About us

“Lietuvos Atgaja” is a creative camp for children and youth. It originated in 1993 as a place where the children of Lithuanian diaspora could learn more about the country of their ancestors, about its customs and culture, also to improve their language skills and become aware of their identity. Today the camp is open to all children.

At the camp, we rely on creative, theatrical, playful, and experiential methods to achieve quality attention for each child, creating a warm, family-like relationships. Children ages 9-17 are invited to the camp to unleash their creative powers, play, find out about Lithuanian customs, culture and history, get to know themselves better, develop social skills, emotional intelligence, and discover friends for life. We believe that Atgaja is more than ten days in a camp. It is a community and a way of life.

During the summer there are at least nine different “Lietuvos Atgaja” camp shifts. Each shift is managed by student-age volunteers who are adult enough to take care of children, but young enough to make a deep connection with the campers. By working together both the volunteers and the children find unique and creative ways of self-expression. Each shift has its administration which consists of the head counsellor, his assistant, a musician, an artist and a medic.

Mythology, history, culture, literature, arts, theatre and many other themes unveil themselves during the summer. Within a ten days period campers are exploring different aspects of each topic. The children and the counsellors create the essence of each shift by bringing their own backgrounds and working together.

Our values:

• Warm, family-like relationships which manifests through individual attention, sincerity, openness and care. We focus on building strong bonds between children and the counsellors.
• At the camp we operate through experiential, non-formal education methods, and various forms of creative expression. We invite children to experiment, make mistakes, discover the joy of creation, and get to know oneself and each other through art, as well as teach them about history and culture in unconventional ways. We understand creativity as the ability to act spontaneously, unexpectedly in everyday situations, to look at simple things in a new, playful way.
• It is important not only to have a good time in the camp, but also to acquire knowledge and skills, to discover new areas of interest, to develop emotional intelligence.
• Lithuanian identity. We discover our relationship to the country’s history, culture, and traditions through experience and creativity. We encourage children to be active and courageous in everyday life, to represent our values, to pay attention to what is important. Inspired by Atgaja, we create, improve and nurture Lithuania.
• Respect for human rights. At the camp, we create a safe and supportive environment for everyone, regardless of nationality, language, gender identity or other differences.