October, 2018 | Desk Creative Europe Serbia

Crafting Europe: Past and Future / Crafting Europe in the Bronze Age and Today

23/10/2018

Project Leader: Asociación de amigos del yacimiento arqueológico de La Bastida, Spain
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
EXARC, Netherlands
Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Germany
Zavičajni muzej Paraćin, Serbia
Déri Museum, Hungary
Ayuntamiento de Mula, Spain
Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont, Hungary
Maximum grant awarded: 104,760.52 €

*This project is co-funded through Support for cooperation projects related to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018

The Bronze Age of Europe (roughly 2500/2000-1200 BC) marked the first sharp growth in technological transfers and mobility of artisans in the continent. Regional traditions coexisted with an interest in the long-distance exchange of goods and information. The primary goal of the project is to commemorate this first period of greater European connectivity by drawing from it inspiration for new artistic creations, in a set of actions that will see the cooperation of cultural heritage organisations and the craft sector (local potters) from three different countries.

Crafting Europe revolves around the Bronze Age hand-made pottery traditions of three European regions, south-eastern Spain, eastern Hungary and south Serbia. These traditions consist of ceramic vessels of high aesthetic value, which have been recreated with success by local potters using prehistoric techniques and have great potential for a broader production and marketing in the context of modern craft.

The project is structured in three strands of activity. First, it will seek the recreation of sets of ceramic vessels typical of a Bronze Age culture by local potters in the countries that participate in the project: the eight shapes of El Argar pottery in south-eastern Spain, Füzesabony in Hungary, and Vatina in Serbia. Second, it will produce a set of panels and other (tangible) educational tools explaining the historical and technological specificities of these Bronze Age ceramics. Third, it aims at producing three short documentaries that capture, in each country, the manufacturing process of recreating these early European objects with prehistoric techniques. Finally, the three strands will converge in a single event to be held simultaneously in Spain, Hungary and Serbia, namely a gathering at which the sets of replicas, the educational materials, and the documentaries will be shown to a wide European public.

The immediate goal of this gathering is to allow people not only to see, but also touch the objects and the raw materials used in their creation, thereby gaining a unique sensorial experience into Europe’s past. The objective in the long-term is, in turn, twofold. On the one hand, the replicas will become a part of the museums’ permanent exhibitions; on the other hand, they will be commercialised at the shops of these institutions. In this way, Crafting Europe hopes to stimulate interaction between local artisans and cultural organisations, within and across national boundaries, opening new venues for both educational activities and creative trade.

European cooperation projects 2018

Journey to the Beginnings

23/10/2018

Project Leader: Kulturalis Orokseg Menedzserek Egysulete, Hungary

Muzeul Regiunii Portilor de Fier, Romania

Upravljač turističkog prostora Lepenski Vir, Serbia

Progressione Kulturalis NonProfit Kozhasznu KFT, Hungary

University of Southampton, United Kingdom

Muzej Vučedolske kulture, Croatia

Maximum grant awarded: 200,000.00 €

*This project is co-funded through Support for cooperation projects related to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018

Journey to the Beginnings is a collaborative project involving prehistoric cultural heritage sites and museums, contemporary arts and new technologies to rediscover and promote the prehistoric cultural heritage of the ancient civilisations that lived along the river Danube. The main goal of the project is to develop a new interpretive infrastructure for the involved prehistoric sites, their museums and archaeological parks by using cultural heritage as a source of inspiration for contemporary arts and new technologies. The project will examine new ways of heritage interpretation to help enhance public appreciation of prehistoric cultures in all their forms and diversity.

In the framework of the project we are fostering a cross-sectoral collaboration between archaeologists, museum professionals, contemporary artists and IT experts which will result in live performances and a complex Augmented and Virtual Reality based application. The live performances will be celebrations of the prehistoric cultural heritage taking the form of festivals at each site, and the application will offer a sustainable interpretive infrastructure that will develop the visitor experience.

The Journey to the Beginnings project takes on the challenge to tear down the walls between modern and ancient civilizations and connects them with the participation of art and science bringing the audience closer both to archaeology, contemporary art and modern technology.

European cooperation projects 2018

Heritage Hubs

23/10/2018

Project Leader: Suomen Kulttuuriperintökasvatuksen Seura RY, Finland

Fundacion San Millan de la Cogolla, Spain

Vitale Technologie Somunicazione – Viteco SRL, Italy

Center for urban development, Serbia

Maximum grant awarded: 191,158.59 €

This project is co-funded through Support for cooperation projects related to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018

Why? The project enhances intercultural exchange and interaction by encouraging young people to explore and share their own cultural heritage, and to get to know and practise the cultural heritage of others. This approach provides opportunities to recognise and understand that many traditions come from the same European background sharing historical similarities. This will deepen the understanding of the meaning of the cultural heritage for the individual wellbeing as well as for a group and a community, and it will increase respect towards the cultural heritage of others and the feeling of belonging to a common cultural space.

What? Heritage Hubs creates practical slasses in exploring, sharing and practicing the cultural heritage of ourselves and others for children and young people, approximately age 11–15 years, in different European countries. During the practical classes, they will have a chance to explore and share a part of their own cultural heritage and to practise the cultural heritage of others, both digitally through videos or other digital material as well as face-to-face through visits to the country of the “others”.

For whom? The project targets students, approximately age 11–15 years. It also impacts professionals working with young people, schools and cultural heritage actors in the participating countries, and European wide through the project´s communication & dissemination. With whom? The project is coordinated by the project consortium consisting of the Association of Cultural Heritage Education in Finland (AHEF) as the lead and the Urban Development Center (UDC) in Serbia, Fundación San Millán de la Gogolla (FSMG) in Spain in cooperation with a Spanish consortium, Viteco E-learning in Italy (Viteco). It is carried out in cooperation with schools and cultural heritage actors in the participating countries.

European cooperation projects 2018

Someone from Home – in the sense of belonging to Europe

23/10/2018

Project Leader: Students Cultural Centre Novi Sad, Serbia

Silk Fluegge, Austria

Teatrul Maghiar De Stat Csiky Gergely, Romania

Art Link Foundation, Bulgaria

Maximum grant awarded: 60,000.00 €

*This project is co-funded through Support for cooperation projects related to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018

The project Someone from Home is, above all, an investigation. Creating a space in which the 12-99 generation can exchange ideas and learning from contemporary witnesses who remember specific historical and cultural moments enables us to engage with, understand, and learn traditional movement forms. At the same time, it is important to understand the social fabric in which traditional dance events were embedded, as well as how news and knowledge is exchanged between peer groups in this day and age. Our idea is to produce a new version of dance events from a bygone era which were places of exchange and matchmaking and were central to the formation of family structures. Witnesses will be interviewed in advance about their stories and memories. These interviews will be filmed and will form the basis of documentary material, which will be available for access separately or embedded in the performative aspect of the project.

European folk/traditional cultures are primarily examined from the point of view of conservatism and under the paradigm of nationalist occupation of meaning. But how else can folk culture be read? What functions does it fulfil? How can it be actualised and interpreted, and does the answer to this question change when it is considered in relation to other forms of traditional culture? How are the readings of codified functions of traditional art and the expression of movement possible? Gestures that have been passed down through the generations sometimes only become visible when they are taken out of context – as evidenced by the Danube Swabian culture after the end of WWII. When confronted with other habits and cultural expressions, as well as with nostalgia for a lost home and lost cultural origin, meanings behind corporal expression become readable in different ways. The project will gather 4 partners from Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, as well as number of associate partners (among which 3 European Capital of Culture Foundations).

European cooperation projects 2018

Future Epics

23/10/2018

Project Leader: Hartefakt Foundation, Serbia

Dubrovačke ljetnje igre, Croatia

Centre for performing arts Vitlycke, Sweden

Tasca Serveis D’animacio SL, Spain

Maximum grant awarded: 199,872.00 €

* This project is co-funded through Support for cooperation projects related to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018

Future Epics creates an opportunity for developing new perspectives in approaching and learning about cultural heritage. To do this it will deconstruct the narratives of specific periods in history and combine them with contemporary performance art. Furthermore, it will attract and educate audience by using online tools of communicating with the wider and younger crowd. Project will provide younger artists with a space where they will be able to express themselves and experiment with art forms with a goal to create new ways of engaging the audience. The result will be three theatre performance pieces that will premiere on Dubrovnik Summer Festival during the year 2020.

