Summer is drawing nearer its end - and so are all holidays. We've had a great summer at Helsinglight where we launched open our Helsinglight Art Gallery 29th of June (check out more photos from the gallery opening)
We also organised our first 10-day SFX Mask Making workshop in our facilities 5-15th July where we had a smaller group of students trying our facilities and workshop area out! Such a great experience and workshop! Check out more photos from the mask making workshop in our facebook album !
The rest of the summer we've been working on ongoing renovations of our facilities, Petra has worked on custom orders of taxidermy artwork and acrylic paintings and is also planning for more SFX Makeup & Mask making workshops for year 2019. We're currently looking at collaborations with other SFX-artists too to join us at Helsinglight SFX Makeup Academy.
We've got so many artistic projects in the pipeline and we're super excited to continue work and the journey ahead of us. The autumn and winter to come will be a time where we will set a lot of stepping stones and ground work for whats to come in 2019! Our next big project besides planning for new SFX Makeup workshops is to kick start the project Helsinglight Alternative Artist in Residence!
Helsinglight AAiR is a big project we've been planning and visualising for quite some time now. We knew from day one when we found the building for Helsinglight in September 2015 that this building would not only fulfil our artistic dreams but also do the same for many other creative souls. We set our hearts then on working towards building a creative retreat and artistic residency for others to be able to take part of too. This will now become a reality! We're launching the first steps into the build up of this project now!
We're strong believers that when one is being surrounded by creative people, creative environments and a beautiful nature around the corner this can provide stimuli for all senses and have a remarkable effect on creativity, emotional wellbeing and mental health. Some even say that nature and exercising art/cultural activities is a form of medicine and prevents or even aids recovery from mental illness.
With the launch of the project Helsinglight Alternative Artist in Residence we are going to dig deeper and do some research regarding creativity connected to mental health/recovery mental illness as well as boost of creativity and wellbeing linked to art and nature.
There is research pointing to the fact that if one is surrounded by nature it will lower stress levels, boost innovative thinking and ignite a creative process. We also believe that creativity and relaxation goes hand in hand, therefor we will also create a "Creative SPA" where a Sauna and relax area will be part of our location and available for use during the program later on (The Sauna and relax area is not built yet but part of the plan for the future)
With Helsinglight AAiR we want to offer a creative haven and resort for artists from all over the world. A creative platform and arena we're interesting collaborations, synergies and new artistic identities can be born. A platform where different artistic roles and expressions can be explored safely, where self acceptance and confidence can be encouraged and nurtured.
We're based on the beautiful countryside in Hälsingland, in a small village called Vattlång, mid north of Sweden. We've got a big beautiful old school built in 1920 that we are currently renovating, a life long project that we will turn into a creative haven and resort for likeminded souls. Our idea and vision for Alternative Artist in Residence is to offer the opportunity to artists and cultural workers to come and Create or "Stay & Play" at Helsinglight.
We want to offer the opportunity to creative people from all over the world to rent a specially designed art studio and small flat in our beautiful building as well as access to our beautiful Art Gallery / event room for art exhibitions, performances, concerts etc. Access will also be given to our Sauna and relax area (not built yet).
Our AAiR program will be open for every genre, weather you're a painter, photographer, tattoo artist, writer, dancer, performer, cosplayer, SFX-artist, musician, burlesque artist etc we will welcome all disciplines of art and culture in our Alternative Artist in Residence at Helsinglight.
In March 2018 we wrote our first blog post about this project and we got a lot of emails from artists expressing an interest of taking part of our residency program.
*Kulturbryggan announced that they were opening up and accepting new applications for cultural grants so we started working on an application for a cultural grant and financial support for Helsinglight AAiR. To our great happiness Kulturbryggan granted our project financial support - which means that we will be able to start work on this project now. Thank you so much Kulturbryggan for believing in us and supporting our project Helsinglight AAiR.
*Kulturbryggan (Kulturbryggan is an alternative financier which, by allocating grants to projects, will promote renewal and development in the cultural area throughout the country)
With this blog post we're officially launching the start of this project open. As we mentioned above the building is currently undergoing renovations and next up will be start of renovation work on the artist studio/apartment etc. There will also be extensive planning of the program and concept done now during this autumn and winter which means that the program nor house is not open nor ready for any applications or artists staying in our locations yet.
We also aim to visit other artist residencies for inspiration in creating the best residency we possible can. We also are putting together our extensive network of partners in collaboration for this project as well as setting up meetings, platforms, websites, booking system etc. We hope to launch the doors open and welcome our first "trial artist in residence" to stay with us in the beginning of the new year 2019.
We will keep you updated with the progress of the residency as well as when we are open for the first applications for the program. We will also let you know soon how you can apply to be part of the trial group.
// Creative Regards,
Petra Shara Stoor,
Project Leader Helsinglight AAiR
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