Young volunteers of culture appeared in Kurkijoki

In July 2019 a summer museum education program was held in the village of Kurkijoki, Lahdenpohja region. Local teenagers aged 11-18 spent 10 days studying the history and traditions of the Ladoga Lake area and learning to work in a team. They were taught the basics of volunteering and prepared to support activities of the Kurkijoki Local History Center, one of the Russian participants of the InterActive History project.

A teams of the Karelian regional public youth organization “Volunteering development Center” and the Kurkijoki Local History Center worked with teenagers together with invited experts from the National museum of the Republic of Karelia, the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera), the Skål historical reconstruction club and the Bogatyrskaya Zastava club.
During these days kids were very busy with master classes, quests, trainings, creative thinking and observation skills games, educational tours and lectures. They visited the Viking age living history museum “Svartbjornborg” (The Black Bear fortress) in the Bastion historic park in Sortavala to learn about the Varangians, put on warrior armor, try hand in archery, and help the blacksmith in the real smithy.
The Crane River Festival closed the summer program in Kurkijoki. It was prepared by young volunteers and was highly appreciated by the residents and visitors of Kurkijoki.

As a result of the summer program a team of young volunteers was built ready to support the development of the Kurkijoki Local History Center and take an active part in its activities.

The summer museum education program for young volunteers was organized in the framework of the InterActive History project. The InterActive History project is a joint effort of six museums in Russia and Finland to create and introduce new interactive museum services based on research and interpretation of local cultural heritage, interactive principles and historical reconstruction in order to develop local identity and unique culture of the Euregio Karelia region. The project is implemented in the partnership with the Ministry of culture of the Republic of Karelia.
Karelia CBC Programme is financed by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland