Monthly Archives: June 2017

Creative Europe in EUTEKA library in Ćuprija

30/06/2017

What is the Creative Europe programme and what chances for regional and European cooperation does it offer to cultural institutions from Serbia? What are the experiences of Serbian institutions which participated in projects funded by this programme? How to participate, where to ask for help, where to get information?

These are some of the questions that were discussed on Friday 30th June in the National Library “Dušan Matić” in Ćuprija, member of the EUTEKA network of libraries, when representatives of the Creative Europe Desk Serbia held a presentation of the largest programme for funding content in culture functioning within European Union – Creative Europe.

The presentation in Ćuprija library was attended by representatives of cultural institutions from this municipality, and also municipalities of Jagodina and Paraćin, and what Creative Europe is and what are the experiences of users of this programme was spoken about by Dimitrije Tadić, Head of the Creative Europe Desk Serbia, the body implementing the Creative Europe programme, and Luka Kulić from the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, an institution that successfully participated in two programmes and which is currently realising the third project funded by this programme.

The message conveyed by both speakers was, in fact, an encouragement to domestic cultural institutions to dare to participate in this kind of competitions, to ask questions, to connect and overcome fear and prejudice prevalent here when it comes to participating in competitions for EU funds. Both speakers believe our space, history and culture are interesting to cultural professionals in Europe, and that we, on the other hand, have the ideas and diversity and that we can be a good partner in big cultural projects financed by this fund.

Dimitrije Tadić used this opportunity to briefly present to participants the basics of the Creative Europe programme and direct their attention to what its main goals are. “Europe wants to position itself on the global scene through culture and this programme is not only a funding programme, it also represents a functioning mechanism for culture on the European level”, he said. Until now, representatives of Serbia participated in approximately 40 projects funded by this programme, while we also had one institution which was the carrier of the project – the Institute for Balkanology. The position of project carrier is very complicated and demanding and it requires time and skills to master all procedures. Nevertheless, Tadić said, you should participate in competitions as partners to the main project carrier because every completed project raises the capacity of the participating organisation and makes it more prepared for the next participation.

Luka Kulić from the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina advised his colleagues not to be victims of prejudice due to which they hesitate to get involved in applying processes. This Museum went to the first project in cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art from Zagreb, and now it is a part of a huge third European project where there are ten partners involved.

“We possess the freshness of ideas and we are, for people from cultural circles in Europe, still unchartered territory. Great interest in our socialist heritage is prevalent and many cultural institutions in Europe are working on projects including this element and they are seeking adequate partners from this region”, he emphasised.

Guests of the Ćuprija library, after the discussion with their colleagues, visited the Legacy of Dušan Matić, poet and a pioneer of Surrealism in Serbian literature, preserved in this library. The Legacy consists of a study room of the famous thinker, who lived in Ćuprija, together with his drawings, award and personal belongings and this is being kept in this library for over two decades.


Possibilities of Financing Cultural Projects through EU funds

21/06/2017

Creative Europe Desk Serbia and the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Public Information and Relations with Religious Communities organised a one-day counselling intended for representatives of cities and municipalities in AP Vojvodina entitled “Possibilities of Financing Projects in the Field of Culture Through EU Desk Funds”, on 21st June 2017 in the great hall of the Assembly of AP Vojvodina.

Participants had an opportunity to get familiar with the Creative Europe programme, and also other programmes from the field of culture and with examples of good practice of provincial cultural institutions. These programmes represent an opportunity for local self-governments from Vojvodina to improve the cultural image of AP Vojvodina together with the Provincial Secretariat and to promote their cultural achievements and heritage in the light they deserve, especially bearing in mind the fact that European year of cultural heritage will be marked during the next year, 2018.

The aim of organisers of the event was for interested parties to get informed about the conditions and ways of applying, but also to debate important questions related to perspectives of cultural development in municipalities and cities of AP Vojvodina.


Joint Meeting of European Commission and Creative Europe Desks of Participant Countries

18/06/2017

Creative Europe Desk Serbia has an obligation to participate in defining goals and priorities of the programme in cooperation with other countries participating in the programme. Due to this, this year, during the period from 14th June to 17th June, representatives of Creative Europe Desk Serbia participated in the meeting with the European Commission.

