The Vekara-Varkaus festival week from 9-15 June explores different emotions through theatre, music, workshops and exhibitions.
Spread across Varkaus and the surrounding municipalities, this summer’s children’s cultural festival will focus on emotions. The content of the programme is based on the idea of children’s emotional skills.
-Today, more and more attention is being paid to emotional education. The festival week will therefore seek to approach emotions through workshops, performances and adventures. Children will be able to identify their own emotions through art. At the same time, they can think about how to act smartly when emotions take over,” says Marketta Kosunen, Event Manager.
This year, Minna Kivelä, an actress, director and screenwriter, was invited to be the festival’s godmother. Kivelä is familiar with the world of children through her background as a hospital clown and the storybooks she has written with Paula Noronen. Kivelä has also been involved in numerous children’s theatre productions. The idea of calling Kivelä to agodmother started to emerge from the children’s programme Närpiäiset on Pikku Kakkonen, in which two characters with very different emotions live under the same roof.
-“I am so happy and honoured to be asked to do such an honourable task. The feelings of excitement and excitement were immediately aroused. And with emotions as the theme, it immediately brought bubbles and butterflies to my stomach and my head. As a performing artist, I work with emotions all the time, so the subject is close to my heart, Minna Kivelä says.
As usual, godmother of the Vekara-Varkaus will be present during the festival week and children will be able to participate in the godmother’s workshops. Minna Kivelä is also involved in putting together the programme for the week, including performances.
-I want to experience different emotions myself when watching the performances. And how nice it is to talk after the show about the feelings that came up and why I felt that way. A shared experience can be the start of talking about feelings, first in general and then even in a personal way. So in the summer we will know and feel, Kivelä says happily.