The third study visit to Midt-Telemark was devoted to the subject of building a leisure offer for residents in a way that meets the needs of residents and encourages new residents of the municipality and the city to settle down. The exchange of experiences concerned the leisure zone, recreation, culture and sport, i.e. the key areas that shape the leisure offer in the city.
From 22 to 26 September 2023, representatives of the Municipality and the City of Nisko participated in the third study visit to Midt – Telemark, this time due to the subject matter, the meeting was attended by representatives of NCK "Sokół" in Nisko, the Municipal Public Library, the Municipal Council of Seniors, the Municipality Office and the City of Nisko, as well as members of the project team. The visit was attended by 12 representatives of the Municipality and the City of Nisko.
On the first day of the visit, the representatives of the Municipality had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the program of the cyclical event held annually at MIDT – Telemark "Apple Festival". The event, which consisted of several cultural, economic and social events organized in different parts of the commune, is aimed at activating soft fruit producers from the municipality and promoting local processing. Agriculture and tourism play an important economic role for the development of the municipality. The event begins with a concert of early music in a historic church from the early Middle Ages, followed by the opportunity to visit local orchards and taste local fruit produced in these orchards. The next stage of the event is the local product fair, which takes place in the center of the municipality, in the town of Bo. In the central place, concerts and performances of the inhabitants of the commune are also held
An important element of the development of the municipality in the area of culture are the local art galleries that the representatives of the municipality could visit. In the case of Midt-Telemark, a very important element of the development of free time is culture, created through art schools (operating in primary schools and in the "Gullbring" Cultural Centre in the BO, where children can take advantage of a wide range of educational and workshop activities, from learning to play instruments, to film, theatre, dance workshops, etc. Culture is also created by private art galleries, and there are currently three such galleries in the commune. Another important area of the commune's development is volunteering, because the residents themselves build, create and provide it for the residents in a large part of the leisure offer themselves
. Volunteering is an element of artistic and social activity, which is initiated by the residents themselves, entrepreneurs. The municipality plays a very important role in coordinating and promoting volunteering, or supporting it in an informative and advisory way. Local galleries and museums are often run by volunteers. An important role in building the offer of free time is played by the cultural heritage of the commune, whether related to crafts, processing or culture. Bo is home to the Hardanger Violin Museum, which cultivates and promotes early folk music as well as violin crafts. Folk music festivals are held annually in Bo.
Another area of leisure activities is sports. There are more than 20 sports clubs in more than 10 sections in the commune. Sport is subsidised mainly from private funds and only partly from the funds of the national totalizator. The domain of local sport is the high participation and activity of volunteers, both at the level of competition and training. The municipality has excellent conditions for both winter sports, which are the hallmark of Norway, as well as summer sports.
Excellent natural conditions for rest and recreation. In the area of socio-economic development, tourism is currently the dominant branch of development after agriculture. Many of these areas of activity of the Municipality of Midt – Telemark coincide with the activities of Polish local governments, a slight difference is a much higher share of the cultural offer in terms of the product offer (art schools, cultural centre, galleries, museums), as well as high participation and a well-developed local volunteering system. These are experiences that are worth using in the development of the municipality and the city of Nisko.
