services in city neighbourhoods and creative industries mapping study.

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It is what our proposed “Designing happiness” program is about - a platform for experiments, a platform for different sectors - arts, culture, business, it - would meet, share ideas and spaces, co-create, co-innovate.

Design, because Kaunas is UNESCO creative design city with future to be designed yet, and because we want many more companies here are to use design as strategy not only as style.

And happiness, because it is all about empathy, feeling safe, being home. It’s

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about togetherness, sense of belonging as Daiva and Evelina were talking about and it’s about celebrating life and finally having fun as Rytis wished.

Yes, we know that to design happiness is quite a naive aspiration. But be sure, we are not that artless to not understand the scope of the challenge we are to face. We may be not-perfect, but we are ready - more than ever.

• We have skills, experiences, passionately dedicated team of almost incurable city lovers and great professionals, • Huge support and backup from various communities- we know that because we studied that • We have infrastructure needed, • And we are on the very good energy and synergy track with cities economy to rebirth.

But above all we are believers of a not-perfect human in a not-perfect world and Europe. We choose to believe in honesty, beauty and power of idealism that is never out of fashion.

In and for the memory of our dearest colleague and inspirer Leonidas Donskis who never stopped believing in human dignity, the magic of togetherness with no anger and in Europe as an open space for understanding.

Jūratė Tutlytė Researcher of architecture and creative industries 2017

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It’s important to learn from mistakes and it’s best when you can learn from those somebody else made. This is why it was very important to invite someone with a hands-on European Capital of Culture experience to the team of Kaunas 2022.

Lewis Biggs, one of the art directors of the programme for Kaunas, was also involved in the bidding part of Liverpool 2008, as well as in implementing the programme during the year of the European Capital of Culture. He is one of the founders of the Liverpool Biennial and from 1990 to 2000 worked as director of Tate Liverpool. While Lewis isn’t technically a resident of Kaunas and he doesn’t have plans to become one in the nearest future, the curator will be visiting our city very often during the next five years.

Lewis Biggs on what’s really important Interview by Kotryna Lingienė Photographs by Remis Ščerbauskas

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It was a surprise when I arrived and found out that Kaunas wasn’t a textile city like the ones in England – Manchester or Halifax. Because, when I arrived there, I discovered that this was a very beautiful city. Beautiful in the sense of nature. It’s a beautiful sight.

The confluence, the hills surrounding it, the Oak Grove, the fact that there is a lot of green in the city... I was really astonished as it was completely different from the British textile cities.

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When was the first time you heard about Kaunas and how has your perception of the city changed since then?

It was because of Kaunas’ biennial. As an organiser of the Liverpool biennial, I was of course interested in other ones too. I heard about this textile biennale and I formed an impression of a city that was a textile city. There kind of had to be a reason why a particular biennale was in a particular city. It was purely just a guess.

The other thing was the modernist architecture which is really remarkable. I’ve been to Tel Aviv and Casablanca which are known as fantastic cities for modernist architecture, but Kaunas is just as good if not better. It’s extraordinary. Laisvės Avenue is also unique – I have never seen another street like this. So the physical difference between what I originally thought Kaunas might be and what it is today is huge. This was, obviously, before I arrived.

There’s an ongoing debate on whether Lithuania belongs to Eastern, Central or Northern Europe.

What’s your view on this?

I’ve never thought of this particular question but it is an interesting one! I travelled in the Soviet countries in the 1980s, before the wall came down, and it’s certainly very difficult to find this experience again, fortunately. From this point of view and to the extent

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that we still think of Eastern Europe being connected to the Eastern Block, everything has changed. Therefore, I don’t think of Lithuania being Eastern Europe in the sense of the previous “block”. I like the idea that it could be seen as part of the Northern countries.

It certainly has more in common with them. It’s a Baltic country even though I am told you don’t have sailors.

Do you think the title of the European Capital of Culture benefits the residents of the city that are outside of the immediate circle of culture?

There are two big values in life – money and recognition. If you don’t have money, then recognition goes a long way. You don’t have to be a sportsperson to take pride in the fact that your basketball team wins an international competition. You don’t have to think of yourself as a cultural person to take pride in the fact that your city is called the European Capital of Culture (ECoC).

Everybody can take pride in this.

Everybody has culture. Everybody is creative. Everybody goes out every morning to solve problems and be creative and make money. Creativity and culture are not only the interests of minorities. I do agree that the words “culture” and “arts” are a problem. People do not identify themselves with their own ownership of these things.

The point of being ECoC is that everybody’s culture can be recognised.

of itself as a tourist city, but it should. If people are not used to meeting strangers in the street and welcoming them, then it can be quite a shock to see your city full of people that “do not belong here”. This can be a very interesting shock!

Just in the process of meeting people from other cultures you learn about your own culture. You learn that it is valuable and other people are interested in it. That’s recognition. It builds a sense of pride and self-reliance. This is what I hope will happen in Kaunas.

