BRAS – About the festival
BRAS is a cultural festival where children and young people can create and experience arts and culture in their local area. The festival was held for the first time in September 2018 and has been held continuously since then, every autumn.
The festival motto is Dare! Be! Do! The guiding principle of the festival is to encourage children in East Iceland to dare to be themselves and act on their own terms. The goal is to create a platform where all children in East Iceland can work together on a peer basis regardless of their mother tongue, language skills, and place of residence. The work is carried out across ethnicity, geographical area, and age.
Other goals of BRAS include:
Children should become familiar with diverse methods of the arts in creative work.
To open the eyes of children and young people in East Iceland to the importance of togetherness, empathy and solidarity.
To allow children to get to know each other in a new way and understand each other from new perspectives.
To increase respect and tolerance among children and young people.
That children appreciate the treasure that lies in access to different cultures.
To use artistic creation to build bridges between nationalities, age groups, and communities.
To encourage East Iceland artists to offer events for children and young people in their local communities
To encourage guardians to enjoy culture and art with their children in their local communities
BRAS for the future
As mentioned earlier, BRAS was held for the first time in 2018, and the project has been constantly developing. It has also expanded a lot. In the past year, it can be said that the majority of children and young people in East Iceland have had an art and/or cultural event in their school or have had access to one in their local community.
BRAS is a collaborative and cooperative project between schools and municipalities in East Iceland, and the three cultural centers play a key role. There is also excellent cooperation with Art for All and various institutions in East Iceland. The BRAS steering committee manages the project, which includes representatives from the cultural centers, municipalities, and Austurbrú. There is enormous ambition and consensus that the festival is as successful as possible and is allowed to develop, thrive, and grow. The festival has become one of the more significant events held in the east. When the festival ends each year, a survey is conducted to see how it was successful, and subsequently, an overall vision for the future of BRAS is developed and reviewed.