The main topics of these performances will be issues that have been neglected, forgotten or ignored thought the history. Future Epics web platform, will represent a virtual space that will provide the visitor with a possibility of informing himself and engaging on subjects regarding cultural heritage from across the Europe. Furthermore, the broad public will also be involved in the process of providing new information and thoughts regarding the history and heritage, since the platform will be interactive. Content on the platform will consist of research results, blog posts, online discussions, votings and live streaming activities connected to the topic of culture heritage. With great potentials for development, Future Epics serves as a network that will provide a fresh new European approach to the concepts of collective good and culture heritage for generations to come.

Blog

Milena Milošević Micić: The Spirit of Our Heritage

23/10/2018

Cultural heritage as a specific characteristic of one area, region or country, represents an integral part of European, i.e. world cultural heritage. Whether we are speaking about Knjaževac, Timočkakrajina, Serbia or another country, what we recognise as “our” cultural heritage, in the widest sense, is actually just a small fragment or element of the corpus of world cultural heritage, the history of the world. The special question which largely influences the relation to and the manner of treating one’s own cultural heritage, is the question of valuing and understanding it.

Cultural heritage in concert with the natural surroundings creates a cultural landscape which in a special way reflects the cooperation between people and nature. Specific architectonic entities, historical trading districts, bridges, individual cultural monuments or monument entities are just some of the elements creating a specific image and impression of a certain place. On the other hand, the most important trait, potential and wealth of a place are people. They reflect the “spirit of the city”, spread and emit messages deeply woven into the genetic code of every living being. They are the conveyors of sense, meaning, memory, identity…

This is the case with the town of Knjaževac, which although small, has been home to geat people, and which today, as a winner of the European Destinations of Excellence Award (EDEN), through its charm and rich natural and cultural heritage, attracts numerous researchers, visitors, tourists, adventurers, gourmands, enjoyers in a special way…

In this sense, the Homeland Museum of Knjaževac, as „a small local“ museum, observes and treats the cultural heritage of the Knjaževac area as the greatest potential for the future, the most important resource for sustainable development of the local community, which although very rich is not sustainable. Hence, while believing in the sustainable “use” of cultural heritage, we base on and relate all our programmes and projects to cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. On the other hand, our museum is developing different programmes and projects assuming international partnerships, exchange of knowledge and experiences, joint activities. We also participated in cross-border cooperation programmes, cooperated with colleagues from the region and the area of former Yugoslavia, which certainly should be marked as a period representing bright moments of our shared European past, regardless of different interpretations and perceptions of the former state.

Museums and cultural institutions are a part of the educational system. It is very important that in our work, apart from constant endeavours to improve the operation of cultural institutions and raising awareness of the importance of preserving and presenting cultural heritage, that we also develop educational programmes intended for the widest audience. Precisely this approach is giving us an opportunity to relate the data we are reaching through our work to the surroundings we are inhabiting, to specific periods and important historical moments, comparing and making parallels. What is interesting for comparing and understanding what we know as European heritage today are the Medieval period, Renaissance, Baroque, the Enlightenment and the Romance period, the industrial revolution, and of course the inevitable wars, inter-war and post-war periods, the second half of XX century…

An important step in interpreting the European identity is the inclusion of Serbia into the great international project of studying visual culture and the private life, participation in projects such as the Europeana… Moreover, this also includes the initiative to certify European cultural routes, connecting with colleagues in the region and beyond, and also joint participation in international competitions, the use of international funds and programmes of marking international manifestations (Days of European Heritage and others). There are many individual examples of cooperation between our cultural institutions with corresponding European institutions. Certainly, in this sense, great attention and respect go to the activities of the Gallery of Matica Srpska, nomination of our museums for the European Museum Award (Old Village Sirogojno…), activities of the Museum of Yugoslavia, the Grand Prize of Europa Nostra fort the project of Gostuša and Vekovi Bača which we can proudly emphasise as probably the most complex and all-encompassing, the choosing of Novi Sad as the European Capital of Culture, and many others. There are numerous brilliant examples of cooperation between our cultural institutions and European partners within “smaller” projects.

