From homemade tools to Instagram fame: Vilnius hosts final Creativity Scouting event

Creativity Scouting ended its nine-year run with its biggest event yet, filling the reading room of Vilnius’ Contemporary Art Centre with members of Lithuania’s design community. The free gathering focused on careers in culture, art and design, especially the nonlinear paths that lead people into creative work.

The event’s organizers, andstudio founders Augustinas Paukštė and Domas Mikšys, said they were ending the project while enthusiasm remained strong. Mikšys said the event often attracted more people than its chosen venues could hold, and that the team preferred to finish at a peak rather than wait for interest or quality to decline.

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We are ending Creativity Scouting not because interest has declined. On the contrary, almost every year the event attracts more people than the chosen venue can hold.

Mural artist Gintarė Kondė described the years it took to develop her visual identity. The 28-year-old from Kaunas encouraged creatives to trust their instincts and sometimes leave behind an “ideal” career path. She also emphasized authenticity and determination, saying she maintains her distinctive style with tools made by her father and does not disclose how they work.

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After ten years, I think it makes more sense to finish the project while it is still on the rise rather than wait until enthusiasm starts to disappear.

Lukrecijus Dūda, the founder of the restaurants Azerai, Ugruzina and Osh, discussed how Vilnius’ multicultural environment inspired restaurant concepts designed as creative spaces for different communities. He also spoke about plans to expand his businesses in London and celebrated Ugruzina’s popularity on social media, calling it the world’s best-known Georgian restaurant.

Artist Martynas Auz closed the program with a presentation about his creative journeys from Tauragė and Kaunas to Albania and the United Kingdom. He showed images from his Kaunas studio, where he works with spray paint and virtual-reality equipment. Dūda said the project’s conclusion could lead to a more intimate event, or eventually one attracting thousands rather than hundreds.

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Perhaps something more intimate. Or, on the contrary, something much bigger, an event that might one day attract not hundreds but thousands of people.