Project “Draw and paint your municipality: Ringkøbing-Skjern”

The project was supported in 2019 by the so-called LAG funds under Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality, under “the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe invests in rural areas”.

Project idea and purpose

(The text is an excerpt from the application)

AS Visuals is owned by a young entrepreneur who was born and raised in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality and has started her own business, located at Innovest in Skjern. AS Visuals specializes in graphic design and illustrations. In the project “Draw and paint your municipality: Ringkøbing-Skjern”, AS Visuals will develop and produce two locally based colouring books, one for children and a “stress of” colouring book for adults, each of which contains approx. 40 illustrations and stories in 3 languages (Danish-German-English) of at least 30 sights from the entire Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality. The colouring books will be included in various cultural and tourism activities at the places of visit in collaboration with Ringkøbing-Skjern Museum and Ringkøbing Fjord Tourism throughout the project period, as well as after the project is completed.

The main purpose of the project is to present and promote the sights of Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality in a new and different way for visitors and locals. The project wants to give visitors to the Kingdom of Nature a new angle and relationship to the area by developing a place-based cultural narrative combined with a beautiful creative design. It can contribute to a new and different marketing of the municipality’s sights and create curiosity among the guests for further exploration of the Kingdom of Nature and thus also give a greater turnover to the municipality’s local companies.

Not least, it will help brand AS Visuals’ artistic resources, as well as create and further develop its own niche area for the benefit of the entire local area. The project will help to preserve and pass on the local cultural heritage with children as cultural ambassadors.

The colouring books can be purchased at many of the various places of interest / sights as well as other local shops. The colouring book can be used alone but can also be a social activity which will provide more quality time and well-being. The user will have opportunities for immersion in the area’s cultural history and experiences through the local stories as well as relaxation, creativity, innovation and community.

The activities of the project

The project was carried out from 1 February 2019 to 30 April 2020. In agreement with the visiting places, drawing workshops were held for children and adults, where both children and adults, locals and tourists could participate by paying admission on site. The artist Anne-Sophie Bech was responsible for the workshops and the colouring books, which were developed during the project could be purchased. In addition, we participated in activities at markets, schools, festivals, etc.

A Facebook group was set up where you could upload drawings and comment on other people’s drawings.

The activities ran from 1 July to 1 March 2020. In total, almost 2000 adults and children participated.

For more information about the project, contact project coordinator: Christiane Bech, +45 61 66 28 09, email: cb@as-visuals.dk.

To get in touch with the artist, contact Anne-Sophie Bech, + 45 61 70 43 57, email: asb@as-visuals.dk.