Treasure Chest for Future Kids
Artistic and Ecological Workshops
Park Cytadela, Poznań, 31.05-05.06.1998

The "Treasure Chest for Future Kids" project is a part of an international project entitled "Big Treasure Chest for Future Kids" implemented under the patronage of UNESCO in 12 countries around the world. These countries are: Chile, Ethiopia, The Philippines, Greece, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Poland, Republic of South Africa, Russia, Turkey and Hungary.
The "Treasure Chest for Future Kids" is organized by the Polish Centre of Art for Children and Young People. Pupils from schools in Poznań and Poznań voivodship as well as invited artists participate in the project.
The objective of the "Treasure Chest for Future Kids" project is to provide an opportunity for reflecting on the message the young generation would like to hand on to "those, who are going to be born after us". Such reflections which stimulate creative thinking form an important element of civic upbringing. The project is to convince the children of today that our present activities do have a significant bearing upon the shape of tomorrow's world, upon securing a happy life for our children.
The fruits of the children's work will be "treasures" making up a specific and individual message to their peers in the year 2050. These "treasures" will depict children's joys of the end of the 20th century, warn against dangers which would have to be avoided in 50 years time and will attempt to bestow happiness upon their recipients. The "treasures" will be placed in a "treasure chest" made jointly by children and a sculptor. At the end of the project the "treasure chest" will be deposited in a Museum where it will remain for 50 years.
The ceremony of depositing the "treasure chest" at the Museum will be a particularly important part of the project. It will be a carnival, a joyful spectacle telling about our hope and belief in the future.
In the course of artistic meetings - workshops run by the invited artists in the Cytadela Park in Poznań the children will prepare the "treasure chest" into which gifts for the kids of the future will go. These gifts will include: toys, ecological paper, photographs, collages, music, natural instruments, poems, etc. Other groups of children will prepare the pageant and spectacle accompanying the ceremony of depositing the "treasure chest" at the Museum and will make short films for future kids based on the events accompanying the workshops. Concerts and plays will also be organized.
A para-documentary 25 minutes long film will be made showing the most important events and portraying the participating children. This film will be a message for both contemporary children and their peers in the year 2050.
The "Treasure Chest for Future Kids" project will be carried out by the Inter-Collegiate Academy of Arts VADEMECUM established by the Centre. This Academy will provide the venue for creative meetings of students and lecturers from European art schools. Its purpose is to facilitate an exchange of ideas and experiences, joint deliberations and experiments in the field of cultural education. Participants are going to create models of such education which would point young people towards paths of individual development while at the same time introducing them to the common European cultural heritage. The Academy will organize meetings and creative workshops. Each year these events will be organized under a different slogan. "Treasure Chest for Future Kids" is the slogan for the year 1998.