Smiltene Youth Collaboration with Artist fostering Pride and Local Identity at the Heart of the Community
Over the course of a week in August, young people from Smiltene, together with artist Viktorija Zeme, engaged in a creative project at Smiltene Active Recreation Park ‘Smiltiņš’, painting a park hut as part of a collaborative effort to shape the town’s new community space.
The hut project is part of Smiltene’s broader activities during its title year as ‘BSR Cultural Pearl 2025′. These are aimed at strengthening community ties and engaging residents through cultural and creative initiatives.
The project unfolded over three workshops, during which participants learned mural planning, preparation, and execution, as well as created sketches and sticker designs encouraging environmental awareness.
This creative project was financially made possible through the support granted with the ‘Seed Money Initiative’ of the BSR Cultural Pearls project for the title year that is managed by project partner Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture (NDPC).
Artist Viktorija Zeme shared her inspiration for the project:
“Since the hut is made of wooden planks, an abstract composition of colorful shapes works perfectly, bringing vibrancy and a creative atmosphere to the new park environment.“
The newly painted hut was unveiled on Saturday, 23 August, as Smiltiņš Recreation Park officially opened to the public for the first time in a festive atmosphere, with soap bubbles glistening in the sunlight, music in the air, and children’s laughter all around. Especially among the youngsters involved in this creative endeavour, adding to this new meeting point at the heart of the community created pride.
The space further presents a new opportunity to foster local identity all around as a place of community engagement to be enjoyed by many people, young and old, daily long into the future – just as Smiltene strived to do in its CuReAP.
Photo credits: Evija Dzvinko (hut painting), Zane Kaķe (finished hut and festivity pictures)
