Vast educational possibilities of art are all too often underestimated in the process of forming character in children and adolescents. Educational activities of Kulczyk Foundation attempt to break down that traditional way of thinking. Projects that we proposed in 2005 were inspired by the ideaof educating through art. Activities and workshops were designed to encourage creative thinking by engaging all the mental abilities – feelings, memory, sensitivity – and by stimulating development of individual talents while initiating effective and creative group work.

At Kulczyk Foundation we believe that art should be ever-present in everybody's life. That is why we designed two programs aimed at children and adolescents.

First one of them is a series of meetings at Stary Browar Gallery during exhibitions (Changing The Guard, Tomek Sikora, Sylwester Ambroziak, Wojciech Fangor). The activities were diversified according to the age of the beneficiaries – the younger had more workshops while the elder ones participated in many lectures and discussions. At Stary Browar Gallery we usually host exhibitions of contemporary art with which youngsters are seldom familiar, which sometimes results in aversion and lack of understanding. Activities within the gallery spaces have created a great opportunity to change this attitude. The young could discover and understand contemporary art through information, discussion, and their own creations.

The other program consists of activities for 12 to 16-year-olds from the nearest neighbourhood – Wilda and Stare Miasto. Meetings had been held from October through late December, twice a week at Stary Browar Słodownia or Galeria (depending on the nature of activities). We have succeeded to create a place where children from the neighbourhood could meet and develop their talents.

Activities were divided into theme blocks: each of them was devoted to exploring another new medium of artistic expression. We used a lot of various visuals. Each session began with a discussion and a brainstorm. That initial stage was meant to provide the participants with information necessary to complete the given practical task which followed. All the tasks were designed in such a way so that they motivated children to creative thinking. Our aim was to stimulate the participants who – monitored by the moderator – developed and executed their creative visions. It is a significant fact that every project resulted in a concrete object – a piece of art, for example a video film. In the last three months of 2005 we realised two theme blocks: on photography and video art. October and early November were the months devoted to photography. After discussing the theory – of portrait photography in particular – the youngsters busied themselves with practical tasks – they took photos in the studio and in the open air. The project ended with making a photo album which included the works of all participants. Video was another genre we got to work on. Children learnt the basics of video art and tried various techniques. They were also instructed on how to use the recording equipment. After that the participants got down to making films based on their own script. The project ended with a cameral festival of their film works.