Of course, in order to attract tourists, some element of specialness or quality comes into the picture. Actually, before this happens, it’s important that everybody understands they have a culture to offer. The quality is how you feel about your culture, not how somebody else does.

Do you think the new pride could directly influence the will to spend private money for, say, renovation of modernist architecture buildings, not only hope for the state to do it?

Certainly, this benefits everybody.

There’s just more money in the system.

You can also mend the pavements, for example. I have to say, walking on the street in Kaunas is not that easy sometimes.

I don’t know how many visitors from outside Lithuania come to Kaunas at the moment – I don’t believe it thinks

So you believe the infrastructure of the city is also part of the ECoC deal?

Yes. The point about culture is that it is a whole thing. You can’t say “this is not culture and that is’. Culture is everything, the pavements and the trees as well as the buildings, what is on offer in the shops, the way people lead their lives, public transport system – everything that you experience when you visit the city. The whole thing has to be considered at the same time.

Getting back to your reference to sports... Do you think artists and art in general could use more moral support, more cheering?

Would that help?

Enormously! I think what stops it now is depression and competition. I remember when I went to Liverpool to live, it was in a very bad condition.

I went to visit artists in their studios and had a nice hour talking to them, and then I asked who else should I go to see? They would... say nothing.

They wanted the recognition and the money for themselves. That needs to be turned around. Every artist should be able to say “you should go see these five artists, they’re wonderful, they’re my mates”. Then immediately everything changes and the recognition can be shared and everyone supports

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each other. There is a sense in which the title of ECoC isn’t given, it has to be taken. It has to be wanted and created by the people that live in the city. Not only artists!

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In the frame of the program of ECoC, what would be the correct balance between elite culture and curated art, and something that is born in the communities and on the streets?

The balance has to come from the people themselves. It’s about what people are interested in. At its simplest, if there is an authority involved, and, of course, there has to be somebody who is coordinating everything, then the first job is to find out what people want.

If you respond to that, it’s a very good start. Some people want classical culture and some want food. Some want fashion and some want sports. You have to respond to all of these different things, and you can’t go wrong if you do.

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What if the people can’t express what they want? What if they haven’t been taught the tools to do that, the tools to appreciate art?

I don’t think that being ECoC can reform the education system. We just lost art history from the curriculum in England. It’s terrible because somehow – and I am being extreme now – this is a tendency which you can see in the operations of ISIS. ISIS destroys culture because culture gets in the way of authoritarian politics. Other politicians are not so distant from this idea. They know that culture is about individuals deciding their own lives and taking responsibility for their own decisions. This is why culture is “bad”. If it weren’t for the EU and the values in the EU, there would be no ECoC. This is because of the values of liberal people who want to support culture. Culture gets in the way of authoritarian politics. So, yes, of course,

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for me there is a political dimension to ECoC and to culture in general. The more people embrace and understand what culture is and study it, share it, the better our politics can be in the future. It’s a significant aspect of the cultural project.

I really want to mention the Tempo Academy here. I think it’s a wonderful initiative within the plans of Kaunas 2022. It really excites me. I want to give a lot of my time to it. I do think the nurturing of whom you might call activists, people who want to talk to their neighbours about culture, is enormously important.

I remember landing in Liverpool airport. I was very surprised to discover it’s actually called Liverpool John Lennon Airport. It’s quite a contrast to airports named after historic army leaders and politicians. Do you know the story of the name? Is John Lennon the biggest hero of Liverpool? Yes, I think he probably is! The nearest hero we would have is a football manager.

I think everyone recognises Lennon’s contribution was not only big but lasting. I think it will continue for a long time. The naming happened in the late 1980s. I don’t know any stories about it, actually I just accepted it being there.

Do you think the name of the airport influences the way people from abroad perceive Liverpool?

During what you might call the dark times, the 1980s and 1990s in Liverpool, the visitors who came to the city were mainly coming to search for The Beatles. There’s a funny relationship between tourism, which is for the people who don’t live there and culture, which is for the people who live there. Tourists come for the culture but it’s wrong if the culture is shaped for the tourists, rather than for the residents.

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Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson became the minister of culture a few months back and shortly after that she came over to officially get to know the cultural field of Kaunas. POST Gallery was one of the stops she made, where she met the painter Augustas Lopas.

As a joke or not, he suggested to organise his exhibition in Vilnius at the Ministry of Culture, and when we visited the place in April, his works were there!

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A relaxed minister

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Interview by Kotryna Lingienė and Kęstutis Lingys Photographs by Mantas Gudzinevičius

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Sounds nice and easy, right? We wanted the conversation with Liana to be this way too. So we sat down for a relaxed chat not only with a representative of the government but a translator, engineer of cultural bridges between Lithuania and Scandinavia, professional of the cinema industry and resident of the European Capital of Culture.

As we probably can’t escape it, let’s start from politics. In your opinion, what role should the government play in regulating what kind and how much of culture is available for the people?

Every country has its own module for that, with various forms being dictated by historical context, current conditions and the governing bodies themselves. Before choosing a

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specific direction, it’s crucial to examine the circumstances, therefore the process should start by delving into the cultural field and auditing it.

In Lithuania’s case, I believe we’re still dealing with paternalistic views compared to the West in terms of how government regulates culture – we tend to look up to the state in order to receive instructions. Even now the ministry gets questions about the aesthetics of monuments, the quality of literature and so on. I’m not a supporter of the thesis “any art is equally good art”, yet the ranking of it shouldn’t take place at the offices of clerks. There’s still a lot of work ahead, but positive changes are evident too. A reference point in this process could be the establishment

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of the Lithuanian council for culture four years ago, when the formation and implementation of cultural politics were separated on clear terms.

This was a step of a very civilized country, and today culture – along with education – is among five most important priorities of Lithuania.

How should we interact with the youngest generation? Culture is seen as an after-school thing or a duty to visit a museum once a month; how can we change that and who should do it?

It’s not the responsibility of only the parents and teachers to change that. In order to educate youngsters properly, we must investigate how culture and art are represented in formal schooling. After-class activities are just not enough if we want to raise conscious consumers of culture that also possess theoretical knowledge. I wouldn’t single out any discipline as music, art, dance, architecture, theatre and others are all important. A wider outlook and more practice in consuming culture will result in a pupil having a better sense of quality.

Much like Scandinavians, I do believe art education should start in kindergarten. Museums are packed full of educational programmes there, and even highly complicated contemporary exhibitions are presented to kids in the most suitable, professional, understandable way.

Can you imagine the effects this has?

Over 70% of our ministry’s operations in the government’s plan are partnerships with the Ministry of Education and Science – finally, we’re working together. Right now we’re discussing what modules used in other countries we could adapt in Lithuania. It’s hard to change the

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system in four years, however we’re hoping to have enough concrete tools to start implementing such ideas by the end of 2018.

Obviously, the parents’ role is critical as well. This requires more time, even though we know that the acceleration of life leaves us with less of it. I, for instance, don’t mind kids being brought to concerts, that’s charming! Yes, they do cry at times and parents take them outside for a while – what’s the big deal?

We certainly shouldn’t forget our surroundings and the initiatives that integrate culture into our routines. I’d like to see more art in offices, factories, schools and other public spaces. There are some great examples like the Vilnius Street Art Festival, which turned many abandoned houses into artworks.

I can name a project from Sweden, a country I know well: the initiative for “city poetry” resulted in a few poems being put on advertising stands, other community spaces and so forth. One of the pieces was “What is at the Centre of the Internet” by Gintaras Grajauskas that I’ve translated to Swedish and then saw it while riding the bus.

Many countries put aside 1% of a new building’s budget to buy professional artworks, so there are plenty of methods – we just have to remember that any interaction with quality culture is educational for both children and adults.

On that subject, there’s a pattern of renovating, modernising existing structures, and Kaunas is a big part of this dialogue. However, what’s more relevant here – a building’s aesthetic state or what kind of art is exhibited inside?

I value aesthetics very much, thus I personally pay a lot of attention to my surroundings. Despite that, I would definitely choose content over presentation in this debate. Keeping in mind Kaunas’ modernist architecture, the title of the European Capital of Culture is both a challenge and an opportunity. Yet the destiny of empty buildings lies completely in the hands of the authors and executors of the projects. I believe such constructions should live their lives and we should use them for activities relevant to us. In many cases, cities should be responsible for this, but I’ll be honest in saying that sometimes it’s a job for the government too.

There are a lot of talks on titles today: national, urban, state-owned, private… Everyone needs attention, recognition and funds. How can we evaluate which are more important – state institutions or private initiatives?

Up until now, we didn’t really have a proper reflection of the cultural field: no one was analysing the implementation of cultural politics on a regular basis, looking into the way the Lithuanian council for culture works after taking the distribution of funds away from politicians, following global tendencies and providing suitable suggestions for the government. The cultural sector was chaotic – the motives behind money decisions were unclear, mystified. We can be happy about a new department being active since April, which is responsible for the analysis and monitoring of the cultural field, enabling us to support our talks on weaknesses and strengths with valid research. Maybe we don’t really need that many state-managed institutions in one city? Maybe our stage arts desperately need a reorganisation? We should turn the gap between private and state sectors into

synergy – there’s no state- and private-oriented culture, right? There’s just one culture, and we as a ministry are responsible for all faces of it, making the choices based on the mentioned research, not hunches.

The project of culture capitals is one of the most successful ones in the history of the entire European Union, not only in its field of culture. Do you remember any interesting experiences from cities that’ve held this title?

Stockholm was the culture capital in 1998, I was living there at the time and this was the year I’ve opened a cultural centre of the Baltic countries in the Hässelby castle. Together with the centre of Northern countries that was also based there, we’ve carried out many different projects.

Swedes are people of their word, they’re harmonious personalities.

That’s why there were no larger oddities or conflicts that typically occur when politicians interfere with programmes of culture capitals. The involvement of the public was massive: each day something was happening at some space of the city, Stockholm was literally filed with culture and every corner of it was pulsating for the whole year.

