Young audiences found art in Tornio – The eviction of the Aine Art Museum enabled new attractive means

Art education at the Aine Art Museum has become extremely popular with children. The exhibition in the shopping centre attracted young adults.

There is a watercolor painting on white paper showing a man dressed in a white tall hat and a long white coat.  Next to the picture is a child's hand with a watercolor brush.
Art education for children and young people involves introducing them to real art and producing their own art. Photo from a workshop at the Aine Art Museum.

Tornio has attracted many new young audiences to the arts. The art exhibition was moved to a gallery in the shopping centre for the summer and attracted almost 4000 visitors.

According to Kanniainen, many visitors found the shopping centre’s showroom easily accessible and a nice place to stop by during a shopping trip.

The art education workshops organised by the Aine Art Museum have also grown enormously in popularity among children and young people. By the end of the year, the Museum had organised hundreds of workshops in schools and early childhood education, more than ever before.

The Aine Art Museum has brought its events to the people, because the Rajakartano, or joint building of the library and the art museum, is under renovation and all operators are in evacuation rooms. We will move back to our premises during the end of the year.

However, we intend to continue the well-established practice even after returning to our own premises, and the introduction of art to people will continue.

– The elderly are also taken into account now. We are starting an experiment with art activities that go to village halls and gathering spaces, says Kanniainen.

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