In my opinion, including our institutions into the activities and programmes of the Balkan network of museums and the joint activities of Cultural heritage Without Borders in the area of the wider region contributes to new valuation and representation of shared European identity and belonging. Not only in the geographic sense, but ever other sense as well. This kind of joint initiatives, and especially their realisation, once again confirm the belonging to the group of European peoples and conveys a different message from the area of the Balkans.

Marking the European year of cultural heritage has special importance for all of us. For heritage in general. Two programmes of the Homeland Museum of Knjaževac carry the national mark EYCH, one is dedicated to the marking of one hundred years from the end of WWI, and the second one deals with preservation of intangible heritage elements and education, which in no case means that other activities cannot be put in a wider context of European heritage. Our museum equally cares about the accessibility of the programme and building for physically challenged persons (Museum for everyone – museum for the take out), it is supporting and developing a programme of social entrepreneurship the aim of which is preservation of traditional crafts and techniques (Connecting threads), knowledge and skills (Summer school of traditional crafts),for a number of years it has been conducting activities with the aim of developing educational tourism (Education adventure of the Homeland Museum), it supports the development of cultural tourism (The path of Roman emperors, Wine routes of Serbia, the Danube wine route)and it is trying to approximate content to the new audience by using modern technologies.

Milena Milošević Micić, M.A. art historian and museum professional, works as a senior curator and acting director of the Homeland Museum of Knjaževac. For the past 16 years she has been dedicated to museum profession as a curator, educator, PR, project manager, director with a main goal to develop new role of the museum in the local community through various museum programs, projects and collection interpretation and presentation. She believes that museums are public spaces open for everyone, forums for open dialogs or debates, places of unique values of common heritage. Her fields of expertise are: art history, museum studies and heritology, museum management and marketing in culture, collection management, accessibility and social inclusion, cultural and educational tourism, project management. She is a member of ICOM, Serbian Museum Association (Section for art history, pedagogy and PR& marketing) and proud member of the Balkan Museum Network’s Steering Board and Access Group and member of the American Alliance of Museums.

News

Public Call for Projects of European Cooperation 2019

17/10/2018

A public call for projects within Creative Europe programme projects of European cooperation is open. Within this call you can apply in two categories:

– Smaller scale European cooperation projects (category 1): minimum 3 partner organisations (one from the EU), up to 200,000€, which represents 60% of the total eligible budget;

– Larger scale European cooperation projects (category 2): minimum 6 partner organisations (one from the EU), up to 2,000,000€, which represents 50% of the total eligible budget;

In comparison to past calls, this year’s competition call is slightly different to the standard because priorities related to the marking of European Year of Cultural Heritage have been kept (more detail in the list of priorities below). Moreover, the new countries participating in the programme include Armenia and Kosovo*. The list of the participating countries can be accessed here.

In designing projects, the project idea should be directed towards one of the three aims of the competition:

– Strengthening capacities of European cultural and creative sectors to act transnationally and on the international level, and also promoting transnational circulation of art works; Transnational mobility of cultural professionals, especially artists;

– Contributing to audience development through designing new and innovative ways of working with the audience, and also improving the accessibility of cultural programmes and content, with a special focus on children, youth, people with disabilities and marginalised groups of audience;

– Contributing to innovation and creativity in the field of culture through testing of new business models and promotion of new influences on other sectors.

In order to achieve the mentioned aims, the competition defines the following priorities:

– Promoting transnational mobility of artists and professionals with the aim of establishing cooperation on the international level and internationalising their work;

– Working on audience development as means to improve access to European cultural and art works, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and also creating opportunities for better access to cultural works for children, youth, persons with disabilities and representatives of marginalised and socially sensitive groups;

– Supporting capacity building of institutions, organisations and individuals through innovative approaches to creating, developing and testing innovative revenue models, management and marketing in the cultural sector, and especially regards the utilisation of digital technologies and developing skills of professionals in the field of culture for the utilisation of digital tools;

– Improving intercultural dialogue, promoting shared values of European cultural space and mutual understanding; respecting other cultures, thus contributing to social integration of migrants and refugees;

– As the legacy of the marking of European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018, one of the priorities remains raising awareness of shared history and values, and also strengthening the feeling of belonging to shared European space.

