400 Young People, 40 Workshops – “Heritage in Our Hands. Woven Stories 2026”
Another edition of “Heritage in Our Hands” is now behind us. Through this programme, we bring art closer to children and young people, particularly those who have limited access to culture in their everyday lives. This year’s edition – “Woven Stories 2026” – brought together 400 young participants from schools, institutions and care and educational facilities across the Podlaskie and Lubelskie regions.
From 15 May to 20 June, participants travelled to Warsaw from places including Bielsk Podlaski, Suwałki, Orla, the Przerośl area, Lublin, Puławy and Siennica Różana. In total, we delivered 40 workshops, giving young people the opportunity to discover contemporary art, visit leading cultural institutions and, most importantly, create art themselves.
Each group was provided with a fully funded day trip to Warsaw, including transport, meals, admission to cultural institutions and participation in workshops. For many participants, this was not only their first direct encounter with contemporary art, but also their first visit to the capital. We wanted the project to offer a full day of new experiences – an opportunity to discover art, Warsaw, new people and places they had never had the chance to explore before.
Woven Stories
The central theme of the 2026 edition was textiles and the stories embedded in material, weave and structure. Participants discovered that fabric can be much more than a material – it can carry stories of memory, identity, emotions, relationships and community.
The programme introduced young people to different aspects of contemporary art. At the Orangery of the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, they explored the TOP CHARITY Art exhibition and created large-scale collaborative works inspired by textiles, African culture and the idea of community.
At Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, participants visited Barbara Kasten’s “Post-Abstraction” and the “Coming of Age” exhibitions. During the accompanying workshops, they experimented with form and space while exploring their own creative expression.
At the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the exhibition “Maria Jarema: Cracked Modernism” became an opportunity to discover abstraction and experimental artistic techniques. At Phenomenaa Gallery, participants encountered contemporary African art, its stories and contexts, while workshops encouraged them to explore form, materials and collective creation.
Bringing culture closer to young people
For us, “Heritage in Our Hands” is about much more than visiting museums and galleries. Through direct contact with art, we want to nurture young people’s imagination, curiosity and cultural awareness. We want to show them that art is not only something to look at – it can be interpreted, experienced, discussed and created in their own way.
This year’s “Woven Stories” perfectly reflected the idea behind the programme: just as individual threads come together to form a fabric, the different stories, experiences and creative activities of the participants came together to form a shared whole.
The project was funded and supported by Omenaa Foundation and OmenaArt Foundation, with the “Woven Stories 2026” edition delivered in partnership with Zachęta – National Gallery of Art.
At Omenaa Foundation and OmenaArt Foundation, we are committed to expanding access to culture and arts education – an important part of our mission. We particularly want to reach children and young people in places where access to culture is limited. We believe that experiences like these can help shape future artists, but also a new generation of people who are curious about the world, open-minded and sensitive to culture.
