Heritage in Our Hands

“Heritage in Our Hands” is a cultural education programme aimed at expanding access to the arts and developing the cultural competencies of children and young people from towns and communities with limited cultural opportunities.

Through direct engagement with cultural institutions, workshops, and creative activities, participants learn how to consciously experience art, develop their imagination, and build their own relationship with cultural heritage.

The project also promotes openness, collaboration, and social sensitivity, demonstrating that culture can become a space for dialogue and shared experience.

2026 Edition – Woven Stories

In the 2026 edition, we invite 10 schools and 400 participants from the Podlaskie and Lubelskie regions — areas with limited access to cultural infrastructure. It is a unique opportunity to enter the world of contemporary art, discover important cultural institutions, and develop creative, social, and educational skills.

This year’s edition expands the existing project formula. In addition to visits to the Orangery of the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, participants will also visit Phenomenaa Gallery, Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

The leading theme of this year’s edition, “Woven Stories,” focuses on textiles and the stories embedded in fabric, weaving, and structure. Inspirations include textile works presented during TOP CHARITY Art, as well as the history of kente cloths showcased in the Asante Zone. The project shows that textiles can be more than just material — they can serve as carriers of memory, identity, emotion, and collective experience.

Each meeting will begin with an introduction to the institution, exhibition, and the contexts behind the presented works. Participants will then take part in artistic and educational workshops inspired by the exhibitions they explore.

During their visit to the TOP CHARITY Art exhibition, participants will create a collaborative large-scale artwork resembling a symbolic flag representing their group.

At Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, young participants will visit Barbara Kasten’s exhibition Postabstraction. They will discover how the artist combines space, geometry, light, and perspective in her work.

At the Museum of Modern Art, participants will see the exhibition Maria Jarema. Broken Modernism. The workshops will provide an opportunity to explore abstraction and experimental graphic techniques such as monotype printing.

Phenomenaa Gallery will become a space for working with form, material, and collective action. Inspired by the masks, woven structures, and objects created from reclaimed materials presented in the exhibition, participants will create their own artistic forms.

“Heritage in Our Hands” is a project that uses art to build relationships, encourage openness to diversity, and provide young people with space for self-expression. This year’s edition shows that collective creativity can become a language of understanding, while textiles may serve as a metaphor for social bonds, memory, and cooperation.

As part of the project, participating schools receive funding covering transportation, meals, admission to cultural institutions, and participation in workshops. This is an important element of the mission of Omenaa Foundation and OmenaArt Foundation, both of which support cultural education and work towards democratising access to art in Poland. The project is implemented in partnership with Zachęta – National Gallery of Art.