Around 2012 I learnt of a cultural infrastructure in Sweden called Folkets Hus och Parken. A nationwide network of more than 500 meeting places for culture, education and arts groups. Its origins stem way back to 1893 and has evolved with the social and technological changes of the times into its current form in 2000 integrating live digital streaming technology into the mix.
The internet actually bringing people physically together, in a shared space for a cultural experience in their local community!
The internet actually bringing people physically together, in a shared space for a cultural experience in their local community!
Most people are familiar with the National Theatre live event cinema streamed from Britain. Folkets Hus och Parken offers a similar experience but with a much broader and diverse array of live cultural offerings in its Live Pa Bio program including music, opera and ballet. With the program often live, it is streamed simultaneously in all their venues, so effectively they would have a multi-location live audience across all of Sweden for a single event.
In Australia we have the tyranny of distance which limits access to cultural experiences. I became excited by the vision of being able to broadcast live events, for example a night of the Garma Festival, or main stage line up the Woodford Folk Festival or a Bell Shakespeare production from the Opera House, to multiple live audiences of people gathered in spaces across the country.
Folkets Hus och Parken has much more to it than just the live event Cinema program. Behind its rich cultural offerings and inclusive organisational principles is a clear mission:
To create democratic meeting places to enable society-improving events that can help create a more reasonable world.
What’s not to love about that?
For all Earthkind 