Lights On 2024: Unlocking Sustainability
By integrating ecological principles, not only can cultural centres contribute to a healthier planet, but also strengthen the social and cultural fabric of their neighbourhoods. The 2024 edition of Lights On looked at the vital role cultural operators play in fostering environmental consciousness and weaving sustainability into the very essence of cultural institutions.
The training took place in Warsaw, hosted by our member Ośrodek Kultury Ochoty (OKO), a cultural institution under the patronage of the municipality. OKO is dedicated to deepening social bonds and enriching the cultural capital of the local community through a diverse range of grassroots artistic, civic, and social activities. As the host of the training, OKO embodies the fusion of culture, community and sustainability. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with an institution deeply rooted in local heritage, committed to fostering artistic expression, and dedicated to the principles of a sustainable and an eco-conscious future.
Discover more about the Lights On programme here
Dagna Gmitrowicz is the co-founder of KulturNest e.V. and a specialist in innovation, inclusion and training. Her practice combines four areas: art, learning, therapy and nature. Her daily work has supported many people's personal development and creativity thanks to her competencies as a forest therapy guide (certified by ANFT, USA), and therapist (certified by the M. Erickson Institute). As a painter, she explores different perceptions of reality by studying the natural environment and the nature of humankind. Over the last twenty-five years, she has been strongly involved in developing quality in the Youth, Erasmus and European Solidarity Corps Programmes. In this area, she facilitated meetings of trainers pools, seminars on inclusion and networking. She recently developed educational material on how to work with the issue of crisis in an intercultural environment. She belongs to several trainers' pools: TOSCA, TOT It's up to Me, soliDARE.
Oleg Koefoed is an actionist, working in the crossing pathways of science, research, culture, places, communities, businesses and governments, to contribute to the making of a common regenerative future. He leads the Center for Vitalism and Regenerative Transformation, hosted by Promentum in the heart of Copenhagen, and serves as a project maker, teacher, guide and counsellor. Since 1999, he has served as a teacher, course and program developer and mentor/supervisor in numerous contexts linked to sustainability, culture and regenerative transformations, including the Copenhagen Business School and Copenhagen University, Ars Baltica, the EU Baltic Sea Region PA for Culture, Valletta2018 European Capital of Culture, municipalities, regions, and networks in Europe and beyond.