Obviously, the process didn’t come to a complete halt in 1999?

Absolutely. The year of the title shouldn’t be the cultural climax – it should be a boost to position the city as a solid cultural player in the future as well. I was pleasantly surprised by the attention given to involving the communities of Kaunas in the process of applying to become the culture capital. Taking part in successful cultural programmes will improve the self-esteem of the residents. Examples like Kopūstų Laukas or Šilainiai Project point to an evolu-

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Any fears about what might go wrong?

Not at all. We as a nation tend to predict troubles and question positive outcomes too much – we’re counting hypothetical obstacles instead of promising opportunities. I’d say we need more faith in ourselves, and Kaunas should definitely carry on with the programme without doubts about what might go wrong.

Yes, there will be mistakes, so what?

The next capital of culture will learn from them! If there’s a problem we can solve, why stress about it? And if the problem is insoluble, stress is meaningless.

Kaunas needs to earn international respect by meeting the expectations.

If local communities will become a big part of the cultural action in 2022, the next year won’t bring an end to it. And what happens after is what’s most important.

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tion of ideas, and it would be a sin to ignore or discourage that.

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Wroclaw’s nostopping policy

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“Wroclaw should remain the European Capital of Culture forever”, German director Wim Wenders stated last December after the 29th edition of European Film Awards was held in this city. And why shouldn’t it?

In spite of the mayor Rafał Dutkiewicz visiting and congratulating Paphos (Cyprus) and Aarhus (Denmark) for being culture capitals of 2017, he notes that cultural work is in full-throttle mode back in Wroclaw: “We thought that investing in further development would stop in 2016, but now we see that this was just the very start”.

Virginija Vitkienė, head of Kaunas 2022 programme, wrote about Wroclaw in our magazine’s March edition of 2016. Upon reminding us that the city was ruled by many different kings, imperators and presidents before, was completely destroyed at the end of World War II and had its name changed 50 times, Virginija

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asked: “What can we really say about modern Wroclaw residents – people living in Poland’s fourth biggest and second city in terms of economy?

What links them? Is a 60-year history enough to call a city your own and your neighbours a community?”. We can now easily say yes, it’s enough for Wroclaw.

A bunch of numbers can help us in describing the year Wroclaw had: five million tourists, two thousand events that required the work of around 170,000 people since summer 2015. MicroGRANTS, a programme for involving residents helped in realising over 600 local ideas, from Mozart in backyards marinating workshops.

New Horizons Cinema / Wroclaw2016.pl

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The long-lasting benefits of the cultural title are evident in the case of investing in infrastructure – the effects of this will be felt for at least several decades. Not only separate constructions but also building complexes in three neighbourhoods were renovated and turned into culture-welcoming ones. This is just one of the reasons to call 2016 a successful year for the city’s residents.

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as an essential element of the activities. The feedback from locals is positive as well – the survey shows that over 70% of interviewees think the organisers did their job well or very well. And that’s impressive, it basically means that there weren’t any conflicts!

The office of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 project was established in 2012, blending two teams together – an art centre IMPART and people who prepared the Wroclaw 2016 programme. As many initiatives from 2016 were really fruitful and will continue, the activities of the mentioned office are far from being stopped – after all, this was the biggest cultural event in Po-

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Coalition of Cities was the first project of such kind in European culture capitals – it united Wroclaw and its usual “competitors” Gdansk, Lublin, Lodz, Poznan and Szczecin.

land’s history.

The office has its work planned and approved for at least four more years, divided into four concrete fields – international cultural diplomacy, laboratory of city research, festivals/ events and education. Simply put, that’s a fairly rustic yet clever approach – why bother creating new institutions and new positions if the system is working absolutely fine, with the current professionals knowing best what to do next?

The described office is also responsible for Barbara – an information centre, café, gallery and workshop space.

By the way, the city government gave three flats for the art residency pro-

gramme A-i-R Wro. Of course, three is not the number that’ll revolutionise the field of art residencies, but that’s definitely more than nothing and actually a common practice in many culture-driven cities of the world.

After looking at the 2017 calendar for Wroclaw’s cultural events, it becomes obvious that both the mayor and the German director weren’t fantasising or exaggerating. Architecture, theatre, literature, music, gastronomy and, most importantly, various communities won’t run out of attention here – just ask the people of Wroclaw. www.wroclaw2016.pl

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By Paulius Tautvydas Laurinaitis

The words “contemporary capital” were associated with Kaunas for quite a while in many contexts and forms, preserving our city in that particular period until the mentioned slogan for Kaunas 2022 project became the first bold statement of a new identity that the city painfully lacked for the past 25 years.

Upon stepping into new ideological grounds of the contemporary capital, let’s look back at why this old nickname (and the time period) was so important for the residents: it marks a time of prosperity with a hint of nostalgia about being the centre of the country, even if a temporary one. However, this was also

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a time of the most pressure put on Kaunas as it had to be grown into a city that met at least the minimal requirements of a capital at the time. 21st century Kaunas is being built on this very foundation, therefore it’s important that we understand the challenges our city had to face while chasing the label of the temporary capital.

