Creative missions

We invite you to explore cultures in the ‘Know or Get to Know?’ campaign: allocate 1.2% for Creative Missions in the field of migration

We invite you to explore cultures in the ‘Know or Get to Know?’ campaign: allocate 1.2% for Creative Missions in the field of migration

Lithuania’s migration centres are home to adults, children, young people and unaccompanied minors – those who arrived without their relatives. In a new social campaign, the arts agency ‘Artscape,’ in collaboration with the creative agency ‘Marios Agency,’ invites you to explore different cultures and to see everything through the eyes of children. With the slogan ‘Know or Get to Know?’ the advertisement aims to talk about reduction of exclusion in society. The goal is to encourage people to contribute financially to Artscape’s Creative Missions on the Migration Field by donating 1.2 percent of their income.

According to Aiste Ulubey, the founder and director of Artscape, an arts agency with years of experience in the field of migration, every child has the right to a childhood. “Our artistic missions in migrant and refugee centres ensure access to culture, participation in culture, and the opportunity for the most vulnerable migrants – children and young people experiencing isolation from society as well as cultural and social exclusion – to express themselves through culture. Engaging with psychologists, educators, and artists holds transformative power”, says Ulubey about the inspiration and importance of the campaign.

Experiment: Spoken Lithuanian Fairy Tales

The social campaign was created by ’Marios Agency’. Three renowned figures from Lithuanian fairy tales and mythology – Eglė the Serpent Queen, Jūratė and Kastytis, and Perkūnas – took center stage as the main characters in the advertisement.

Renata Šarkauskaitė, the creative director of this agency, emphasizes the goal for ad to align with the organization‘s language. “Artscape” speaks the language of art, and therefore, original illustrations are chosen to express the ideas. The selected ’naive’ style combines a childlike naivety with an ethnographic, folk art style. This experiment aims to envision how Lithuanian mythology, folk tales, and legends might be perceived through the eyes of children from distant lands. What if people, whose traditions and beliefs are different, imagined Baltic gods and heroes? The meaning of this experiment is much deeper than just creativity”, say the authors.

Art can be a space where different cultures coverge, becomes a means of communication understanding. It is crucial to care for those easily forgotten amidst dramatic events such as – the war in Ukraine, economic and social upheavals. “For migrant children growing up in migration centres, this is the only childhood they have. They feel stuck in a situation of change, and while adaptation in Lithuania has commenced, much depends on us and how it unfolds. Hence, mutual support is crucial. For these children, self-expression, respect, recognition, and acceptance of their culture can be life-changing experience. Through artistic projects, we not only get to know them but also embrace their uniqueness. Beautiful and meaningful results can emerge from this dialogue,” says Renata Šarkauskaitė.

The visual solution for the campaign was created by Lithuanian artist, illustrator and comic book creator Akvilė Magicdust.

Art builds bridges.

In Ulubey’s opinion, Creative Missions conducted in collaboration with UNHCR help participants build a bridge between the past and present, their native culture and Lithuanian society. These missions encourage authenticity and understanding—a journey where participants can integrate various aspects of their identity through expression.

“The various workshops provide a safe space for self-expression, recognise and value cultural diversity. Art is a powerful tool for building resilience and social connections, which is particularly important for children and young people. Through art, we create an opportunity for all children to play, explore, and get to know each other. Art activities provide escapism, which is currently lacking for children in the context of refugee migration. For example, school lessons cannot replace this and allow us to stop being a child,” says Ulubey.

In 2022, Artscape’s Creative Missions included 596 art-oriented education sessions with migrants, refugees from African countries, Ukraine and other countries who were living at the time in refugee reception centres, youth centres, etc.

By donating 1.2% of your income tax to Artscape, you will be able to contribute to its activities and help create professional creative and educational environments for highly vulnerable groups that respond to social, political and economic challenges.

You can submit a request to allocate a portion of your income tax until May 1st of this year through the electronic declaration system. For this, you will choose one of the popular forms, FR0512, and enter the code of the ‘Artscape’ organization: 302706893. Information on how to fill out and submit the request electronically can be found here:

April 20, 2023