Dalyvaujamosios kultūros principai ir jų taikymas "Kauno Europos kultūros sostinės 2022" projekto komunikacijoje ; Participatory Culture and It's Principles in "Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022" Project Communication

Abstract

Statistics show, that 71% of Lithuanian do not participate in group and individual creative activities, while the EU average is 62%. (Cultural Access and Participation, 2013). Organizing large-scale events based on participatory, when involvement in culture is low, an important role goes for communication. Project organizers must find ways to reach audiences that are not participating in cultural activities. It is important to communicate with the cultural sector workers, who are currently forced to change their ongoing operational techniques and become not only a cultural product or service providers, but also the body which carries on an active two-way communication that involves people in its organization, implementation, and cooperation with other sectors representatives. In view of the prevailing situation, the problem of this Master's thesis - how to communicate participatory culture projects in an environment of low involvement in culture? Research object. The principles of participatory culture and their communication in \"Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022" project. Research aim. Investigate participatory cultural communication peculiarities, on the basis of \"Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022\" project. In order to achieve this aim these tasks are formulated: theoretically and methodologically define the concept of participatory culture and its application; to identify what kind of participatory culture principles are emphasized \"Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022\" project; to analyze the ways in which the participatory culture is communicated in \"Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022\" project; reveal the challenges of communicating participatory culture in \"Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022 project. The theoretical part of this master thesis was carried out by analytical - descriptive method. In the empirical part the selected practical \"Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022\" example prompts the choice of research methodology. This project, if successful, will take place in 2022 and is the main condition to choose exploratory case study methodology - project carried out for the first time, so it is a new practice, which can be seen in the choice of this strategy. The case study method will receive detailed qualitative type of knowledge that will help to answer the questions raised by the study. Document analysis revealed that the primary project application widely focuses on the participatory culture principle - openness, meaning that the project gives the opportunity to get involved and contribute to the organization or otherwise participate in it without exception to all comers, and this can be done without making great personal effort. Reciprocity, equivalent co-operation and active creativity principles are not described in the project application, rather mentioned indirectly. Project content communication analysis revealed that the initial stage of the project uses information communication model, characterized by a one-way communication. On the other hand, participatory cultural manifestations can be found in the organized special events – "Community Laboratories \"and \"Bank of Ideas\" initiative. Summarizing the project organizers and team members' opinions emerging challenges in project communication are revealed. It's the lack of participatory cultural traditions, within Lithuanians, the apathy of cultural institutions and educational institutions in developing cooperation, the skills shortages of culture officials, when involving audiences to cultural activities, poor European and national cultural policy guidelines for mastering the development of a culture of Kaunas region. So, the analysis of \"Kaunas European Capital of Culture in 2022" project, showed that the principles of participatory culture declared in the original application are not fully exploited for this project communication. The challenges faced when organizing the project indicates that the development of participatory culture-based initiatives is not easy because the cultural workers and political representatives lack the experience and skills to carry out such projects, and citizens avoid getting involved in cultural and artistic activities because of the lack of participatory culture experience.