Helsinki City Theatre offers baby theatre for culture’s godchildren
Helsinki City Theatre is one of the actors in the Culture Sponsors project, which is offered to families with babies in Helsinki, and one of the theatre sponsors for children born in 2021 until the start of the children’s school. The City Theatre will start its sponsor theatre activities with its first-ever baby theatre production, the Mukavaa matkaa! performance for infants and their close adults.
“This is the beginning of our relationship with the theatre’s godchildren! Have a nice trip! is HKT’s first baby theatre performance and in itself a wonderful, new addition to our already versatile repertoire. It is great to be part of the first theatre experience of a baby and perhaps also of many families and to be able to follow the growth of the sponsored children! I hope that families with no previous theatre experience will also participate in the sponsor child activities,” says Mirja Neuvonen , who was in charge of audience outreach at the Helsinki City Theatre, who participated in the planning of the project from the beginning.
The script for the baby theatre performance Mukavaa matkaa! (Nice Journey!), which will be performed on the small stage and in the foyers of Studio Pasila in October, is written by Sanna Niemeläinen and Jenny Jumppanen, who will also direct the performance. The cast includes Eija Vilpas and Marjut Toivanen and musician Annika Venäläinen.
Have a nice trip! tells the story of a passenger (Marjut Toivanen) who is leaving Suomenlinna with her teddy bear towards the performance venue. His means of transport are the Suomenlinna ferry rocking like the traditional Helsinki, a rattling tram and a sleepy bus. She is assisted by a conductor (Eija Vilpas) who knows the city and its means of transport like the back of her hand – and there are many! The audience gets to join in the journey, and the performance marvels at the magic of theatre and explores the early interaction between a baby and an adult together.
The first ten performances of the autumn season will be held in the foyer of the small stage from 1 October onwards and the next eight performances from 12 October onwards in the foyer of Studio Pasila.
Every child born in Helsinki in 2020 or later will be sponsored by a cultural operator, through whom the child and their family will have a personal contact with art. The Culture Mentor, determined by the child’s year of birth, organises two free-of-charge cultural events for children each year, and the activities continue until the child starts school.
In addition to the Helsinki City Theatre, six Helsinki theatres will act as sponsors for children born in Helsinki in 2021, inviting their godchildren to children’s theatre sessions for babies around Helsinki this autumn. In addition to the Helsinki City Theatre, the cultural sponsors for babies born in Helsinki in 2021 are the Finnish National Theatre, Puppet Theatre Sampo, Teatteri ILMI Ö., Q-teatteri and Svenska The theatre.
The sponsorship of children born in Helsinki in 2020 is the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, whose sponsorship activities started 20 years ago have now expanded into joint activities between 31 leading cultural operators and the City of Helsinki.
Babies born in 2020 and 2021 living in Helsinki will receive an invitation to become a Culture Sponsor Child from the maternity and child health clinic, and registration to become a Culture Sponsor and cultural events takes place at https://kummilapset.hel.fi/fi/home.
The Culture Sponsors is a free cultural service for families with babies in Helsinki. From 2020 onwards, every child born in Helsinki will have their own cultural operator as a sponsor, through whom the child and their families will have a personal contact with culture and art. The sponsors are invited to two events each year until the child starts school. The sponsor is determined according to the child’s year of birth. The Culture Sponsors service is administered by the City of Helsinki’s Culture and Leisure Division and supported by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation.
Have a nice trip! premiere on 1.10.2021 at 10 a.m. in the foyer of the Helsinki City Theatre’s small stage (Eläintarhantie 5)
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Further information:
Mirja Neuvonen, Audience Outreach Coordinator, mirja.neuvonen@hkt.fi, 040 352 3969
Kaisa Pelkonen, Communications Manager, kaisa.pelkonen@hkt.fi, 040 552 3788
Helsinki City Theatre, Ensi linja 2, 00530 Helsinki