Games through and for culture empower youth participation
Informing creativity, well-being and identity, cultural heritage is the backbone of society. However, cultural heritage institutions (CHIs) can find it challenging to engage youth visitors. The EU-funded EPIC-WE(opens in new window) project tackled this challenge by engaging youth and other stakeholders in the co-creation of heritage-related games.
Quadruple helix structure
A core concept of the project is the quadruple helix structure, a replicable design for stakeholder engagement. In project pilots youth participants, research institutions, creative industries (CIs) and CHIs worked together to create games that use cultural heritage material. By providing a means for active youth participation, these game-making experiences strengthen cultural belonging, lead to a deeper understanding of personal identity and enrich cultural engagement. Project coordinator Rikke Toft Nørgård describes this approach as the project’s main outcome on the macro level. As Nørgård explains, “The quadruple helix cultural innovation ecosystem is a democratic cross-sector map for cultural innovation where youth citizens are no longer end-users or passive audiences, but helix partners and valued co-inventors of our shared cultural future.”
Cultural hubs
At the meso level, EPIC-WE identifies its cultural hubs – vibrant, real-world living labs – as essential outcomes. Each of the hubs is centred on a partnering CHI. The material used in the hubs represents the diversity of cultural heritage and includes visual art, media archives, historic architecture and literature. In Aarhus, Denmark, the ARoS Art Museum(opens in new window) opened its collection to project participants. Young people examined their own experiences, then used those insights to design games that explore the meaning of identity. In the Portuguese village of Óbidos, a UNESCO City of Literature(opens in new window), participants stayed in the village and toured local sites. Games designed in this hub highlighted local folklore, biodiversity, sustainability and democratic history. The third hub, the Sound and Vision Media Museum(opens in new window) in Hilversum, Netherlands, invited participants to explore media democracy through its vast archival collection. Each hub provided a unique and vital ecosystem for the development of games through and for culture. Nørgård shares, “Together the three cultural hubs proved that when we treat our collections and sites not as ‘dead history’ but as concrete material for imagining and creating games with culture, we empower a new generation to shape their own cultural futures.”
Cultural game jams
The project’s micro-level achievements are the games themselves. Over 400 youth participated in cultural game jams(opens in new window) at the cultural hubs, working with other partners in the EPIC-WE helix ecosystem to design interactive games that integrate cultural heritage material with prosocial values. Through the cultural game jam structure, participants created 84 games. One game, ‘Metamorphosis’, created in collaboration with the CI Mothworks, used speculative design and playful interactions to help youth navigate the complex journey of self-discovery. Another game, ‘Smit and the Storm’, used archived material to reimagine a historic flood, bringing emphasis to lessons on collective response, human dignity and environmental sustainability. Youth feedback to the cultural game jams was positive across many levels, showing an appreciation for game design opportunities as well as more introspective outcomes. The project revealed that youth involvement is a critical feature of improving public engagement with cultural heritage. “As a society we must recognise young people as partners in cultural innovation, moving them from the margins into the middle of co-creation,” Nørgård explains.