The Great Things

The world of Harey, Foxey, and Bearsy comes to life in The Great Things, a beautiful new book for young children and their grown-ups that explores imagination, creation and movement through three online workshops – all accessed through links in the book.

Starcatchers is delighted to be a partner in this exciting new project, and we have 15 copies of The Great Things to giveaway to our audience. The event begins on the 12th December and the books will be given away on a first-come-first-served basis, with more information available on our Facebook page.

The Great Things is created by the Art Fraction Foundation (Poznan / Poland) in partnership with three organisations:

Starcatchers (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Sticky Fingers Art (Newry, Ireland)
Take Art (Somerset, England)

The project includes:

A special little book entitled “The Great Things” and access to three online, creative workshops called What matters most exploring three different themes:

• IMAGINATION led by Malina Prześluga
• CREATION led by Barbara Małecka
• MOVEMENT led by Paulina Giwer-Kowalewska

ART FRACTION FOUNDATION:

The year 2020 was a turning point for us in the search for new ways of connecting with our audience in their homes. We really wanted to maintain the most important things in the art for children – closeness, building relationships, sensory input. At the same time, we did not want to simply transfer our activities to the Internet, also being aware of how risky contact with new media can be for the youngest children. That was why “The Things” was created. First in Polish, and now in English!

We wanted to combine emotions and impressions by delivering audio and visual experiences to our audiences’ homes also abroad. That was the basic idea of the “Wielkie Rzeczy / The Big Things” project which was released thanks to the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Beautiful illustrations from the brush of an artist with an unlimited imagination – Robert Romanowicz, a story full of joy created by Malina Prześluga, the most interesting, honored, and recognized as one of Poland’s most talented playwrights who writes for children. The translation was created by Marek Kazmierski – an expert in the field of literature translations and a man who has a great sense and understanding of children’s literature. All of this was combined with the great calligraphy and graphic design skills of Katarzyna Mular. Every family is welcome to enter our world and have fun together with Harey, Foxey, and Bearsy!

We are convinced that children today, even more than before, need the wise guidance of adults. That is why we want to provide parents from partner countries with a tool that will support them in their interactions and cooperation with the youngest children. At the same time, we want this project to be a showcase of the best Polish art for children in the international arena. We hope that the event we are preparing, the musical side of which is complemented by visual and textual elements, will allow, on the one hand, to preserve the elements of the most important creative ideas for young children, such as deepening family relationships, and, on the other hand, to protect children from the negative effects of digital media. We believe that it is really worthwhile to offer recipients activities that can become a kind of parent’s guide, showing possible ways of interacting with children, and at the same time enabling contact with art also for the youngest viewers and listeners. Closeness has become a real challenge in recent months, we believe that art for children will allow it to continue to be nurtured. That is why we are continually looking for answers to the questions that arise… What may be the forms of new closeness? What are the needs? What are the challenges faced by artists creating for youngsters and the adults closest to them? And what will be their place in the redefined world of art?

The project is a presentation of a production made by outstanding Polish artists related to art for children – Malina Prześluga, Piotr Klimek, and Robert Romanowicz, who created unique events combining sound, text, calligraphy, and graphics. As part of the project, the audio play “The Big Things” will be presented in English-speaking countries, accompanied by a promotional brochure, which is a visual addition to the audio play. Another supplement and continuation of these events will be a series of online creative, family workshops entitled “What matters most” led by Malina Prześluga (IMAGINATION, focusing on creating activities based on the most important words and ideas of the “Wielkie Rzeczy” book), Barbara Małecka (CREATION in which one can create a tiny theatre and play with characters from the book), Paulina Giwer-Kowalewska (MOVEMENT, using dance as a great way to communicate with our bodies and our families).

Project team:

Artistic concept: Barbara Małecka, Alicja Morawska-Rubczak
Artistic text: Malina Prześluga
Translation: Marek Kazmierski
Illustrations: Robert Romanowicz
Calligraphy and composition: Katarzyna Mular
Promotional texts: Alicja Morawska-Rubczak
Production: Mateusz Okonek

Workshops: led by Paulina Giwer-Kowalewska, Barbara Małecka, Malina Prześluga with narration and music by Piotr Klimek, produced by Habaja Film.

The Project “Wielkie Rzeczy / The Great Things” is financed within the scope of the Multiannual Program INDEPENDENT 2017-2022, as part of the “Cultural Bridges” grant program of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute that promotes Polish culture abroad.