Experiences from Study Trips to Sweden Boost Culture and Youth Work in Võru Municipality

A 16-member delegation from the Võru Municipality's Culture and Youth Work Center was on a study trip in Sweden, in the Nordanstig municipality from September 14th to 19th, to gain new ideas and inspiration from a small municipality on how to make the activities more attractive and diverse and offer activities for people with various interests and abilities.

Located in central Sweden, the historical region with 9300 inhabitants is quite similar to Võru Municipality in terms of population size and scattered settlements: instead of major cities, there are small villages in the region, which engage in cooperation and round-table discussions with associations and societies receiving support. The two municipalities share common concerns such as an aging population and the challenge of involving young people. Youth work is not a legally defined obligation in Sweden, unlike in Estonia. In Nordanstig municipality, there are some places for hobby activities where activities are held once a day per week. There is a strong emphasis on voluntary activities; even parents organize hobby activities voluntarily. The municipality supports the rental of premises for this purpose. The rooms used for youth activities are also intended for other cultural events or rented out for birthdays.

On the opening day of the study trip, the delegation met with Ola Wigg, the Chairman of the Nordanstig Municipal Council, Mayor Erik Hedlund, and other municipality employees and council members in Jättendal. Initially, presentations were made to introduce each other's municipalities, and Maarika Rosenberg, the Director of the Võru Municipality's Culture and Youth Work Center, provided a detailed overview of the center's essence and work. In addition, there were interesting multilingual discussions throughout the day.

On the second day of the study trip, the Võru Municipality delegation visited various institutions in the Nordanstig municipality. They visited the Arthur Engberg school, library, and youth activity place in Hassela. The small rural school Arthur Engberg with 60 students has daily cooperation with the community, and everyone contributes voluntarily to survive.

The Hassela library is one of the four libraries in Nordanstig Municipality, being the smallest. The library has an employee who visits different libraries once every three weeks, where children gather and participate in various activities, inspiring them to read books. They also visit youth activity places to learn what young people desire to get new ideas for future activities. The library is open one day per week. At other times, access to the library is granted with a card.

The Ersk-Mati Cultural Center, owned by the Nordanstig municipality, provided cultural-historical value. During the visit, a local historian and guide introduced the building complex from the 18th century and the lifestyle of that era. The municipality aims to preserve culturally and historically valuable buildings and make the farm lively and accessible to visitors. The farm serves as a living history book that helps visitors increase their historical and cultural awareness, develop environmentally conscious thinking, and strengthen their connection to their people and heritage. Rather than learning historical events and conditions from textbooks, students have the opportunity to experience the era through the surrounding interior and activities, trying out old working methods.

An excellent example of strong community involvement and collaboration with local authorities and schools is the Troll Theme Park or the decorated Trolska Forest in Jättendal, where performances and activities are organized year-round in collaboration with both professional and local amateur actors on outdoor stages as well as in theater and workshop houses. The team from the Võru Municipality's Culture and Youth Work Center visited Trolska Forest at a time when Gnarpi school students were there. Nordanstig Municipality's 2nd to 5th-grade students visit the Troll Park twice during the school year for lessons, learning reading, writing, creative thinking, getting acquainted with local folklore, and nature. All of these activities are integrated with the corresponding curriculum and are free for municipal school students.

During the study trip, the delegation also visited the Nygarden restaurant located on a traditional farm, which offers accommodation services and will also provide conference and spa experiences in the future. The large former farm complex also houses an art gallery and a ceramics workshop.

They were also introduced to the local folk high school, called Bilda, which operates in several buildings in four municipality settlements and offers various courses and workshops in seven fields for 175 youngsters aged 9-24: singing, digital music creation, theater, film, acrobatics, and dance. Students can also learn to play six different musical instruments. Bilda hosts various project workshops such as the journey to film and folk music projects, which take place intensively on weekends and play a significant role in developing social skills as well. The projects are funded by integration programs, the Swedish Film Institute, and the local government budget. A medal award system is used to inspire young people.

On the last day of the study trip, visits were made to the municipal office in Bergsjö, youth activity places, and the cultural center. At the municipal office, they learned about the daily work of officials and the premises.

The Bergsjö youth activity place is open twice a month and offers young people aged 15 and above the opportunity to rebuild cars and independently drive them up to 30 kilometers per hour. This initiative attracts many young people living in sparsely populated areas as it provides them with the opportunity to drive themselves to the location. The Bergsjö youth work place is visited by around 25-50 young people. Additionally, activities such as cooking, table tennis, TV, nail painting, manicures, and outings are organized there. Young people are guided by parents.

The Bergsjö Cultural Center has 199 seats cinema, another youth activity place where 30-40 young people aged 10 and above participate in activities, Bilda's rooms, and other cultural spaces. The Cultural Center hosts various interest groups, which are free for children but charge for adults, except for activities related to the church. Nordanstig Municipality also provides support for hiring actors in performances.

The study trip to colleagues helped bring innovation and the ability to contribute and develop the field. The culture and youth workers of Võru and Nordanstig municipalities learned from each other's experiences and shared effective cross-disciplinary involvement methods. The study trip project was supported by the Erasmus+ program and the European Solidarity Corps Agency Erasmus+ program.