The competition is open until 11th December 2018 at noon, Brussels time.

The manual for applicants, all required conditions and documents can be accessed here.

More information on the call can be accessed on the European Commission website.

If you have a prepared project idea and you are in search for partners, we advise you to consider the options we offer in the partner search section of our website. If you need help please reach out to us.

Creative Europe Desk Serbia and the Antenna of the Creative Europe Desk Serbia are at your disposal for help in applying. Contact us to schedule a meeting and jointly discuss possibilities for applying. We invite you to follow announcements on our website about the events we will organise in the following period with the aim of as good a preparation for applying of domestic institutions and organisations as possible.

*All references to Kosovo, regardless of territory, institutions or population, should be understood in this text as being completely compliant with Resolution 1244 of the United Nations Security Council without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.

News

Results of the Call for Participation in Andrevlje Training

17/10/2018

This year’s call for participation in the training for project writing, organised by the Antenna of the Culture Desk Serbia received a vast number of applications coming from around the country. We thank everyone for their interest and submitted applications.

Due to limited temporal and accommodation capacities we are not able to accept all applications. The list of participants can be accessed here. We are looking forward to working together on projects within workshops and lectures!

The topics seminar will cover include contemporary practices and concepts in international cultural cooperation; management of international projects; European cultural policy and priorities of the Creative Europe programme. Within the seminar programme, representatives of the Creative Europe Desk Serbia Nina Mihaljinac and Milan Đorđević, Mina Radmilović Pjevac, Dragana Srećkov and Jovana Rapajić, will speak about the opportunities offered by the Creative Europe programme. Also, Marija Popović from the Student Cultural Centre Novi Sad and a representative of the projects Be SpectACTive! and Aerowaves, will speak about financial planning of projects, and Aleksandra Dobrin from the Cultural Centre “Mladost” Futog will present the experience of applying and leadership management of the project Make it new!, also supported by the Creative Europe programme.

We invite all those who are not among the selected participants to contact us and schedule a meeting to discuss the possibilities of applying, and also to follow announcements of events we will organise in the future with the aim of better preparation of domestic cultural institutions and organisations projects.

European cooperation projects 2018

Jazz And INterculturalism

16/10/2018

Project leader: Nisville Foundation, Serbia

Cultural association Siri Blu, Albania

Jana Project, Italy

JAIN aim it to facilitate the creativity and open artistic exchange by connecting jazz music youth of different cultural, social, economic and geographic origins, as to develop different levels of intercultural dialogue, cross-cultural cooperation and cross-border movement, connecting Serbia, Albania and Italy in identifying differences and similarities, learning and sharing, exchanging ideas and communication, understanding and opening through mobility, workshops, residencies, joint performing, meeting new people and discovering “new worlds”.

Project aims through involving music youth (18-32 years) from these 3 countries to increase the intercultural dialogue and awareness on richness of diverse ethnic communities (Serbian, Albanian, Roma and Italian) cultural influence that have contributed to their present cultural. Organizing of cultural events based on the wealth of diverse culture shall strengthen European belonging feeling among youth from Serbia, Albania and Italy, and increase awareness that culture provides an essential piece in the mosaic of the European identity that they are all striving for.

Project outputs are: 60 youth from SRB/AL/IT persons trained on understanding of culture as a vehicle of change in the society; 60 youth from SRB/AL/IT 6 jointly performed at 6 jazz concerts in Nis, Tirana and Alghero; 6 music youth exchanges conducted; 6 creative artistic and education residencies conducted; 2 Intl Jazz Days events held simultaneously in 3 countries; 1 joint internet platform launched linked with social media; 1 “behind the scene” TV documentary produced and aired; 1 Music Youth Exchange Platform introduced as permanent part of Nisville, Tirana and Alghero jazz festivals; 3 seminars held on new practices in teaching Jazz, audience developing and generating income models for jazz festivals; 2 DVD albums with “live” recordings of concerts held in targeted countries, International Jazz Day and Nisville Jazz Festival 2018 and 2019.

