Starting this month, theatre and film director Jonas Tertelis joins the “Artscape” team as programme manager.
According to Aistė Ulubey, head of “Artscape”, the arrival of J. Tertelis will strengthen the organization’s creative capacity and contribute to raising the standard of artistic activities.
“As well as being an award-winning director, Jonas has an excellent knowledge of the cultural non-governmental field. Therefore, he will contribute with his competencies to the development and growth of the agency and to the realization of its vision: to advocate for stigmatized groups through art, to develop high-quality cultural integration projects and to increase the social impact of the organisation on vulnerable groups”, says A. Ulubey.
“The spectrum of Artscape’s activities is intriguing to find new links and strategies between professional artists, social issues and the challenges, that need to be talked about or expressed in other ways in order to achieve a sustainable maturation of society today,” says J. Tertelis, a film and theatre director and the new Head of Programmes at “Artscape”. – I see a lot of links between my artistic activities and my new position, and I am curious to use my experience to develop strategy, implement projects and find more effective solutions for the organisation.”
One of the latest productions of “Artscape” agency is a performance-experiment “Taxi”, presented this spring, which takes place in the cars that are driven by real taxi drivers in Kaunas delivering their theatrical stories. The performance is about the changing culture of the taxi business, influenced by the digitally-driven ride-hailing sector.
A dance performance “Dance for Freedom” in collaboration with partners was organised at the end of the summer. It was performed by ballerina Inga Briazkalova, a pioneer of vertical dance in Lithuania, on the neo-fresco “Do peremogi / To victory” on the occasion of the Ukrainian Independence Day.
Jonas Tertelis, manager of Programmes at “Artscape” / Photo from personal archive.
According to Tertelis, it is particularly interesting to explore how professional art and its different forms can reveal sensitive issues of a society or a group of people from a completely different perspective, connect different groups of society, promote empathy, curiosity and broaden the worldview of members of society.
Although J. Tertelis has been working in the field of professional art for more than 15 years, during that time he has directed more than 12 original plays, won the Golden Stage Cross four times, participated in numerous interdisciplinary art and creative industries productions, cultural initiatives and working groups, arts councils and expert activities, and is a co-founder and former chairman of the Association of Cultural Managers, he is most recently appreciated for his work in the field of documentary plays that explore the study of communities and groups of people.
“Artscape” has been an arts agency since 2012. Its main goal is to provide cultural participation to vulnerable groups and to initiate social change through high-quality art projects. The agency’s team carries out cultural-educational activities with vulnerable groups every day and brings at least a few high-value artistic productions to the market each year. The Agency is the winner of this year’s Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) Social Cohesion Awards, selected from 64 nominees.
December 9, 2022