Study Visit to Tampere – Inspiration from Finland

One of the greatest strengths of the Mind the Gap program is the opportunity to learn from each other and to be mutually inspired. While joint partner meetings serve this purpose, study visits are also an important element of the project. During one of these visits, the Małopolska Institute of Culture in Kraków was invited to the Association of Children’s Culture in Finland, located in the city of Tampere. Our visit, in which we participated as representatives of the Mind the Gap lab, took place in April. Although the time was short, our hosts made sure that every moment was filled with valuable activities focused on learning about Finnish practices in cultural education.

The program included, among others, study visits such as the one to the extraordinary Annantalo Arts Centre for Children and Young People in Helsinki, and to the Sara Hildén Art Museum, where we had the opportunity to observe a contemporary art workshop conducted with a school class.

The highlight of our visit — and its main objective — was participation in the final event of the Finnish series of workshops carried out within the Mind the Gap lab.

The Finnish project team focused on working with young people experiencing stress, using artistic methods for this purpose. They selected groups of young athletes at the national team level, participating in sports camps at the Varala Sports Institute in Tampere, to test this approach. We had the opportunity to observe a workshop conducted for a group of young basketball players.

The workshop was led by Simo Nieminen — an artist, poet, and rapper from Tampere, who focuses on cultural wellbeing in his work. He is the author of the concept of poetic meditation and relaxation, which is used in Finnish schools.

The theme of the workshop — word, poetry, and rap — might seem unusual in the context of sports, but it turned out to be a very apt and meaningful combination. Rap brought together three key elements relevant to the participants: literature, youth culture, and basketball. The idea of inviting young athletes to express themselves through poetry was bold and risky — which is why we watched the workshop with great interest.

This was the final session of a four-part series. What moved us most was how deeply the facilitator believed in his method. It was clear that he was sharing a world that was close to him — genuinely and sincerely. The participants, even if not all were fully engaged, treated him with evident respect. Even during the recital of their own poems or relaxation sessions, there were no signs of distance or mockery. Some of the youth had difficulty fully relaxing, but their lack of active participation was not directed against the facilitator or the method itself.

For us, this was an extremely valuable observation: passion and authenticity — even when entering the youth world “from the outside” — can build trust and earn respect.

Inspired by the bold and original project of our Finnish partners, we returned to Poland with many reflections. After a long discussion in our lab, we decided to address a related topic — the issue of overstimulation, which affects an increasing number of young people. Thanks to the visit to Finland, we were able to confront our thoughts with the experiences of our partners and explore new directions for action.

Text by Maja Dobkowska and Ania Grajewska from Małopolska Institute of Culture in Kraków.