Community Development through Creative Action

Vita Gelūnienė and Ed Carroll are community artists living in Kaunas. Vita was co-founder and Executive Director (2006-2009) of Kaunas Biennial and maintains a dedicated education and artistic practice.  Ed’s background is Irish, and he was active in Dublin for twenty years with community organisations like Wet Paint, City Arts, Fatima Groups United, the Civil Arts Inquiry and Blue Drum.  Since 2011 Vita and Ed share a cultural practice with other people in the Šančiai community, Kaunas. In 2014, they co-founded a community association Žemuju Šančių bendruomenė which has become a beacon in Lithuania for cultural and civic actions. Together they address the challenges of public interest, community identity and civil participation. They have conceived and co-produced cultural actions like the “Friendly Zone” cycle, the “Cabbage Field” initiative and an annual cultural festival “Šančines”. In 2018, Vita and Ed began work with others on a community oopera and in June 2022 twenty-eight members of community are invited by Ville de Differdange to perform the Šančiai community opera “Cabbage Field” as part its Esch 2022 European Capital of Culture programme. https://differdange.lu/en/events/terre-ferme-lommelshaff/