A person that just got out of a train in 1922 Kaunas would probably have a hard time telling the difference from other similar-sized cities built in the provinces of Eastern Russia, especially without the knowledge of being in the actual capital of a

The intersection of Savanorių prospect and Laisvės avenue in the end of 1910s / VDKM

A mission to become temporary capital

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In the quest for becoming the European Capital of Culture, Kaunas has used the slogan “Contemporary capital” – a witty wordplay on the notion of temporary capital that once stuck to this city.

country. The plumbing and sewers of the city were in planning phases, trenches were tearing up the sides of Vytautas avenue, small wooden houses of one-two storeys were placed among cranky sidewalks, all with a variety of bad smells. So, next to the mission of becoming representative as a capital (we’ll skip this one), Kaunas had to treat such elementary diseases that other European cities recovered from in the 19th century: unsanitary conditions; a growing number of people moving into unfit residential areas; outdated infrastructure of transport and public works. On top of that, there was a need to educate the residents as the Lithuanian-language-based city culture was taking its first steps.

Much like other Lithuanian areas, Kaunas was being reorganised following German, Danish and Swedish examples. This was hugely contra-

dicting the established standards of the Russian empire; the latter aimed to match European trends yet failed to catch up to them for many years.

During the Interwar years (and in a way today too), many seemingly neutral elements were brushed off just because they originated while the country was occupied, and the condition of Kaunas was far from a neutral discussion topic. For instance, a newspaper reader had this to say about the aesthetics of adverts and shop signs at the time: “We won’t find houses with this many colourful signboards in Europe, only in cities that Russia owned in the past. <…> The buildings on main streets are just covered in massive adverts from top to bottom, and maybe it would be possible to ignore them if the signs weren’t repulsive, painted in incompatible colours or showcasing monstrous mannequins and busts”.

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The case of signboards was proof that the bureaucracy apparatus – albeit established in the state of experiments and mistakes – was functioning quite well: almost every sign in the city was changed in a swift manner. Other important elements of public life weren’t ignored as well – many sanitary-medical laws were passed and implemented with adequate success. The infrastructure was being improved in relation to the growing economic potential: power lines even reached the suburbs, while 1931 saw a new power plant of Petrašiūnai being built. The growth of Kaunas and the high cost of electricity (not always respecting the deal with the power plant owners) resulted in the project of Pažaislis hydroelectric power plant, which was carried out only during the Soviet years. In 1924, the first sewers were constructed, followed by water supply lines a few years later. A water supply network of over 80 km in length was built during the ten years before the first occupation.

Even though some sporadic, privately-owned traffic buses were present in Kaunas before the war, the passenger transport basically relied on horse-drawn trams and carriages. A narrow railroad from Panemunė to Old Town was used for public needs right after the war, yet the rails were quite unfit as they were constructed

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solely for military purposes. This situation of public transport was often made fun of by residents, while the narrow railroad caused accidents or even fires on a weekly basis. The new buses of 1924 were named “European means of transport”, with four lines of electric tram being planned, which unfortunately lacked the funding. The old elements of transport – deemed inconsistent with the image of a modern city – were removed by the 1930s. However, many disagreements among private owners still resulted in the public transport being quite chaotic despite the growing number of buses in Kaunas.

It finally became centralised and was managed by the municipality from 1938.

Yet the biggest challenge for Kaunas was the demographic leap. We’ve discussed these problems in an earlier edition of the magazine, focusing on the flow of new residents and the lack of flats for them. The bureaucratic forces of a new government, along with other newcomers, caused a shortage of real estate in every social class. Despite quite strict governing laws, more and more cases were ignored and lower-class neighbourhoods started forming in the outskirts of Kaunas (more on them – in the February edition of 2016). Other poor residents were placed in the so-called flat colonies owned by the municipality, where the living conditions were overly “minimalistic”.

The colonies were liquidated by 1935, and this showed that the city was evolving in a social sense, with more comfortable blocks of flats being assigned for the less fortunate. While on the subject of urban planning, we must note that most projects from the 1920s didn’t come to life because

A caricature about the last days of horse tram / Mūsų dienos, 1928, #1

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The Lithuanian language wasn’t so popular in the public life of Kaunas before the war; this was the case in other cities too. Therefore, the government of Kaunas faced a problem after passing the law about using Lithuanian on signboards – in 1922, only a few existing adverts were approved as correct.

of financial reasons, but the ones of the 1930s were stopped mainly due to the war and the political situation.

In fact, Kaunas had two missions – to be the capital and at the same time create a city able to adopt all the processes of a capital. This was a unique situation in our region: modern representative structures and monuments were being built fairly close to the German utilitarian

ones only 100 km west, which were treated as customary elements of a city not so long ago, in the 1900s.

The results were actually great, even though some projects were unfinished or forgotten. Twenty years of systematic work gave the city the most significant page of its history.

Today Kaunas has all the attributes of a modern city, along with the luxury of choosing its identity. All we need to do is make the right choice.

