A public open space for creatively and culturally inclined children and parents

The Children’s House, based in the Benčić Art neighbourhood of Rijeka, is a unique cultural centre for parents. Housed in the aesthetically distinctive brick building of a former tobacco barn and factory, it has been transformed from a dilapidated pigeon loft into a place for children to have fun, explore their imaginations, goof around and create. The renovation project was a complex one that involved the current iteration being built as a “house within a house”, with the old interior being torn out and a new building constructed within the remaining walls. As an urban platform for informal cultural education and a new leisure spot for parents and children, the venue and programmes of the Children’s House are a constant topic of discussion.
It focuses on art and culture in a broader sense, especially in terms of new and innovative practices in reading, cinema, theatre and contemporary art – this reflects its original purpose of providing an alternative approach to creating content for children’s entertainment, informal education and new models of institutional organisation.
The Children’s House comprises multipurpose areas of various types, but its activities can be divided into three types: formal programmes (regular activities in the form of workshops, storytelling sessions, screenings, plays, ad-hoc activities, festivals, etc), educational programmes for preschool and school children (educational games, guided tours and talks, screenings, plays, etc) and an informal programme (daily opening hours, playroom, birthdays, catering, etc), all of which make it a unique and decidedly multi-layered cultural phenomenon for Rijeka.
It also houses the Central Children’s Library – the Stribor Children’s Department of the Rijeka City Library, which hosts most of the storytelling sessions, talks, authors’ conferences and creative workshops. Art-Kino regularly holds its comprehensive School at the Cinema and spin-off Nursery Schools at the Cinema programmes at the Children’s House, along with the regular animated and feature film programme for the general public.
One of the Children’s House’s special activities is organising its own large-scale events, most notably the Children’s Good Book Week (April), Slide Festival – Active Summer Holiday for Children (June, July) and the Benčić Winter Tale (December), which are all festivals featuring dozens of separate activities and a wealth of positive energy.
The programme of the Children’s House was developed as part of the Rijeka 2020 – European Capital of Culture programme, and the building was designed by the architect Saša Randić.
The Rijeka City Library, Art-Kino, the Rijeka City Puppet Theatre and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka have jointly contribute to the Children’s House programme.
All the information about the activities and programme of the Children’s House is available at djecjakuca.hr.