Great Creations by Small Masters 2025 - Diverse, not different.

For many years, the Maribor Regional Museum has been running the Big Creations of Small Masters educational programme, which encourages young people to express their views on socially relevant issues through artworks. In 2024, in partnership with the Ivan Glinšek Kindergarten Maribor, the programme has been extended from primary school to kindergarten children. This year, for the first time, we invited children from all over Slovenia to participate.

The Big Creations by Small Masters 2025 Art Competition is taking place under the motto Different, Not Different, as the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2025 the International Year of Peace and Trust. Through the creative process, children explored themes of peace, trust, emotions, cooperation and acceptance of diversity. Art offered them a safe space to talk, relax and express the values that underpin peaceful coexistence.

Their work reflects on what it means to be different and how it is differences that enrich us and broaden our world views. Learning to embrace diversity - in people, cultures and mindsets - is one of the keys to peace. At a time when peace in the world is not a given, it is all the more important that the very young develop a sense of compassion, justice and creative conflict resolution.

Mentors play an exceptional role in this process, as they are able to guide children to think deeply and help them to translate their reflections into visual messages and high-quality artworks.

The resulting works are delicate and imaginative, and stand out for their variety of artistic techniques - from drawing, tempera painting, watercolours and collages to sculptures and mobiles.