27.2.2025

Rainbow machine workshops search for lost colors

The Theatre Museum is a cultural sponsor for Helsinki children born in 2022, together with five other cultural organizations. The spring 2025 season for Culture Kids started this week, and the first adventures with Professor Rainbow have now taken place.

The Culture Kids project is managed by the City of Helsinki. The first workshops of the season are already fully booked, but more workshop times will be published in mid-March. You can also check for possible cancellations through the Culture Kids service.

The Rainbow Machine has broken down and the colors have disappeared. The colors must be found and programmed back into the machine. This requires cooperation between children and adults, a dash of courage, colorful ideas, and a shared journey. Together with the instructor, Professor Rainbow, the missing colors are sought in different places and moods, through play and reflection.

The Rainbow Machine workshop is a shared adventure that supports interaction between child and adult. In spaces created with light colors and soundscapes, participants practice emotional expression and awaken imagination in ways suited to the child’s developmental stage. At the same time, they learn about the importance of lighting and sound design in performing arts.

Each year, the Theatre Museum’s Culture Kids program explores a specific area of theatre and performing arts in more detail. In 2025, the Rainbow Machine takes us into the world of lighting and sound design. In Lempeä Louhikäärme (2024), a puppet theatre character encouraged toddlers to move and use their voices. In the performance Makeasti oravainen (2022–23), projected images, music, and primary-colored shapes were used to capture a baby’s attention and support the performer’s work.

Rainbow Machine workshop design and implementation:
Milla Kortemaa & Siiri Ervasti, Loviisa Grubert, Katimari Niskala, Freia Stenbäck
Instructors: Siiri Ervasti, Loviisa Grubert, Katimari Niskala, Freia Stenbäck

History of the Rainbow Machine:
AIKAKONE / TIDMASKIN / TIME MACHINE
Children’s play at Lohja Theatre: Professor Tik Tak and the Time Machine
Performance period: March 25 – May 20, 2023
Production: Jyrki Kakko
With assistance from Nuno Lopes de Ponte and electrical work by Rasmus Uutela

Every child born in 2020 or later and living in Helsinki has their own cultural sponsor. The cultural sponsor invites the child to at least two events each year. The events are designed to suit the child’s developmental stage and support the well-being of the entire family. If the child lives in Helsinki and was born in 2020 or later, they can be registered as a sponsored child at kummilapset.hel.fi.

The cultural sponsor is determined by the child’s year of birth. More than 30 arts and cultural organizations participate in the project. Sponsorship continues until the child starts school. For children born in 2022, the cultural sponsors include, in addition to the Theatre Museum, Cirko – Center for New Circus, the Hotel and Restaurant Museum, the Finnish Museum of Photography, Dance House Helsinki, and Dance Theatre Hurjaruuth. Events are free of charge for families. The Culture Kids service is managed by the City of Helsinki’s Culture and Leisure Division and supported by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation.