Summary

Many people spend their time home browsing internet. And if so, it is good to visit websites and pages on social media sites where we could find information that are either new, valuable or interesting to us. For the near future Gdynia – the first Polish city in the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) – has prepared some offers on the net for people of all ages. We can gain entirely new knowledge and get to places we wouldn’t normally go by dint of the online sport activities, psychological advice and theater performances. More importantly, we can all do it together, completely free of charge and regardless of age. Therefore, you are welcome to visit!

Gdynia as the first city in Poland has been accepted as a member of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in July 2019. The UN Agency appreciated Gdynia’s achievements in constant enhancement of quality and excellence in learning at school (on all levels) but also development of the non-formal education offer – all those activities that citizens can take part in the free time in order to grow, self-develop and make new acquaintances.

Early this year, on January 24 – the date proclaimed by The United Nations General Assembly as International Day of Education – Gdynia’s working group responsible for putting for the idea of learning city into practice has held its first meeting.

Michał Guć, Gdynia’s Deputy Mayor for Innovation, chairman of Gdynia’s working group for learning city: “We’ve started a talk on how to use the potential of the municipal institutions and units so Gdynia’s citizens could have access to as wide as possible offer of activities and open events fitting their expectations. We did not expect that we would have to use one of the channels we considered important yet not essential. Today I urge each and every one of you to: #stayhome and we – representatives of the municipal institutions of culture, history, sports or science – shall make it worth your while. Perhaps you’ll have to move around a bit, maybe rack your heads or even get your hands dirty but always with a sense that we’ve done something interesting and have learned something new. I encourage to check websites and social media of Gdynia’s institutions. There are many valuable offers for everyone.

Several Gdynia’s municipal units – including Social Innovation Lab, Senior Activity Center, Familial Gdynia, Municipal Departments of Culture and Education, Gdynia’s Library, EXPERYMENT Science Centre, Gdynia Sports Center – are engaged in creating and expanding the offer together with and for the citizens.

Municipal Department of Culture

The Department of Culture in cooperation with Gdynia’s establishments prepared a special cultural offer available online, when city’s cultural institutions had gone into lockdown.

“Kultura łączy siły” (Culture Joining Forces) initiative launched with screening of “Matka” (Mother), dir. Łukasz Ostalski, Gdynia Film School graduate. As of March 16 every day at 6 pm culture and even psychology related videos are available to watch on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/gdyniakulturalna/ and Gdynia Kulturalna YT channel https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gdynia+kulturalna. Those include both new materials prepared just for Culture Joining Forces and archive recordings from past events.

The playlist includes: Gdynia Główna Theater’s performances, Gdynia Film School graduates’ award-winning movies, a “Wolność Kosmos Improwizacja” (Freedom Cosmos Impro) concert at Desdemona club, psychology lectures by Professor Tomasz Grzyb, EkoGdynia workshops (a treat for eco enthusiasts). And for the kids there are fairytales readings, a theatre performance of “Dzielny Kapitan Ahab”(Brave Captain Ahab – inspired by Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”) by Gdynia Główna Theater. On the agenda for next week there are concerts broadcasts, guided tour of Gdynia City Museum’s exhibition, theme workshops and many, many more.

Project partners: Gdynia Film Center, Gdynia Film School, Gdynia Główna Theater, Gdynia City Museum, Emigration Museum, Gdynia Music School, Fundacja 4 Sztuki.

Familial Gdynia

One can find many precious advice and suggestions of ways for free time spending at  https://www.facebook.com/GdyniaRodzinna/ and www.gdyniarodzinna.pl.

The Department of Family Policy invites for on-line meetings with a psychologist, a psychiatrist, a midwife, and various educators. All experts provide online visitors with reliable knowledge, give support to all those staying home long-term, inspire with ideas and help carry out family activities.

An online series with actors reading fairytales has been launched as well. One can find there links to ideas for sport plays, drawing activities prepared especially for Gdynia or other available online. All information on new conditions and working hours of family related units and institutions and contacts to specialist offering online advice and help are advertised and distributed.