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Still counting their first year of operating, the critters behind Margas MiĹĄkas are eager to construct games for outside which are not only eco-friendly but also are great for grownups as well as kids. Buy some or rent some!

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Armchairs “Matyta”

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The cocktail armchairs were born in the 1950s and the colourful ones in the 1970s. The four are just a small part of what the enthusiastic team at Matyta have to offer.

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“Originalas”, a novel by Tomas Kavaliauskas

Leidykla „Alma Littera“ Nuo 11,55 € www.almalittera.lt A novel that binds artistic and detective faces of Kaunas boasts an artwork on the cover – a piece by Bulgarian painter Dogu Bankov that’s now part of the TIXE exhibition at the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art. If this book is your first encounter with the artist, we envy you. And we recommend watching an episode called “Niekam nežinomas menininkas” (“An artist no one knows”) from Rytis Zemkauskas’ show Alchemija.

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“Žaidynė”, field game

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Jacket by Eglė Antonovienė

“Margas miškas” €80 www.facebook.com/margasmiskas

Kūrybos kampas 360” Pramonės pr. 6 www.kuryboskampas360.lt

Still counting their first year of operating, the critters behind Margas Miškas are eager to construct games for outside which are not only eco-friendly but also are great for grownups as well as kids. Buy some or rent some!

Unwanted jeans find new and exciting lives in the hands of designer Eglė Antonovienė. The mentioned fabric has a separate subculture in the fashion industry, therefore its metamorphosis is always anticipated both on the runway and in discussions about boundless consuming.

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“Nemunu per Lietuvą”, a book by Selemonas Paltanavičius “Terra Publica” €22.99 www.terrapublica.lt

2015 witnessed the first National expedition starting in Kaunas, and the second one finished in Pažaislis a year later. Selemonas Paltanavičius wrote down the thoughts of the expeditors on what river travelling can give to any Lithuanian. The author reminds us that “living is not necessary, but swimming is”, and you can read the interview with him on pilnas.kaunas. lt in May about the book “Nemunu per Lietuvą” (“Through Lithuania via Nemunas”).

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Clothes rack by Kipras Unikauskas www.vda.lt Upon dropping by the Design Week event at Pienocentro building, we couldn’t avoid noticing the hanger designed by Kipras Unikauskas, student at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Kaunas faculty. As you can see, it can be part of an exterior too. Might we expect serial production?

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Art Camp

V. Putvinskio g. 56, www.kmn.lt There is a garden on the street side of Kaunas Artists’ House, but did you know that there’s also a backyard which ends mysteriously, somewhere on the slopes of Žaliakalnis? We’ve heard promises that the hot time of the year will bring interesting events both inside and outside, so keep an eye open.

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Calendar 05 05 – 05 19

Exhibition: “Polish design: in the Middle of” M. Žilinskas art gallery, Nepriklausomybės a. 12

comic art association “Kutikuti” and showcases the latest comics by the current members of the association.

The colourful combination of large comics reflects the diverse styles and narrative methods of Finnish comics.

Friday, 05 05, 19:00

Performance “Nutricula” “Šelteris”, Vytauto pr. 79

May Friday, 05 05, 21:00

“Soundscapes”

Art parlour “Largo”, Vaistinės skg.

The night will feature the presentation of the eighth solo album by Girių Dvasios. He’ll be accompanied by Vėjopatis, Rees Archibald and Soma Happiens Saturday, 05 06, 10:00

Dance sport competition “Gintarinė pora 2017”

Nothing more to add to the fact it’s a concert by Darius Čiuta. Take our March issue and read a portrait of the artist.

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“Žalgirio arena”, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 50

The exhibition presents a selection of thirty works by experienced Polish designers as well as newcomers.

Presented projects provide an insight into the potential of the Polish design and the mind-set of Polish designers. This exhibition is truly multidisciplinary, bringing together designers, illustrators, manufacturers, craftsmen and young companies.

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Exhibitions: “Fragment Deconstruction” and “Times are Changing” Kaunas artists house, V. Putvinskio g. 56

The first exhibition consists of 13 comics created by artists from Lithuania, Portugal, Colombia, Chile, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland and Turkey.

“Times are Changing” marks the 10th anniversary of the contemporary

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Saturday, 05 06, 19:00

Theatre: “Vestuvės”

Kaunas city chamber theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A

Yasen Vasilev, a Bulgarian-born performance artist, came to Lithuania in search of new forms for his idea.

A young dancer named Džiugas Kunsmanas became his creative partner.

Friday, 05 05, 18:00

Student movie festival “Stop”

The international competition is back for the 53th time. Its idea was coined

by Jūratė and Česlovas Norvaišos, the most influential dancers in the history of Lithuania.

Tadas Ivanauskas zoology museum, Laisvės al. 106

ŠSaturday, 05 06, 19:00

The international festival for short movies chose ‘positivity’ as its topic this year.

