Elena Baturina’s BE OPEN Helps Children Take Over City Hall as ‘Mayor for the Day’

Elena Baturina’s BE OPEN Helps Children Take Over City Hall as ‘Mayor for the Day’

Ekaterina Vekova

Over a thousand schoolchildren from across the capital have been considering how they would make their city even better if they were “Mayor for the Day” as part of the London Children’s Festival developed by the Mayor’s Fund for London in cooperation with Elena Baturina’s BE OPEN foundation, the lead supporter of both the London Children’s Festival and the City Pitch programme.

Focusing on Mayoral priorities such as: ‘Jobs, Skills and Education’, ‘Environment, Health and Food’, ‘Crime, Safety and Travel’ and ‘Housing, Play and Public Spaces’, the London Children’s Festival asks children and young people, aged 9 to 14, to consider how they connect to and interpret these themes and explore their ideas and vision relating to the future of London.

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A New Global Open Call Together with the Mayor’s Fund for London

A New Global Open Call Together with the Mayor’s Fund for London

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN, a creative think-tank founded by the international entrepreneur and philanthropist Elena Baturina, is launching its next global open call across social media together with the Mayor’s Fund for London, a social mobility charity. The open call named #BEOPENDesignCity is inspired by the City Pitch Leadership Programme held in 2017 and 2018 by the Mayor’s Fund for London in cooperation with BE OPEN.

The open call invites people globally to share visual pieces depicting what they love about their cities, what they would like to preserve or add, as well as any other ideas of what could be improved in their everyday urban lives.

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The Winner of #BEOPENUrbanPattern Open Call

The Winner of #BEOPENUrbanPattern Open Call

Ekaterina Vekova

The #BEOPENUrbanPattern open call was held by the BE OPEN creative think-tank between the 25th of August and the 10th of October in social media. Over that period of time, more than 200 amazingly creative visuals were posted as entries to BEOPEN’s Instagram page. The participants came from such remote parts of the world as India, United States, the UK, Italy, Belgium, France, Serbia, Russia, etc.

The open call was focused on ways of visualizing everyday urban landscapes as a way to celebrate people’s ability to creatively interpret the reality around them.

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Announcing the New #BEOPENUrbanPattern Open Call

Announcing the New #BEOPENUrbanPattern Open Call

Ekaterina Vekova

The majority of people in the world live in cities, and our numbers are growing fast. In our cities we all have our beloved spots and power places, we see their beauty even if others may not. This time we ask you to share your love and your unique vision of your cities revealed in the form of urban patterns – the patterns that our cities create around us for us to capture.

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‘Creativity Works’ Programme for Young Londoners Supported by BE OPEN

‘Creativity Works’ Programme for Young Londoners Supported by BE OPEN

Ekaterina Vekova

72% of young people taking part in Creativity Works, an arts-based employability programme that aims to improve access to employment for young Londoners from disadvantaged backgrounds, have found a job or returned to education or training.

The international cultural and social think-tank BE OPEN, founded by philanthropist and entrepreneur Elena Baturina, joined forces with the Mayor’s Fund for London in 2015 to support Creativity Works and help young unemployed Londoners play a greater part in the future of the capital.

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The ‘Discovery in a Week’ Initiative

The ‘Discovery in a Week’ Initiative

Ekaterina Vekova

Students from 15 London schools are set to search for as yet undiscovered stars as part of the Mayor’s Fund for London Discovery in a Week initiative. More than 20 London schools have already been involved into the project.

The scientific project, designed by Noosphere – the charitable organisation founded by Russian philanthropist Elena Baturina – in association with the Mayor’s Fund for London and supported by the BE OPEN creative think tank, is devised to introduce young people from across London to the fascinating world of astronomy.

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BE OPEN Announces the Winner of #DesignDetails Open Call

BE OPEN Announces the Winner of #DesignDetails Open Call

Ekaterina Vekova

The BE OPEN Foundation is happy to announce the winner of its spring, global open-call BE OPEN DESIGN DETAILS, which saw several hundred visual entries via Instagram in the four weeks till May 10.

The project called on creative individuals all over the world to try to address the ability to change the way we see the everyday world around us. Using the hashtag #BeOpenDesignDetails the open call aimed to explore the way a creative approach is able to transform the ordinary into the unique and the small into great. The challenge presented the perfect opportunity for creative minds that can find inspiration, and see the unexpected, in the most customary things around us.

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BE OPEN’s New Global Open Call #DesignDetails

BE OPEN’s New Global Open Call #DesignDetails

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN, a creative think tank founded by the international entrepreneur and philanthropist Elena Baturina, is launching its next global open call for visual responses that address the creative ability to change the way we see the usual world around us.

The open call named #BeOpenDesignDetails aims to explore the way creative approach may transform the small into great. It is open for submissions from April 4 to May 10 2017.

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