Creators of Culture
Culture Makers aims to build bridges between young people in vocational education and pupils from Year 5, bringing them together to explore traditional crafts and trades.
Creators of Culture
In October 2025, the exciting Culture Makers collaboration between Mark, Museum Give, Grindsted Vocational College and Friends of Karensminde culminated in a series of hands-on building workshops. Vocational students and pupils from Grindsted Privatskole worked side by side to build a traditional timber-framed sheep shelter with a thatched roof at Karensminde Farm.
Culture Makers aims to build bridges between young people in vocational education and pupils from Year 5 by bringing them together to work with traditional crafts and trades. The project gives the vocational students the opportunity to take on the role of instructors, guiding the younger pupils through the construction of the sheep shelter. Among other things, the pupils carved wooden pegs, built, painted and worked together to complete the shelter, which will remain at Karensminde as a lasting reminder of their efforts.
The building workshops took place on 3, 10 and 24 October and formed part of a wider effort to spark school pupils’ interest in skilled trades and the opportunities offered by vocational education. At the same time, the project aims to strengthen awareness of professional pride, practical skills and the importance of working with your hands – skills and professions that are attracting fewer young people today. And who better to introduce young people to the trades than vocational students themselves?
The project is a pilot exploring the potential of co-creation between young people in vocational education and retired craftspeople from Friends of Karensminde. The ambition is to develop the concept into a permanent museum programme that brings traditional crafts to life, inspires school pupils and gives them a positive introduction to vocational education and skilled trades.