“Raudona ZOOna”, Laisvės al. 106

Concert: Darius Čiuta “_ garsas t ant”

The play by Bertold Brecht is a short yet grotesque story in which everything, including furniture and relationship, is broken. The revelation of the story happens during a wedding.

Presented by the Oskaras Koršunovas theatre.

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Calendar Tuesday, 05 09, 19:35

Movie “Sweet Dreams”

Kaunas cinema centre “Romuva”, Kęstučio g. 62

“Kaunas 2022”: Meeting of “Fluxus Labs”

05 11 – 05 13

“Gallery Weekend Kaunas”

Kaunas artists house, V. Putvinskio g. 56

The festival celebrating the culture of street food has come back to Kaunas for its second season. Head to the Nemunas island every Friday to experience cuisines from all around the world, seasoned with music, games and new friends.

Friday, 05 12, 19:00

Movie: “It’s Only the End of the World” Kaunas cinema centre “Romuva”, Kęstučio g. 62

Tuesday, 05 09, 21:00

Live: Blaze Bayley

Before the closing of the gallery season, Gallery Weekend Kaunas will draw a cultural sky-map with the city’s cultural initiatives. The coordinates will lead through the network of independent, temporary and institutional spaces, and encompass exhibition openings, performances, immersive creative activities, lectures.

Club “Lemmy”, Girstupio g. 1

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Massimo’s idyllic childhood is shattered by the death of his mother.

Years later, he is forced to relive his traumatic past and compassionate doctor Elisa could help him open up and confront his childhood wounds.

Directed by Marco Bellocchio.

Wednesday, 05 10, 18:00

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One of the core goals of “Kaunas 2022” is establishing 40+ community art laboratories around the city. Join the inaugural meeting – there are two more planned on May 13th and 17th, too.

Thursday, 05 11, 19:00 Blaze Bayley was the member of Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999. After that, he focused on his solo career and has released 9 albums so far. Thundertale and Sutemon are meeting the legend in Kaunas.

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Chamber choir concert

Parochial Arch Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter and Paul, Vilniaus g.1 The concert will be performed by the chamber choir of Florida Gulf Coast University (USA).

Friday, 05 12

“Open Kitchen Kaunas” Nemunas island

In Xavier Dolan’s latest movie, Louis (Gaspard Ulliel), a terminally ill writer, returns home after a long absence to tell his family that he is dying.

Friday, 05 12, 19:00

Concert ”The Freedom City Rhythm” City Garden by the Musical Theatre

The concert by Gin’Gas, Wolfsome, Mountainside and other bands is dedicated to Romas Kalanta, a student who set himself on fire as a protest to the Soviet regime 45 years ago.

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Calendar

Saturday, 05 13, 13:45

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Film “The Last Family” Friday, 05 12, 19:00

Concert “Nostalghia”

Art parlour “Largo”, Vaistinės skg.

Join the workshop if you’re into MPCs and other tools for beatmaking or come later when the class turns into a dancefloor led by Deep Shoq, Chris Metric, Vaiper and Rushkeys.

Kaunas cinema centre “Romuva”, Kęstučio g. 62

Friday, 05 12, 21:30

Experimental music event “Ultra Dinamica”

The play based on the works of Donald Bisset tells us about wo girls whose mother doesn’t know any fairy tales – but their grandma does.

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Kaunas artists house, V. Putvinskio g. 56

Meet Erdve, Sisyphean, Extravaganza and Amžius, four blackest of the black metal bands from Kaunas and Vilnius.

“PuntoJazz” attic, Kęstučio g. 6

Giedrius Nakas, a pianist and a composer, is finally ready to present his international trio. It also includes Andrea Caruso (double bass, Italy) and Stefan Goranov (drums, Bulgaria).

DIY electronics, vibrating acoustics, crying chords and broken toys – this is what the new event series is all about.

It’ll be launched by an Estonian artist Erik Alalooga and local honchos Arma Agharta and Patris.

Beatmaking workshop “Renegades of Bump: Beatstrada” Bar “Lizdas”, Nepriklausomybės a. 12

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Kaunas city chamber theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A

Friday, 05 12, 23:00

Kaunas artists house, V. Putvinskio g. 56 The pop-up exhibition of all sorts of zines (you’re welcome to bring your own) will take over the grass field in front of the Kaunas artists house.

Music and vegan delicacies are also on the menu.

Party “Haarp” Friday, 05 12, 20:00

“New Baltic Dance’17”: “Classical beauty”

Zine picnic “Gallery on Plaid”

Friday, 05 12, 19:00

Concert: “Giedrius Nakas Trio”

Tuesday, 05 16, 18:00

Saturday, 05 13, 14:00

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The story of a well-known artistic family: legendary painter Zdzislaw Beksinski, his wife Zofia and their son Tomasz, a highly-praised music critic and translator. Their lives were far from being usual.

Ex “Fluxus ministerija”, Jonavos g. 3 Three music spaces and a handful of DJs – is there really anything else you need to know about this electronic music party?

