ABSTRACT
A sense of belonging to a local community can be developed through various venues. Participating in an event can, for children, create such a meeting place. This chapter highlights an empirical undertaking following children’s visit to Barnivalen, a children’s and youth event under Kongsberg Jazzfestival. By using the mosaic approach, we aimed to listen to children about their experiences with the jazz event, and created a collective space for conversation among participants using photo-telling. Data from the children, ECEC staff, parents, and researchers were used to answer the proposed research question: What are the children’s expressions of belonging based on experiences with a jazz event? The findings revealed two categories of belonging from children’s stories about the jazz event: experience of joyfulness and experience of togetherness. During the event, children experienced joyfulness and togetherness through games and play facilitated by amusing clowns. The study contributes insight into social sustainability, or, more precisely, joyfulness and togetherness as a social and collective dimension of belonging, and how it is experienced from children’s perspectives through the inclusion of their voices and views. The study also adds to the limited research on the connection between children, social sustainability and events.
