Region Skåne's prize Kulturpaletten, 100,000 crowns, to After School

The prizegiving ceremony was on Wednesday in Dunkers Kulturhus in Helsingborg.

Congratulations on winning the prize!

– It really feels amazing! Being a new mum has taken up all my time, and now this prize. Two terrific things. I'm still up in the clouds, says project leader Sarah Granholm.

– So many people have played an important part in this. There's a whole crowd of us, and the children too, she says.

Sarah Granholm has been in charge of the project since it started in 2019. Its aim is to reach out to children who have no contacts with culture and create a meeting-place with free activities for the 10-12 age-group.

– We want to get children engaged in activities that are already established at Barbacka, for example. We have worked alongside Barbacka and Kristianstad Fritidsgårdsforum. We've done things by trial and error, she says.

– We've learnt that we must have activities on the spot, at the library, and that there must be a feeling of security. And we have outings to activities at other places.

The children can take part in creative art, dance and IT.

–The children have talked a lot about slime, that they have been allowed to work with that, laughs Sarah Granholm.

Several of the children have come often.

– That shows that what we're doing has a lasting effect.

After School is still at the project stage.

– We're working to have it made permanent. That's what we hope. Now we've started After School at the town library and in the library in Tollarp. Our dream is to have it spread to more branches.

100,000 crowns is a lot of money. What will it be used for?

– Yes, It's as much as what we have in our annual budget. The children can help to decide what the money is to be used for, says Marcus Cato, acting project leader, who was also present at the celebration in Helsingborg.

– We didn't dare hope we would win.

In the motivation to the prize it says that ”what children have to say is taken very seriously in After School.”

And also: ”2021's recipient of Kulturpaletten has developed a meeting-place which offers a broad spectrum of cultural activities for 9-12-year-olds. Since 2018 the staff has worked consistently and enthusiastically to reach out to all the children in the area.”