The two-day event in Malta was attended by 85 team members from 31 countries. Meetings of representatives of the Desks are an opportunity to strengthen European cooperation, summarise achieved results and transfer experiences. During the first day an introductory lecture was organised about changes in programme management and the refurbished theatre of the university campus in La Valletta. Moreover, successful projects which are being implemented, such as the project AMUSE, were presented.

AMUSE (Artistic Multi Sensorial Experience) represents “An artistic experience for multiple senses”– an artistic project headed by the Malta Society of Arts (MSA) the goal of which creating new interpretations of meanings of the senses (such as the tactile, kinaesthetic and proprioceptive) and their role in art. The completion of the project will be marked by an exhibition of works for multiple senses which will take place in 2019 in MSA premises in Palazzo De La Salle in Valletta.

The meeting also included a presentation of the framework for the initiative entitled “Music Moves Europe” as support to European music sector. The initiative started in the end of 2015 through meetings with key actors in music in order to identify main challenges faced by this sector. The results of this dialogue can be found in the report of the work group for AB music. This dialogue unveiled the need for support to creation of music, promotion of music diversity and research of possibilities offered by online and offline music distribution. Music is one of the most popular forms of art, widely consumed and a lively expression of European cultural diversity. It also significantly contributes to European economy. The music sector produces income of over 25 billion Euros yearly and employs more people than the film industry.

After the presentation of projects and the initiative during the first work day, 4 parallel thematic workshops were held with the goal of encouraging exchange on the topics of:
Communication and the use of social media;

CE Desk Management: Desk and its inner structure and organisation (internal);

CE Desk Management: Desk and the Creative Europe programme (external);

New business models;

Representatives of the Desk attended the first workshop where the discussion was about how social media influences the dissemination of results and winning new audiences.

During the second day, a representative of the EU Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) presented the results and statistics so far related to the sub-programme Culture of Creative Europe.

Considering the fact that Malta will be the representative of culture in 2018, examples of realised programmes were presented: revitalisation of an old theatre, organising film festivals, renewing cultural institutions, permanent activities in squares and other public spaces.

A very important information is that this and next year cultural heritage will be among priorities of EU programmes (Horizon, Erasmus +, Cosme, etc.), and especially of the Creative Europe programme – hence, the meeting was held in the future European capital of culture.


Public call for participating in the seminar “Creative Europe – project preparation”

13/06/2017

*The deadline for applications is extended until Friday, 21st. of July.

The Culture Desk Creative Europe Serbia in cooperation with the Cultural centre “Vuk Karadzic ” Loznica, will organize the seminar “Creative Europe Programme – project preparation” from 7th until 10th August 2017 in Tršić. The call is intended for all institutions and organizations from Serbia planning to apply for the Creative Europe programme.

The topics that will be covered by the seminar are contemporary practices and concepts in the international cultural cooperation, cultural heritage and contemporary art; management of international projects; European cultural policy and priorities of the Creative Europe programme.

Apart from the representatives of the Desk Creative Europe Serbia, lecturers on the seminar are Nikola Krstović (Research assistant, Center for museology and heritology, Faculty of Phylosophy, University of Belgrade) and representative of Take over project and project MAPS, co-funded by Creative Europe Programme.

Aim of the seminar

The aim of the seminar is raising the quality and preparing projects to apply for the creative Europe programme, raising the programmatic – organizational capacities of institutions and organizations from Serbia, but also contributing to decentralization in the field of culture. Apart from this, the seminar will be organized for the sake of enhancing communication, cooperation and exchange of experiences of cultural institution and organization representatives from cities and counties of Serbia.

Criteria

The main criteria for the selection of participants are the quality of project proposals and potential partnerships.The quality of project propositions is measured against: compliance with topics and priorities of the Creative Europe programme, innovative nature of the concept and its professional basis.

Conditions of the public call

1. The number of vacancies is limited to twenty five participants;
2. Up to two persons from a single institution or an organization can apply to participate in the seminar;
3. The Culture Desk Creative Europe Serbia and the Museum in the open “Staro selo“ will cover food and lodging expenses, however participants of the seminar will cover their travel expenses.

