Fresh from our trip to Łódź, Poland, we wanted to share with you some information about this interesting place:
Łódź, the third largest city in Poland, is a cultural phenomenon and a fascinating place inhabited by distinguished artists, scientists and industrialists. Since the early 19th century it has been a cradle of cooperation between four nations: Poles, Germans, Jews and Russians. They all coexisted in harmony and worked together in order to build Łódź as a powerful place to live – a Promised Land for newcomers. Today Łódź is also known for the famous film school and its graduates – R. Polanski (Oscar nominee), K. Zanussi, K. Kieślowski and J. Machulski.
Łódź has been going through a sort of renaissance recently with new business initiatives cropping up that champion creative thinking. An important example is the Manufakura, a whooping cotton mill left dilapidated after the demise of the hugely successful industrial era but recently converted into an impressive culture and entertainment complex.
Another aspect of Łódź’s regeneration is in the form of its street art which has become a prominent characteristic of its landscape, a colourful motif of the city’s artistic freedom.
We were delighted to have the opportunity to visit this city earlier this week. Our sincere thanks to our Polish partners Akademia Humanistyczno – Ekonomiczna w Łodzi for being fantastic hosts and to their president for joining us and speaking to us about his experience of setting up this unique, creative and innovative university. We visited Lodz this week to join our project partners for the second meeting of our Creative Communities Igniting Change project.
