4th partner meeting in Sunderby Folkhögskola, SE

16 July 2024

On June 18th and 19th, 2024, the partners of the Arts on Prescription in the Baltic Sea Region pro-ject had the opportunity to meet in Sunderby Folkhögskola, Sweden's Norrbotten region for the fourth transnational partner meeting.

Technical details

Besides representatives from 13 project partner institutions in the Baltic Sea countries from DK, DE, PL, SE, LV, FI and LT, representatives from Region Västerbotten and Jämtland Härjedalen as well as arts facilitators and link workers involved in the projects’ pilot programmes were invited to exchange on challenges, experiences and lessons learned with other partner regions.

After welcoming words by Glenn Berggård, representative of the Norrbotten Region, and Catharina Ljungcrantz and Elias Sandling, representatives of the Sunderby Folkhögskola, the project manage-ment team, Stine Eskesen Keiding (Odense Municipality) and Angelo Gilles (REM Consult), presented the current status of the AoP project implementation and introduced the agenda and objectives of the meeting in Norrbotten.

Key focus on day 1 were the different presentations of pilot activities and related Arts on Prescription programmes tested in the seven partner regions of the project: Odense (DK), Bremen (DE), Boden and Luleå (Norrbotten Region, SE), Cesis and Saldus (LV), as well as West Pomeranian Region and Szczecin (PL). The Arts on Prescription project has just entered the phase of the second pilot cycle – a third cycle is planned for autumn 2024. The newly gained experiences and interim evaluation results of the pilot programmes – presented in the second half of day 1 – will enrich the offerings and im-prove the upcoming third round of AoP pilot programmes planned for autumn 2024.

Despite a common methodology based on the generic AoP programme concept developed in the st year of the project, of actions, the partners proposed a very diverse range of activities for their ben-eficiaries, while maintaining the common goal of improving the mental well-being of residents in the Baltic Sea Region. More insights into the different Arts on Prescription pilot programmes can be found in dedicated news stories of selected pilot regions or via the projects’ pilot description.

On the second day of the transnational meeting, project partners used in-depth workshops to dive deeper into the evaluation process via focus group interviews, organised by the Southern Denmark University, and worked on improvements of the upcoming online Arts on Prescription guide. The Guide will include how-to-guides, fact sheets, lessons learned and audiovisual guidance for link workers, culture and arts facilitators, and decision-makers on various aspects of setting up and organise own Arts on Prescription programmes.

Eventually, afternoon sessions were used to exchange on future transfer activities of the project, such as action plans for continuation of the Arts on Prescription programme in each partner region, an rent-an-expert programme as well as One-on-One Twinning activities, where project partners offer advice and support for cities in the Baltic Sea Region to implement their own AoP programme.

Additionally, the meeting programme included time for experience exchanges, art workshops, and visits to cultural institutions, including the Sunderby Folkhögskola and the Art Gallery (Konsthallen) in Luleå, where arts and cultural activities of the SE pilot programme take place.