About us:
Innovative Creative Projects
Our aim is to encourage people to create and live the rich and inspiring life, working towards creative and innovative society.
What does creativity and innovation mean to us?
Creativity it is basically a personal creative energy, every human’s creative potential, the ability to do something new and original, which manifests itself in a variety of ways at household and professional activities. There is no person, who at least once in life was not creative. However, the new ideas can be implemented or stay in one’s imagination.
Only implemented creative idea becomes an innovation. We believe that innovation is the creation of a new product. Not only a new product can create any organization, but also a new approach, process, partnership, model and this will be innovation.
Organization “Innovative Creative Projects”, established in Kaunas, Lithuania, 2014, has a goal to encourage people create and live a meaningful and inspiring life, finding creative solutions to social and economic problems. We operate in Lithuanian culture and the arts, cultural heritage, adult education and social innovation fields.
We use different creative tools during our workshops like memoir writing for seniors, creative writing for young people, poetry and music, collecting objects of cultural heritage like weaving, embroidery, knitting, crocheting, wood works and family vintage photographs, publishing books and calendars with beautiful photos and memoir stories.
Our projects:
„Creative Wednesdays“
Project is partly financed by the Lithuanian Council of Culture and Ministry of Culture
„Creative Wednesdays“ is a socio-cultural educational program for seniors of Kaunas city and district. It is open to people who would like to learn more about contemporary fine art and Lithuanian artists and their works. M.K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum, M. Žilinskas, Kaunas Picture Galleries, Ceramics, A. Žmuidzinavičius Museums, Kaunas Artists’ Union gallery are open on Wednesdays for free. A number of private galleries in Kaunas invite visitors as well.
All 2016, we regularly organize the educational excursions for seniors to fine-art exhibitions and every month we held the creative workshops. Project „Creative Wednesdays“ educational program consists of ten themes: painting, sculpture, textiles, graphics, ceramics, photography, architecture, book illustration, performance and street art. One theme for one month: e.g., painting – for March. Therefore, the March program includes a tour to the painting exhibition and a practical-creative workshop.
Seniors are encouraged during the program independently explore the world and view it by the eyes of the architect / illustrator / sculptor / textile artist / painter, to experience a creative joy, love to their city’s cultural-artistic environment, knowledge and understanding of contemporary art.
The program encourages participants not to be a passive spectators, but developers who analyse and adapt in practice, what they see in the fine-art exhibitions, trying to understand the fine art and its social influence.
2015-2016. “Songs Based on Lyrics of Arvydas Ambrasas”
This international project “Songs Based on Lyrics of Arvydas Ambrasas”, which startered in 2015, dedicated to reminiscence of the Lithuanian poetry and dramaturgy writer Arvydas Ambrasas (1947-1970). He was an important figure in the sixties but later was undeservedly forgotten. The purpose of this project is:
- to unite the musicians of Lithaunian backghround from Lithuania and Israel and some other Baltic countries into the one creative musical project;
- honoring the memory of A. Ambrasas to revive public interest to his work and to make the musical CD.
Ambrasas was only 23 years old, when he left this world due to incurable desease. His poetry was loved immediatly by the representatives of cultural resistance, the ones, who opposed the Soviet restrictions of creative freedom.
The talented young man studied at Vilnius Art Institute; he drew, wrote poetry, absurd plays, directed them and performed with peers in the corridors of the institute. In the so called Corridor Theatre one could fit only standing on one foot, writes poet Marcelijus Martinaitis in his memoirs, it was so popular and crowded with intelligent people and well-known artists.
The first book of poetry by A. Ambrasas, limited to 7 thousand edition, was published in 1974, and soon became the bibliographic rarity. His poetry immediately became popular among the progressive young people of his time. Fans of Ambrasas have been such celebrities as Tomas Venclova and Marcelijus Martinaitis. Young people used to share this book, rewriting poems, or even stealing it from each other or the libraries. Soon the poems by A. Ambrasas were used as songs. In 1976, a band “Raganiai” used A. Ambrasas texts as their song lyrics and played them in the shows.
The band Raganiai (the word means “male witches”) that soon became a cult band got together in the begining of 1969, in Kaunas. Under Soviets it was a great honour to pick a name for a band from Lithuanian vocabulary related to its folklore; many bands named themselves as Bociai (uncestors), Aitvarai (home spirits), Dainiai (bards).
Raganiai closed up at 1972. Only at 2001 the band regained in Israel. Raganiai visited Lithuania at the end of 2015, and at 12-th of December they played the songs based on Lyrics of Arvydas Ambrasas in Pasvalys.
“Songs Based on Lyrics of Arvydas Ambrasas” is a multi-genre project, songs are written in different musical styles like folk, jazz, blues, rock and pop-rock. The musical CD will be the product of this project.
The project “Songs Based on Lyrics of Arvydas Ambrasas” is being implemented by:
Initiators: rock band “Raganiai”: Dave Svidgal – lead vocal, back vocals; Jasha Jurborsky – lead vocal, back vocals; Jacob Gitkind – guitars, lead vocal, back vocals; Nathan Gitkind – drums. (http://www.suru.lt/tag/raganiai/)
Guest stars: Kęstutis Lušas – keyboards, programming, arrangements; Boris Gammer – saxophones http://www.borisgammer.com/; Edie Rezonov – double bass, electric bass; Tamara – lead vocal http://www.tamarajazz.com/; Helena Strazdauskaitė – lead vocal; Henrikas Balčiūnas (Laiptai) – lead vocal http://www.grupe-laiptai.com .
All music by: Jacob Gitkind. English translation and adaptation of original texts for musical performance by: Nathan Gitkind. All songs orchestrated and arrangements by: Kęstutis Lušas. Producers: Kęstutis Lušas ir Nathan Gitkind. Final mixing and mastering – Giedrius Litvinas (MA studios).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zFhsztG8CE
“One Thing Stories”
Project was implemented by the Kaunas organization “Inovatyvūs kūrybiniai projektai” autumn, 2014, partly financed by the Lithuanian Council of Culture and Ministry of Culture.
Seminars of creative memoir writing invited senior people from different parts of Kaunas, Lithuania to write stories about the past. Kaunas Municipal Vincas Kudirka Public Library was a partner of this project. Teachings took place in four different parts of Kaunas city: centre and old town, Šilainiai and Panemunė public libraries.
Why “One Thing Stories”? Every participant was writing about one thing that survived in the family from their fathers. Hand made things – linen hand weaved bedspreads, tablecloths, towels, embroidery, diving, wood and ceramic works have been collected and photographed.
The creators – our grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, fathers and relatives have been honoured, the beautiful vintage photo-portraits collected to illustrate the stories.
Soviet occupation in Lithuania, emigration to Germany, Brazil and USA, deportations of families to Siberia (the Gulags), exile and coming back from the exile, Communism – there are themes for the senior stories written during the project. Story of every family makes the history of Lithuania.
All stories have been published in the PDF book at first. Then, later after the project was finished, the album “Vieno daikto istorijos” on paper was published by Innovative Creative Projects in Kaunas, 2015.