Garden of Little Designers: Children Create Their Own School Garden
18. May 2026Gallery G18, together with the Arts Management studio at Tomas Bata University in Zlín and the university’s Nursery School, has launched a project that brings together children, art, design and education. The result is a proposal for a community garden developed through the active involvement of pre-school children, experts and university students. The project process is on display at the gallery from 14 to 22 May 2026.
The project, titled Garden of Little Designers, was created as an interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at giving children the opportunity to actively engage with public space and help shape an environment that is particularly meaningful to them at an early age. Through a series of educational and creative workshops, the children took part in both designing and creating elements of the garden.
“The children met with experts and students several times throughout April and May. We also involved parents in the project during Earth Day. During these sessions, the children learned to work with natural materials, developed their imagination and worked together to find ways to create a space for meeting, relaxation and play,” said Bohuslava Řehůřková, Director of the TBU Nursery School.
In addition to teachers and professionals, students from the Arts Management studio at the Faculty of Multimedia Communications at Tomas Bata University in Zlín were also involved in the project. They had the opportunity to help organise the initiative, prepare workshops and creative activities for the children, and contribute to the accompanying exhibition at the gallery.
“For us, it was a completely new experience. We often help with accompanying educational programmes at the gallery, but this time we created one entirely from scratch. I personally really enjoyed it, and I hope the children did too,” added student Gabriela Hrdinová. Thanks to this collaboration, the garden project successfully connects education, cultural practice and community engagement.
“The exhibition at Gallery G18 primarily presents the process behind creating the community garden, as well as the works produced during workshops led by the students. Visitors will have the opportunity to gain insight into the children’s creative process and see how collaboration between an educational institution and a cultural platform can have a positive impact on the local community,” said Martina Juříková, Vice-Rector for Internal and External Relations at TBU in Zlín.
The exhibition will be on display at Gallery G18 from 14 to 22 May 2026.
About Gallery G18
Gallery G18 is the exhibition platform of the Faculty of Multimedia Communications at Tomas Bata University in Zlín, founded in 2018. Since its establishment, it has hosted a wide range of exhibitions reflecting current trends in design and art. The gallery’s programme is regularly complemented by expert discussions, lectures, workshops and creative sessions that expand on exhibition themes and make them accessible to diverse audiences.
