The cultural memory of Little Lithuania in Priekulė shone with innovation

The Priekulė Art and Culture Center, whose previous name was recently supplemented with the important concept of “art”, opened its doors for the first time to its creative project – the innovative festival “Signs”, aimed at getting to know the cultural memory of Little Lithuania using modern artistic tools and a variety of genres.
Last Saturday night of the festival, not only the old town of Priekulė shone artistically, but also talented cultural and sports people of different generations were honored in the festive evening.
Be proud of the country’s heritage
The Priekulė Art and Culture Center hopes that the innovative nature of the “Signs” project will encourage the local community to appreciate and be proud of the identity and historical heritage of their region. The aim is for the festival to become a traditional and one of the most prominent events not only for the residents of Prikulki, the surrounding area, but also for the city’s guests and expatriates. April 11-13 the held festival also attracted the attention of LRT – the filmed plot told about the intricacies of the old town of Priekulė. By the way, “Bangas” newspaper published a series of articles about the unique cultural heritage of Priekulė several years ago.
The uniqueness of the architecture of Little Lithuania, which is characteristic of the city, was newly revealed late on Saturday evening in Klaipėda street lit up in various colors. Both the residents of Priekulė and the guests watched with amazement and as if researched the theatrical productions of Priekulė’s Ernst Vichert Theater and the family theater “Lino lėlė”, the sound performance of the musical duo “Tykumos”, and listened to the author’s concert of electronic music composer and sound engineer Lukas Tarvainis.
At the beginning of the festival, there was a calligraphy workshop in Priekulė, which was conducted by “Prof. Linas Spurga, lecturer of A. Kliševičius School of Calligraphy and Lettering. Words written during the workshop and quotes from regional writers were used in one of the video projections.
The “Signs” project is organized by Priekulė Art and Culture Center. The project is financed with 12,000 euros by the Lithuanian Culture Council and 3,600 euros by the Klaipėda District Municipality.
The laureate’s dream is the World Championship
The “Signs” festival spilled over into a meaningful celebration at the Saturday evening awards, where the well-known singer of original songs, Alina Orlova, performed. In a solemn ceremony surrounded by visual and mysterious signs in the hall of the Priekulė Art and Culture Center, as many as three honorable awards were presented: Culture and Art Worker of the Year Award, Ernst Vicherts “Young Talent” Award and nomination of the Lithuanian National Cultural Center “Golden Bird”.
The winners of the nominations were congratulated by Klaipėda district municipality mayor Bronius Markauskas, vice-mayors Vytautas Butkus and Violeta Riaukienė, members of the E. Vichert prize “Young talent” commission.
For the fourteenth time, the names of the applicants for the E. Vichert “Young Talent” prize were announced at the Priekulė Art and Culture Center. This time there were five of them, and every student from Prikulški, Gargždi, Dituviš surprised them with their scientific, musical or sports talents. “Always strive for the best” is the motivational motto of Kamilė Mikluš, the winner of this year’s “Young Talent” prize, Priekulė Ieva Simonaitytė high school student. Kamilė is pleased with the highest sports awards: she is the champion of the European Kudo Championship and the winner of various republican and district competitions, at the age of fifteen she is already a B-category judge of the LKSF Judges’ League. Kamilė did not hide her tears of victory on the stage, but mostly thanked her coach Sergej Borčevski, who was the first to congratulate her student. Kamilė loudly expressed her big dream – to participate in the World Kudo Championship in Tokyo. She said that she will save the 500 euro bonus, which is awarded by the municipality of Klaipėda district, for a ticket to Japan. Kamila’s father said after the awards that he hopes for his daughter’s dream to come true, because she is very stubborn.

The glory of E. Wichert’s theater and director
The winner of the Cultural and Art Worker of the Year award, announced for the second time, was accompanied by thunderous applause. He became the manager and director of the E. Vichert Theater of Priekulė Art and Culture Center Donatas Savickis. This prize – worth 1,500 euros – is also financed by the municipality of Klaipėda district. “I am worthy,” said the winner of the Culture and Art Worker of the Year award with a smile, receiving the award from Klaipėda District Municipality Mayor B. Markauskas.
This is not the first important award for Donatos or the E. Vicherts Theater he leads. Last year, the theater won the prize of the writer Ieva Simonaitytė, and this year, at the Lithuanian National Cultural Center’s amateur art collective awards, the “Golden Bird” was brought to Priekulė and the best evaluation of an adult theater and manager.
Donatas manages another, completely different tradition, the Agluonėnai Laying Theater, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. And as he himself jokes, he is now a versatile director: he can work in stage, puppet, and drama theaters.
Uniqueness is the key
“When I came to work here 8 years ago, I thought about how to make this theater unique. I didn’t really know who Ernst Wichert was when I came, and a lot of people still don’t. I began to delve deeper into who he is, his work. Then we made the first production based on E. Vichert’s “Shaktarpis”, here it would be otherwise known as “Elsée from Gilija”, where Puipa directed a movie. And here is “Shaktarpis” – his short story. We made a play, and the whole color of Little Lithuania dictated that theater should be a subject of Little Lithuania’s repertoire. This is why Simonaitytė and all other authors are. This is very difficult, because you limit yourself very much in reality”, said director D. Savickis in a short video clip shown at the celebrations. However, according to Donatos, it is the uniqueness that determines the success of the theater. After going to competitions and various events, the troupe often receives questions about whether they are representatives of a professional theater. And the bar raised so high is not only gratifying, but also a little frightening, because quality must be maintained.
Thanking him for the evaluation of his creative work, Donatas emphasized the importance of his first teachers, the harmony of teamwork, the positive attitude of the managers, he pointed out that the E. Vichert Theater was founded 20 years ago by Alanta Zapalskienė.
At the gala evening of the Priekulė Art and Culture Center, the director D. Savickis and the E. Vicherts Theater led by him were awarded the “Golden Bird” nomination of the Lithuanian National Cultural Center.
Vilija BUTKUVIENĖ
Photo by Aldo Kazlauskas.