About a hundred children from Koljnof (Hungary), Tavankut (Serbia) and Zagreb (Croatia), participants in the “Toys at Heart – Inspired by Croatian Traditional Culture” program gathered, which is being held as part of the Week of Croats Abroad, and whose main organizer is the Central State Office for Croats Abroad
Toys at Heart – Inspired by Croatian Traditional Culture is a multimedia program of international cultural cooperation carried out by the Croatian Heritage Foundation, the Croatian School of Boston (USA) and the Croatian Studies Foundation in Sydney (Australia) with Croatian schools, Catholic missions, organizations and associations and other relevant institutions outside the Republic of Croatia with the aim of encouraging and developing the creativity of children and young people while learning and promoting Croatian traditional culture, fostering the Croatian language, interconnecting and networking, and connecting with the homeland of Croatia.
More than 200 children and about 40 mentors from America, Europe, and Australia participated in the open call held in 2018. The results of the competition – children’s art, multimedia, photographic, and literary works – form the setting for a multimedia exhibition that traces the circle of creation from tradition to today’s interpretations through children’s creativity. In addition to the exhibition, it includes an art and drama workshop with toy motifs inspired by Croatian traditional heritage, intended for children and young people. To date, the program has been successfully implemented in Zagreb and several Croatian communities outside the Republic of Croatia (Montenegro, Italy, Hungary, Romania), connecting another 300 children to this educational and creative program.
For all of the above reasons, as well as the particular attention that the Week of Croats Abroad pays to children and young people in order to further become familiar with their roots and strengthen the sense of belonging to the Croatian identity by participating in the content intended for them, “Toys at Heart” was included in the program of the first Week of Croats Abroad.
The event held at the Croatian Heritage Foundation building began with a cultural and artistic program performed for its peers by the Children’s Folklore Ensemble SKUD “Ivan Goran Kovačić” and continued with the grand opening of a multimedia exhibition and creative workshops.
After viewing the exhibition, guided by volunteer students from the Faculty of Croatian Studies, art workshops on traditional toys were held. At their own discretion, children made a horse, an airplane or a car, using simple and affordable materials such as cardboard, clips, buttons and various other everyday materials. The program ended with a joint lunch and the distribution of commemorative cups.
After the art workshop, the children also participated in the Croatian Post’s philatelic workshop.
The “Toys at Heart – Inspired by Croatian Traditional Culture” project presented as part of the Week of Croats Abroad showed not only the results of the creativity of children and young people from Croatian communities in the world, but in its practical part, confirmed that Croatian traditional culture can be learned through play and creativity, thus nurturing and preserving Croatian identity outside the homeland. By participating in the exhibition and workshops, our dear guests – children of the Croatian minority in Hungary and Serbia, as well as their hosts from Zagreb – became part of a large community of peers from all over the world, now about six hundred of them, who were connected by the Toys at Heart project with their love for creation, Croatian tradition and language.
Text: CHF; Photo: Krasnodar Peršun