Sunday, 05 14, 12:00

Theatre: “Sweater”

Kaunas city chamber theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A

In the performance, the dancer-choreographer Taneli Törmä is hunting for one of his dreams – to dance his way to become a classical ballet male soloist. This dream is something that he couldn’t have done alone anymore. In the solo, he needs to modify his dream in order for it to come true.

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Calendar Tuesday, 05 16, 19:00

“New Baltic Dance’17”: ”Hakanaï”

“Poetry spring 2017”: “Poetry under stars”

Thursday, 05 18, 19:00

Hospitality complex “Monte Pacis”, T. Masiulio g. 31

Club “Combo”, Raudondvario pl. 107

Saturday, 05 20

Mighty Mo Rodgers (USA) and the keeper of ancient African Griot traditions, Baba Sissoko (Mali) found common ground in their Griot Blues sound during a meeting in Lithuania.

Encouraged by a local entrepreneur, Jay Svarplys, they recorded an album.

Magic happened.

Laisvės alėja

“GM Gyvai”: World premiere of album “Griot Blues”

May The icon of French music will present her 10th studio album that was released last November. It’s called “Patricia Kaas” and features 13 brand new tracks.

“Street music day 2017” Saturday, 05 20, 11:00 - 00:00

“Museum night’17”: “The Cosmic Worlds of MKČ”

M. K. Čiurlionis gallery, Putvinskio g. 55

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National Kaunas drama theatre, Laisvės al. 71

Friday, 05 19, 20:00

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Thursday, 05 18, 17:00

Concert: “Potsdam trio”

M. K. Čiurlionis gallery, V. Putvinskio g. 55 Comprised of Canadian-Lithuanian violinist Atis Bankas, French cellist Damien Ventula and German pianist Constanze Beckmann, the Potsdam Trio first got together when they were reading Mendelssohn’s trio No. 1 in D – minor in Potsdam, Germany.

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Dozens and hundreds of musicians of various styles and genres will perform in the city all day long.

Hakanaï is a solo choreographic performance that unfolds through a series of images in motion. In Japanese Hakanaï denotes that which is temporary and fragile, evanescent and transient, and in this case, something set between dreams and reality.

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Saturday, 05 20, 19:00

Concert: Patricia Kaas

“Žalgirio arena”, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 50 Kaunas is the only city in Lithuania that is currently a member of the new Hansa Union. During the Hansa days, knights fights and competitions take place, as well as show jumping and folk art fair; various music and dance groups entertain the viewers, traditional games are organised at the Kaunas castle grounds, acrobats, jugglers and jokers play, there is also archery shooting and plays performed under the open sky.

The worldwide initiative takes place in Kaunas, too – visit the gallery to immerse in the fields of art, history, fashion, music and astronomy.

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Calendar Wednesday, 05 24, 18:00

Dance theatre: “I want a nourishing day from your hands”

National Kaunas drama theatre, Laisvės al. 71

The best kept secret of Kaunas, Yard Gallery, is inviting all the neighbours of the city to the longest dinner table in history. All through Laisvės alėja!

May

kis, the love of her life. You’ll visit their apartment in Žaliakalnis during a walk starting at Soboras.

Saturday, 05 27, all day long

The Putvinskis Block Party V. Putvinskio g.

Friday, 06 02, 19:00

Pažaislis music festival: Opening night

Pažaislis monastery, T. Masiulio g. 31

Friday, 05 26, 14:00

Presentation of a book: “Afghanistan Doctor”

Kaunas Officers Club, A. Mickevičiaus g. 19

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The war doctor Vilius Kočiubaitis worked in Afghanistan for almost 2 years.

He’s already published a novel and a 2-piece monography.

Don’t miss the season finale of AURA dance theatre.

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Saturday, 05 27, 11:00

Excursion “Kaunas City of Design” St. Michael the Archangel Church, Nepriklausomybės a. 14

Thursday, 05 25, 19:00 Yard feast Laisvės alėja

The celebration is organized by the Kaunas artists House and Vytautas Magnus University. Creative workshops, excursions, brunch, lindy hop, flea market, stories, poetry, movies and much more – not to be missed! The day will be finished with concerts from “Arklio galia” and “Candee Train“.

Wednesday, 05 31, 19:00

„Pažaislis Linden Alley Nights“: Jurga Šeduikytė

Pažaislis monastery, T. Masiulio g. 31

The excursion will focus on the interwar opera singer Marijona Rakauskaitė and Liudas Trui-

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K AU N A S F U L L O F CU LT U R E

The eight-concert cycle will kick off with Jurga Šeduikytė, a talented singer loved by music fans that are fond of cozy, warm and lively sounds.

The 22nd season of the international festival that’ll last through the summer will be started with the help of Kaunas State Choir and Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. They’ll be joined by Sandra Janušaitė (soprano) and Almas Švilpa (bass) More events pilnas.kaunas.lt

2017

MAY

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pilnas.kaunas.lt

In America everything goes and nothing matters, while in Europe nothing goes and everything matters.

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KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE Monthly newspaper about personalities and events in Kaunas (free of charge)

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ISSN 2424-4465

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5 (18) (21) 2017 Nr. 2