Irena Mateliene is a former lecturer for a cultural management studies program and a project manager at a primary school in Rokiskis City. Currently, she is the head of the Communication and Culture Department at Rokiškis District Municipality Administration. Irena encourages the community’s cultural growth while implementing national cultural policy in the municipality. She takes care of public communication, tourism, cultural services, international relations of the municipality and transnational cooperation projects. Irena prepares an advisory framework regarding state culture and tourism policy implementation at the local level.

2023 IVLP Impact Award Project: Here We ASK

This project encouraged children to identify social problems, think of possible solutions, and ask adults about them, which are necessary skills to develop from an early age. Irena organized the production of six stories and follow-up discussion materials for 6-11-year-old students. The stories, written in both English and Lithuanian, reflect different critical social issues, such as intolerance, violence, and xenophobia, and some of the characters represent socially vulnerable groups. Over a six-week period, the author of the stories met with students once a week for a 1.5-hour session. The stories were read aloud in front of the class, and each meeting had an active discussion, and the special developed materials were used to encourage children to ask related questions. By the end of the project, Irena engaged with over 130 children, some from Lithuania and some from the UK. The project showed that reading stories and discussing them with children empowers social dialogue, impacts the quality and quantity of their questions, and raises them as proud people willing to live in a democratic environment.

Read the stories here

"The project aims to leave a footprint in the new generation's memory and behavior to raise them as proud people willing to live in a democratic environment." - Irena Mateliene

2022 IVLP Impact Award Project: The Cute Newbies

This project helped foster an active discussion and reflection between students with and without disabilities and ethnic majorities and minorities in the classroom. Four child-sized puppets played the roles of disabled children that attend ordinary lessons in the classroom. This provoked the natural spontaneous reactions of teachers and students which made them familiar with the special needs of their peers. These lessons encouraged reflections and discussion in schools and in the students’ families.

4 theater artists, 3 counselors, 32 teachers and 490 students engaged with the project in Rokiskis District, Lithuania. 75% of respondent teachers said they were encouraged to revise their teaching methods for children with disabilities.

IVLP Exchange Experience

Irena was a participant in the IVLP Project Promoting Social Change through the Arts in 2021, organized by the U.S. Department of State and FHI 360. She was a participant in the IVLP Project Promoting Social Change through the Arts in 2022, organized by the U.S. Department of State and the Mississippi Consortium for International Development.

Irena's exchange experience led to the development of her IVLP Impact Award Project: "A question is a tool of democracy and a spark for social change."

U.S. Communities Visited in 2022

Boulder, CO; Washington, DC; New York City, NY

U.S. Communities Visited Virtually in 2021

Washington, DC; Orlando, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Albuquerque, NM; Santa Fe, NM

"The IVLP experience changed the way I understood the purpose of art. Before I thought of art as a final destination. In the USA, I noticed that art is a tool to reach consensus, manifest a point of view and fight for civil rights. The project made me think a lot and rethink the purpose of cultural activities in my town and country. Although we experienced a virtual trip, it was interesting to listen to stories about the habits of people living in the USA." - Irena Mateliene

Country of Origin: Lithuania

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