European cooperation projects 2018

Create to Connect -> Create to Impact

16/10/2018

Project Leader: Bunker, Slovenia

Artsadmin LBG, United Kingdom

Drugo more, Croatia

Etablissement Public du parcet de la Grande halle de la Villette (E.P.P.G.H.V), France

Fundação CaixaGeral de Depósitos-CULTURGEST, Portugal

Fundatia Alt Art Pentru Arta Alternativa, Romania

Institut Umeni- Divadelni Ustav, Czech Republic

Museum of Contemporary Art – Tbilisi, Georgia

Ntgent, Belgium

Santarcangelodei Teatri, Italy

Stichting Noorderzon Groningen, Netherlands

Stichting Theater Rotterdam, Netherlands

Stiftelsen Bergen Internasionale Theater, Norway

Udruženi umetnički rad, Serbia

Znanstveno-raziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti, Slovenia

Maximum Grant Awarded: 2.000.000,00 €

Create to Connect -> Create to Impact: Changing the world with theatre? Doing nothing, because we cannot do everything, is the biggest mistake! Making a positive impact through research-informed arts – at least something!

15 European arts and research partners from 13 European countries develop contemporary theatre to create aesthetic, political and social impact such as social innovation, micro-political change, new public arenas, aesthetic breakthroughs and emancipation.

We move from audience building to impacting stakeholders, from only connecting and engaging to consciously creating impact informed by anthropological research. We develop relationships not based on power structures but on collaboration and solidarity. All actions are designed in dialogue between curators, artists and researchers:

Research to Impact – research focuses on cases ranging from specific art cases to research of organizations. Anthropological studies of the impact our activities are producing serve as a basis to inform curators and artists on how to reach the desired impact. 26 Space to Connect – transforming venues, spaces that theatre inhabits with contemporary theatre to produce impact, through small-scale interventions to transformative processes. 2 Working Encounters – all partners and guests (public call) examine the notion of People. Space to establish common conceptual ground on stakeholders and develop tools for other activities. 39 Adapt to Connect – adaptations of existing theatre pieces to better impact the local context in dialogue with research.41 Create to Connect – (co)productions of new theatre pieces to impact in dialogue with research. Four-layered communication: local/national, classical line of communication (PR, web, social media …), in-depth partnerships with journalists, artistic line (artists/researchers develop new content and tools) Actively managed collaboration on the basis of democratic decision-making and sharing, and an integrated evaluation processes.

European cooperation projects 2018

European ARTificial Intelligence Lab

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Unternehmensgruppe der Stadt Linz Holding, Austria

Ariona Hellas, Greece

Associacion Hexagone Arts et Sciences, France

Centar za promociju nauke, Serbia

Culture Yard, Denmark

Fundacion la Laboral Centro de Arte y Creacion Industrial, Spain

Fundacion Zaragoza Ciudad de Conocimiento, Spain

Gluon, Belgium

Lieu Unique Scene Nationale Nantes Association, France

SOU festival, Germany

Stichting Waag Society, Netherlands

The Provost, Fellows, Foundation Scholars & the other Members of Board of the College of the Holy &Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, Ireland

Zavod za kulturo, umetnost in obrazevanje Kersnikova, Slovenia

Maximum Grant Awarded: 1.970.692,53 €

The latest developments in artificial intelligence truly are astonishing, and they will soon be advancing exponentially with the increasing scientific and economic power that are invested by the big companies. Deep learning, self-learning neuronal networks, autonomous mobile robots and smart digital assistants—they all have undoubtedly the potential to be the next big game changers.

