This publication has been created and compiled by a group of professionals who have a passion for cultural and digital youthwork. We started out as strangers in an Erasmus+ project called Diggiloo and ended up forming networks both locally, nationally and internationally.  We have narrowed down our approach to culture to areas such as arts, performance, media making and youth culture. Most definitions of culture also include aspects of creating, sharing, participating and influencing. As Ninni Parviainen writes in her article: “Youth workers do not always realise that what they are doing IS cultural youth work.” 

This publication offers ideas and inspiration for many kinds of productions, all involving young people who have found different ways to express themselves individually and in groups with the support of dedicated youth workers and art instructors. Well done! 

Creativity and ideas start to flow once the right combination of partners has been found and our motivation and enthusiasm have been awakened. We discovered just how challenging it can be in youth work to bring good partners together and to identify common interests, a common working language, the right age group and mutual goals. Coming up with content and getting help in technical know-how is the easier part. 

The activities of the Diggiloo project can be grouped as follows: 

• Engaging with youth groups to create digital productions. 
• Sharing experiences among youth workers on how best to support and facilitate digital cultural youth work. Sharing pedagogy, ideas and technical know-how. 
• Networking to create a joint international cultural project to engage youth and to work digitally. 

Aim for a surprise: the power of networking 

As Hannele Valkeeniemi, director of the Finnish Institute in Estonia (FINST), summarized the lesson learned: “If you gather an unexpected combination of people with different backgrounds to join in a common task, you will get unexpected results.”  So, the efficient way to create something new is to engage in all kinds of networks with all kinds of people and then toss around ideas. Local youth work networks in both participating cities, Tartu and Amstelveen, have gained new partners and ideas have been developed by unexpected combinations of interested parties. Who would have thought that a mix of people from twin towns Tartu and Tampere, FINST, graffiti artists and musicians together with the Tartu Youth Work Center, could create a mural with extensions to online content and experiments with augmented reality? The rest is history – and you can read about it in this collection and watch a making-of video.   
 
Thanks to Digiloo projects, the Amstelveen City Social Youth Work has gained new partners and connections locally. This has led to the formulation of a new approach and policy to local youth work. They reached out to youth work foundation Future Face and received help in using digital media to reach more young people and attract them to cultural events. Talented young people created webpages, videos, and podcasts and used social media to get the message through to more youngsters in Amstelveen. As a result, Speakerz events at the cultural venue P60 have been packed with young people and youth workers have been on hand for them.
 
Humak, as a Finnish educational institute which trains youth workers, has mobilized students as part of Diggiloo project to reach out to local youth groups. Student trainees in the Diggiloo project got an inside glimpse of an Erasmus+ project and familiarized themselves with both cultural and digital youth work. Some have even contributed articles to this collection. We are a lucky nation to have a well-organized cultural youth work network run jointly by Centre of Expertise for Municipality Youth Work Kanuuna and our partner Young Culture. We are eager to share this idea with other countries – it works! In a sparsely populated country with long distances, networking is a way to find your “tribe” and prosper.  Most of the articles and examples have been gathered from this network.  

Digital revolution in cultural youth work 

In the following pages, we aim to present cultural productions which utilize some form of digital technology in a new or unexpected way.   

Diggiloo started during the Covid-19 pandemic, and we saw how youth work quickly adopted every new possibility of digital youth work. The aftermath of this era will show which of these digital working methods are here to stay and which will fade away. It is only natural that now it is once more possible to meet face-to-face, put on performances, laugh and rehearse together, this is the preferred method amongst youth. Friendships and networks are mostly built through real-time communication together. But at the same time, an extraordinary toolkit has been created to plan, rehearse, make, publish, stream and get feedback online digitally. Many events and performances now reach much wider audiences via hybrid presence. Some ideas can only be achieved with “new” technologies, such as artificial intelligence. Some participants can only be reached – and certain forms of accessibility can only be achieved – online. On the one hand, there are productions such as the Discord-based theatre by IRTI youth theatre group, produced exclusively via online rehearsals and performed to and with an online audience. On the other hand, you have the Finnish National Theatre engaging youth both as actors and as audiences in a GÄNG street performance, incorporating the digital aspect through the use of prerecorded sounds and narratives which the audience experiences via headphones.  

What lessons have we learned? The only limit to what we can do is our imagination! 

To conclude with the wise words of Ninni Parviainen: “Cultural youth work is no more and no less than the intellectual and spiritual capital that we pass on to our children.” 

This publication would not have been possible without the inspired editorial work of Jenni Hernelahti, Humak and Heidi Iivari, FINST. Our graphic designer was Emilia Reponen, Humak  who has done miracles again. We extend our special Thank You! to Jennifer Bergman, Humak who has made the articles readable by correcting our English. We are also grateful to Ninni Parviainen and Johanna Hurme for all the help they gave along the road and for paving the way for co-operation. Thank you all! 

Author Susanna Pitkänen  is Diggiloo project manager and senior lecturer at Humak.