The term “culture animator” is used to denote both the employees of public institutions and non-governmental organisations, as well as independent artists, or freelancers. The common denominator for all these people is their combining creative thinking with planning and organisation, and, above all, the ability of engaging other people in an activity. To better understand what a culture animator does, what duties he or she usually performs and what characteristics culture animators ought to possess, it is best to have a look at a few specific examples.
Culture animators work with local communities such as a community of neighbours, villagers or the inhabitants of a district. The animator begins his or her work by getting to know the people and the specifics of the site, initiating cooperation, running workshops and supporting the community in organising local events e.g. as picnics, exhibitions and concerts. The animator’s goal is to strengthen the relationships between people and animate community events e.g. the Interwencje osiedlowe (District interventions), or the Yard Party (Podwórkówka) held as part of the Residency project.
One crucial area of the activities of culture animators is creating creative situations where the residents are invited to share their reflections and ideas on a subject of interest to them. This is how numerous participation projects are designed: performances engaging the community, exhibitions and films featuring their work or their performances, audio plays, graffiti, and even music albums recorded jointly. The initiatives of the graduates of the specialisation serve as an excellent example of such activities.
One of the topics that culture animators work with more and more often is the identity of a given place and its inhabitants, both in historical terms and in the present. Projects addressing local histories allow to include entire communities into the activities, to give people a voice and to listen to the stories they have to tell. Examples of such project is Malczak – Targ wspomnień (Malczak – The Bazaar of Memories) and Muzeum Społeczne (Social Museum).
Animators working at culture centres and art institutions are often responsible for establishing contacts with the audience and adjusting the offering of the institutions to the audience’s needs. In Warsaw, this function is performed by Local Activity Centres some of which are coordinated by graduates of the Culture Animation specialisation who make sure that the residents co-author the activities and events held in the centres.
However, it is not only culture centres that need animators, such positions are more often than ever set up in libraries which, apart from lending books, try to engage readers in other activities too. And so, a culture animator may design and run a project promoting books and reading, set up a book club or arrange an exhibition or workshop with and for the library goers.
Culture animators also work in galleries and museums, most often in the education or public projects departments where they work on events aimed at including the audience in creative activities and a dialogue about the programming of the institution or specific exhibitions. One example of such projects are the initiatives undertaken by the graduates of the specialisation.
All rights reserved © 2018 Animacja Kultury
The Culture Animation specialisation was founded in 1991 at the University of Warsaw as the first practical study program available at a higher education institution in Poland. The Culture Animation program in Warsaw was designed in collaboration with academics and practitioners who endorse the idea of culture as a democratic and creative activity. Every year, we expand the educational offering onto new methodology of work and adjust it to the needs of the students.
We combine academic studies in humanities with art instruction and the practical aspects of working with people and communities. We teach students:
The Culture Animation specialisation consists of workshops and internships at institutions and local communities. Both the workshops and the internships follow the idea of “learning through practice” and often take the form of “field workshops”. What this means is that the students not only learn selected methodology of working with and around culture but also apply them in a real situation while working with specific people. The syllabus for the academic year 2018/2019 is available here.
Culture Animation students take part in various workshops on topics such as:
An essential aspect of our program is going beyond the walls of the university and establishing close ties with the surrounding reality. This is the reason why we collaborate with many different institutions of culture and NGOs in Poland and abroad. Our students take part in internships based in Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Great Britain, among other places. They also participate in community and art projects carried on by the most important centres of culture and art across Poland. This way, already during the course of studies, they become acquainted with the environment where culture animators work, which permits them to establish contacts that may later facilitate their career decisions.
Each student completes his or her individual set of courses as per their choice, interests and future career plans. The student selects as many workshops and internships in each semester as needed to fulfil the minimum requirements for the number of study hours set out in the curriculum. More information about the requirements here.
Duration of studies: 4 semesters
Workshops: 330 academic hours
Internships: 40 days
The specialisation is open to graduates of first-cycle studies of all university programmes. It can be completed as part of the second-cycle studies in Culture Studies program at the Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw. The specialisation is also open to students of other programs and people who are not students of the University of Warsaw. For more information on admissions see here.
in progress