Danube Watch 2/2017 - Creating environmental art and getting active for a cleaner Danube!
Creating environmental art and
getting active for a cleaner Danube!
Pupils from countries all over the Danube Basin compete to become the 2017 Danube Art Master!
Danube Art Master, the 14-country Danube Art Master contest, which challenges children living in the Danube Basin to create sustainable works of art dedicated to their rivers, has returned. The international school competition, created at the initiative of the ICPDR as part of Danube Day, is held annually and chooses one Danube Art Master from among the many contestants from schools all over the Danube River Basin. The competition takes place within the framework of the International Danube Day celebrations. Winners are selected at both national and international levels and are rewarded with great prizes.
This year, children and teens from 12 countries took part in this popular art competition – the Danube Art Master with the Danube Day 2017 motto “Get active for a cleaner Danube!” Kids between six and 18 years of age created artwork using only natural materials taken from a riverbank, ideally the Danube or one of its tributaries.
The 2017 edition of Danube Art Master saw the introduction of a new and special category: the contestants could also make short films or videos, conveying the message of a cleaner Danube.
The competition was jointly organised by the ICPDR and the Global Water Partnership in Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE) in cooperation with the largest network of NGOs in the Danube Basin – the Danube Environment Forum. The project is funded by the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme-Global Environmental Finance (UNDP/GEF) unit. An international jury, composed of national representatives from all ICPDR countries, judged the national winners´ artwork at international level.
Children are encouraged to visit local rivers and surrounding areas and to consider what the environment really means to them. They are then asked to reflect on their thoughts and inspirations to create environmental art using materials from in and around the river.
The Danube Art Master competition is an excellent opportunity for children to discover the geography, chemistry and ecology of rivers in the field and away from their classrooms. But the true heart of the competition is to unite children across the entire basin and encourage them to visit their local rivers and reflect on what the Danube’s waters mean to them. Whether created by using reeds, stones, driftwood or simply waste found along the riverbank, the diversity of the art produced illustrates the wealth of the Danube Basin and its unity under the banner: ‘We love the Danube’.
