EXTENSION OF INITIATIVE “YOUTH DISCOVERS VIENNA 1900” (powered by Arbeiterkammer Wien): LEOPOLD MUSEUM CONTINUES TO OFFER FREE VISITS
26.09.2023
Following the cooperation’s great success, the AK Wien continues to offer Viennese pupils free art education programs at the Leopold Museum in the school year 2023/24.
The initiative entitled “Youth Discovers Vienna 1900”, which was made possible with the generous support of the Chamber of Labour Vienna (Arbeiterkammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte Wien – AK Wien for short), the Leopold Museum was able to offer five different art education programs between August 2022 and August 2023. The programs were tailored to the individual needs and interests of children and adolescents attending primary schools, secondary schools, polytechnic secondary schools and vocational schools with a high percentage of pupils who speak German as a second language. Some 2,200 students benefitted from this free access to cultural offerings. The great need for such initiatives was reflected in the huge demand: The approximately 120 workshops were all fully booked. The Leopold Museum will continue its cooperation with AK Wien, which started back in 2020, in order to be able to keep affording easy access to the art of Viennese Modernism, the intellectual achievements of this era and to Vienna around 1900.
“Throughout the past school year, the initiative ‘Youth Discovers Vienna 1900’ allowed us to once again reach a significant number of pupils who would otherwise not have had the opportunity to visit a museum. Thanks to our cooperation with AK Wien, and to the expertise of our knowledgeable art education team, we are able to not only introduce young people to art but – especially with our newly devised programs – to also discuss topics of socio-political relevance, such as sustainability and migration, and to thus address the students’ reality. We are delighted that we will be in a position to continue this advancement of pupils through the initiative’s programs in the upcoming school year of 2023/24.”
Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Director of the Leopold Museum
That the comprehensive programs of our initiative “Youth Discovers Vienna 1900” were so enthusiastically received by teachers and pupils alike is due to the fact that they are not limited to educating young people about the art of Viennese Modernism and the innovative achievements of this era in the areas of art, culture and science. Rather, they also allow them to become creative themselves in the Leopold Museum’s art studio under the guidance of the art education team. While their everyday school routine often doesn’t leave enough room for pupils to live out their creativity, the individual programs, with their playful and targeted approach, aim to do just that. Before they are encouraged to explore their own creativity, the participants are inspired by the artworks discovered during guided tours through the exhibition Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism, which vary according to the programs’ individual emphases.
As of the last school year, our offers include five programs geared towards different ages and types of schools. The two newly devised programs, entitled “Von Nah und Fern und Mittendrin!” [Near, Far and Right Here] for primary schools, and “Unsere Natur – Unsere Wünsche – Unsere Zukunft” [Our Nature – Our Wishes – Our Future] for secondary and polytechnic secondary schools, proved just as popular as the three established programs conceived at the beginning of our cooperation with AK Wien.
AK Wien and Leopold Museum announce the continuation of their cooperation
Our cooperation with the Vienna holiday care program “Summer City Camps”, which we started two years ago, further illustrates the enormous need for such offers. In September 2023, “Youth Discovers Vienna 1900” will be entering into its fourth round:
“We are delighted with the past three years of our successful cooperation. Thanks to the initiative, the AK was able to reach nearly 2,200 pupils and apprentices in 2022 alone, who otherwise might not have had access to cultural institutions like the Leopold Museum. The AK aims to expand the cooperation in the upcoming school year 2023/24 to offer even more workshops. Art is a basic need for all of us. It must be easily accessible to everyone, particularly to children and adolescents – especially during times when parents are forced to keep a close eye on their expenses.”
Renate Anderl, President of the Chamber of Labour Vienna and the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour
The programs in detail (all programs are in German)
For primary schools:
Wortschätze im Museum [Wealth of Words in the Museum] Age-appropriate dialogues in front of works by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele foster verbal expression and communication, as well as imagination and creativity. In the studio, the children experience how images become words and the other way around.
Von Nah und Fern und Mittendrin! [Near, Far and Right Here] Following in the footsteps of Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka’s travels across Europe, the students explore questions surrounding (in)voluntary migration. Their impressions then find creative expression in the studio.
For vocational schools:
Kopf + Hände + Werkzeug = Design [Head + Hands + Tools = Design] The classes reflect on the vocational worlds of then and now in the museum. They investigate the designs of Jugendstil, shaped by beauty and functionality, which emerged 100 years ago from the rejection of industrial production and the return to craftsmanship. In the studio, the students are then able to create beautiful objects with their own hands.
For secondary and polytechnic secondary schools:
Wiener Jahrhundertwende mit Klimt und Schiele (in Kooperation mit Teach for Austria) [Turn of the Century in Vienna with Klimt and Schiele (In Cooperation with Teach for Austria)] The era of Vienna around 1900 reflects the rebellious quest for a renewal of art. This desire for social change is palpable in all the works created by the artists of the time – whether in painting, artisan craftwork or design. Following a tour of the exhibition Vienna 1900, the students create their own works in the spirit of Klimt or Schiele in the studio.
Unsere Natur – unsere Wünsche – unsere Zukunft [Our Nature – Our Wishes – Our Future] The students are asked to consider the value of nature and of precious resources. With a view to the city of Vienna around 1900, the students explore the differences between life and work in a metropolis and in the countryside, as well as traffic and the relationship with nature. The pupils can then turn their insights into a sustainable creative object in the studio.
Duration of all programs: 1.5 hrs. incl. studio visit
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