Familial Gdynia monitors the situation and acts with Gdynia’s families’ needs accordingly diversifying and expanding help, updating news and facts and aiming at reassuring the citizens and urging them to stay home and temporary change their lifestyles.

Senior Activity Center

A dedicated Facebook group has been started https://www.facebook.com/groups/207835343798767/ in order to make interactions easy for Gdynia’s older citizens and to recommend ways for spending time during the clubs and University of the Third Age are on lockdown. This is the place for older people to share information on where to find free e-books and audiobooks, concerts broadcasts and theatre performances online or which museums made their collections virtually available. And one can simply talk to another.

There are also special live lectures with more to come within few next days including Senior Activity Center’s classes online. A real treat as those will be available to all interested not just ones that managed to enroll at the beginning of the semester.

Gdynia Sports Center

Following a sound mind in a sound body golden rule Gdynia Sports Centre encourages to stay active… at home in front of your computers. On Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/gdyniasport/ one can find short clips promoting exercises. Nice few minutes with coach Monika can be a warm-up to a regular family training.

Gdynia’s Library

What is there to read, when you’ve already gone through your own pile of books and your local library is on lockdown? Fear no more and just go to https://www.facebook.com/BibliotekaGdynia/, where there is something interesting for every bookworm. One can explore ever-growing number of recommendations of what to read and listen during the quarantine. Gdynia’s Library Staff share information on libraries of free e-books and audiobooks to download and recommend live radio plays.  If one still wants more, one should check gdynia.pl for “Depsze literackie” (Literary Messages) with lots of fine new recommendations every day.

EXPERYMENT Science Centre

One can use the time spend home in many different ways – creating, exploring or in actions. Any passionate of science should visit https://www.facebook.com/CentrumNaukiEXPERYMENT/ and find fun materials made available to all curious about the world – family, adults or olders – by EPERYMENT Science Centre. One shall find there ideas how to use the extra hours at home creatively or even how to conduct a science experiment. Within the “Zdany Expreyment” (Long-distance Experiment) series the Center’s educators will present short clips explaining interesting experiments.

Municipal Department of Education  

The Department of Education encourages local schools to share their experience and best practice in long-distance/home schooling.

A collection of useful tools for online schooling can be found in teachers’ e-room at http://edukacja.gdynia.pl/e-pokoj/. In addition, as of March 13 there are tutorials on how to teach online presented regularly at Educational Gdynia’s page at Facebook. Thanks to EU-funded projects a number of Gdynia’s elementary schools has an access to NUADU platform with more information that can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUULsS99dxU.

Laboratorium Innowacji Społecznych / Social Innovation Laboratory  

Przystanie (Havens) – neighbor centers for meetings, activities and integration – are on lockdown but they operate online at Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PrzystanGdynia/.

Przystanie’s socio-cultural animators share there recipes for healthy snacks – even more needed presently to improve immunity to infection – instructions for homemade disinfectants and other “’do-it-yourself” ideas. One should feel encouraged to join Przystanie’s Facebook groups for neighbors and share his/her ideas for spending time home, inspire each other and support online.

Citizens 55+ might be interested in free multimedia app MEMO. It helps both to familiarize with new technologies and to improve memory. The app consists of three modules: day (containing interesting facts for example on health), memorabilia (allowing to collects souvenirs, e.g. pictures) and training (with brain stimulating exercise). MEMO is also a great way for grandparents to spend some quality time with their grandkids. All information about MEMO can be found at https://www.projektmemo.pl/. “Siłownia pamięci” (Memory Building Station) is a more traditional training for a brain. The website https://www.silowniapamieci.pl/ is full of various exercises with manuals made available for free download and printing. The sets include: bingo, name that tune, City-Country-River, and depending on the task – it can be solved individually or played in pairs.

Website: https://www.gdynia.pl/spoleczenstwo,7580/gdynia-miastem-uczacym-sie-w-domu,548551

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):