Submitting an application

You can find here the application form.

The application for the seminar should contain the following information (up to three pages:
– A short description of the project the institution or the organization wants to apply with for the Creative Europe programme or if they believe the project proposition has a potential to be used for applying;
– A list of potential partners on the project;
– A short description of the institution/organization (mission, aims, main activities);
– An indication of the position of the person or persons applying to participate in the seminar.

The application should be sent to the email address of the Culture Desk Serbia – kreativnaevropa@kultura.gov.rs.

Deadline for applications

Applications can be submitted until 16th July 2017. Applications received after the defined deadline will not be taken into consideration.


News

Competition for literary translation projects is now open

12/06/2017

This year’s competition for literary translation projects was opened within the Creative Europe programme on Јune 12th 2017. The deadline for applying is July 25th 2017 and the competition is open to publishers who can apply with a proposal to translate a specific package of books to European languages.

All interested publishers from Serbia can reach Creative Europe Desk Serbia with any questions through contacts indicated on the website.

Publishers can gather information on literary translation projects from Serbia supported by resources of the Creative Europe programme during past years from the part of the website Successful Projects.


News

Creative Europe in Aranđelovac

12/06/2017

Within the project “EUTEKA – EU in Your Library” the National Library “Sveti Sava” in Aranđelovac hosted a staged debate entitled “EU Support for Cultural Projects” where the European Commission programme for support to culture and media sectors Creative Europe was presented. Nina Mihaljinac, project manager of Culture Desk Serbia spoke about this programme.

Possibilities for project funding through the Creative Europe programme, implemented by the Creative Europe Desk in Serbia, were presented to representatives of cultural institutions and organisations dealing with culture from Aranđelovac.

Projects aspiring to receive support of the Creative Europe programme must cover at least one of the three priorities of this programme: audience development, transnational mobility or support the development of creative industries. Individuals, institutions and organisations from Serbia dealing with culture, and aspiring to apply for funds offered by the Creative Europe programme for the realisation of their projects must also find partners from the minimum of two additional countries, out of which one must be a member of the European Union. The value of projects is up to 200,000 Euros.

Every year Creative Europe offers competitions where individuals and organisations can participate by competing with their programmes in fields such as: European platforms, European networks, projects of European cooperation and translation of literary works. Nina Mihaljinac emphasised that the Creative Europe Desk Serbia offers support in project development to everyone wanting to apply for funds from this programme, but also in filling in the application for obtaining the funds. She explained that the Creative Europe Desk Serbia regularly organises workshops for all interested parties and announced the next such workshop which is scheduled for the first half of August in Tršić.

Over forty organisations and several cities from Serbia have participated in competitions of European cooperation. Among them, there is an equal number of cultural institutions and civil society organisations dealing with topics from the field of culture. Moreover, Serbia won the first place last year in the Creative Europe competition for literary translations.

Speaking about some of examples of good practice from Serbia, Mihaljinac emphasised the example of SASA Musicology Institute which achieved successful cooperation with the University of Oxford and realised a project within which completely new instruments based on principles of quantum physics were developed. Another successful example from Serbia is the participation of Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation in the project Take over within which this cultural institution introduced a new advisory body named the Youth Board which helped in innovating the programme of this institution and approximating it to new generations of audience.

Participants of the debate listened with great attention to the speech of the representative of Creative Europe Desk and during the discussion that ensued after the presentation they presented some of their ideas for projects which could potentially obtain support of the Creative Europe programme. In this way at the debate in Aranđelovac project ideas could be heard that could cover the topics such as wine ceremonies and songs from Serbia, or innovation in researching the history of the Aranđelovac area. At the event, an invitation was extended to them to shape their ideas and participate in the next workshop of the Creative Europe Desk in August in Tršić where they could transform these ideas into actual projects.

The National Library “Sveti Sava” in Aranđelovac is one of the 48 members of EUTEKA network of libraries throughout Serbia cooperating with the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia in order to approximate the European Union and the process of accession of Serbia to the EU to Serbian citizens.


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