From Riverbank to Ocean: Involving young generations with their territory through artistic practices

Abstract

Based on the project Minante: Prototyping a Natural and Cultural Experience for Public Space Co‐Creation (2023–2024), this article presents and discusses how schools from a semi‐rural region of northern coastal Portugal engaged with the natural and cultural water heritage that surrounds them through artistic practices. A total of four schools with classes of different ages took part (12–18 years old), with artistic interventions related to new digital media, illustration, wood construction, plastic arts, and painting. The project occurred in the public space around the old Minante watermill, on the banks of the Neiva River, near the river mouth. Subsequently, interviews, a survey, and a laboratory workshop were carried out with the involved teachers (and the survey also with students) to analyse and reflect on the Minante project and explore potential future actions in other parts of this territory, namely at the wider Neiva River coastal area. With the help of this empirical material, the article aims to reflect on the question: What can be the role of arts‐based local interventions with schools in encouraging young generations’ more direct involvement with the material and immaterial heritage of the waterscapes and territories they live alongside and inhabit?