#nordplus

I am extremely thankful for the chance to engage in the NORDPLUS Creative Arts Pedagogy and the Environment CAPE Network multidisciplinary project.  I met many fascinating professionals who shared their perspectives on school education through their passion for environmental issues. At the conference held in Faroe Islands from June 5th to June 12th, 2022, I got the opportunity to hear a brief talk by the associate professor in Biology and Natural Science Didactics Dr. Erla Olsen about exciting and essential school courses. Her talk brought me into understanding that interesting subjects like art and music doesn’t came with usefulness in the eyes of students and vice versa with valuable subjects like math and history.

At the meeting I presented our research study results about Arctic bottom organisms living under the influence of melting glaciers in the bays of so-called European Arctic, Svalbard. During the presentation I highlighted the importance of correctly presenting data with interesting and easily understandable results to a broader community - essential part in the scientific world, unfortunately commonly missed. It is often difficult to present the results in one or a few sentences, especially when the research results are not always straightforward. Nonetheless, this is required if we, as scientists, intend to truly impact change by involving the public in climate change and other environmental issues. Because of this, the artist's touch is needed and could be seen as a bridge between scientists and the masses.

As a student and aspiring educator, I vowed to incorporate entertaining and engaging elements into the scientific subject explanation.

Dance and media technology conference 2017

                                          Matas Dirginčius

                      Lithuanian music and theatre academy

                                         Actor

    To begin with, i must say, that the week in Tallinn was enriching for me, as a human being in the first place, and as an actor, a dancer. After i came home i felt that not only my knowledge about dance and movement and technology became wider, but i also learnt a lot about different countries and different people and i understood that we all are the same. We all are humans. And the labels of nationality or gender or look to the world we are putted on, or we ourselves put on are just subordinate things. Because we all have the same emotions, we all feel the same pain or joy or loss or whatever it is. And we have to overcome those secondary things in order to make this world a better place with our jobs, which we can make together.

   It was truly amazing, that we had this extraordinary opportunity to work together with musicians from Iceland, and dancers from Sweden, Estionia, Latvia. And it made me realise, that in my academy in Lithuania, there are so many of us, artists in one place, but we all do our work separately. There are dancers, musicians, theatre and cinema directors, actors, playwriters, but no one collaborates. And i really appreciate that this conference made me realise this. And it inspired me to look more broadly into art and it‘s mission.

        And i also thought, that for the future conferences, maybe you could consider about putting all the participants to live in one place, because that would give much more time and possibilities to know each other better.