The European ARTificial Intelligence Lab will bring AI related scientific and technological topics to general citizens and art audiences in order to contribute to a critical and reflective society. The project will be focusing on aspects beyond the technological and economic horizon to scrutinize cultural, psychological, philosophical and spiritual aspects. From the perspective of 13 major cultural operators in Europe (Ars Electronica, Center for promotion of science, Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation, Laboral, Kapelica Gallery, Science Gallery Dublin, Onassis Cultural Center, culturyard / click festival, GLUON, Haxagon Scene National Art Sciences, SOU Festival, le lieuunique, Waag Society), the European ARTificial Intelligence Lab centers visions, expectations and fears that weassociate with the conception of a future, all-encompassing artificial intelligence. The artistic practice of creative exploration and experimental appropriation of new technologies triggered a wide interest from professionals from other industry disciplines.

The European ARTificial Intelligence Lab will foster the position of artists regarding their exploitation of new business models, activity fields and professional networks. An extensive activity programme in the form of exhibitions, labs, workshops, conferences, talks, performances, concerts, mentorings and residencies will foster interdisciplinary work, transnational mobility and intercultural exchange. In total, the project will realize 211 activities such as 26 residencies, 22 exhibtions, 101 workshops, 9 performances and 52 discursive programs.

European cooperation projects 2018

Be SpectACTive!

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Аssociatione Culturale Capotrave, Italy

Artemrede – Teatros Associados, Portugal

Asociácia Divadelná Nitra, Slovakia

Bakelit Multi art Center Alapitvany, Hungary

Buda Kunstencentrum, Belgium

Café de las Artes Teatro S.L., Spain

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France

Domino udruge, Croatia

Dublin Theatre Festival Company Limited by Guarantee, Ireland

Fondacione Fitzcarraldo, Italy

KoproduktionsHaus, Austria

Plesni Teater Ljubljana, Slovenia

Réseau en scène Languedoc-Roussillon (association régionale de coordination et de diffusion des arts du spectacle en Languedoc-Roussillon), France

Stora Teatern, Sweden

Tanec Praha, Czech Republic

Teatrul National Radu Stanca Sibiu, Romania

Universistat de Barcelona, Spain

Universite de Montpellier, France

SKC Novi Sad, Serbia

Maximum Grant Awarded: 2.000.000,00 €

BeSpectACTive! is a production/oriented, action/research and artistic-led project characterized by an experimental audience-centric approach in the performing arts. Based on the experience of the first edition, the project aims to strengthen a complex system of replicable practices directed to engage the audiences in the performing arts sector, giving to the citizens/spectators an active role, thanks to offline and online actions and strategies. Inspired by a strong trans-local perspective, the project establishes bridges between the cities and the countries, in the idea of a more inclusive and trans-cultural Europe.

BS will be implemented throughout:

1. the production of 15 new theatre/dance shows. The entire production process will be implemented supporting the artists from the artistic research, passing through a widespread system of residencies and open rehearsals, to the distribution across the cities of the network;

2. co-programming, co-managing and co-commissioning activities will be pursued with the aim to extend the experience of active spectatorship from the art programming, to the organizational level, until a proper form of bottom-up art commissioning;

3. improving the notion of Peer Learning Network, focused on the idea of being a peer and cooperative learning project, based on the exchange of practices, concrete actions and tools devoted to the acquisition of skills and competencies across the network;

4. the development of an action research project which will accompany all the previous areas and will provide insights, recommendations and final evaluation of the effects of the practices implemented.

All these activities will foster a virtuous online and offline exchange between artists, citizens, professionals giving also a space for the implementation of new professional figures. As affirmed by Charles Lead beater in The Art of With: “Cultural activities have undergone a shift from production to or for the audiences to creation with audiences”.

European cooperation projects 2018

Europe Beyond Access

15/10/2018

The British Council, United Kingdom

Ariona Hellas AE, Greece

Associazione incontri internazionali di Tovereto Oriente Occicente Teatro Danza Musica, Italy

Kampnagel Internationale Kulturfabrik GMBH, Germany

Per.Art, Serbia

Skånes Dansteater AB, Sweden

Stichting Holland Dance Festival, Netherlands

Maximum Grant Awarded: 1.998.192,00 €

Across the performing arts and across Europe disabled artists are pushing the boundaries of form and are presenting audiences, fellow artists and arts professionals with one of the creative opportunities of our time. Europe Beyond Access will support disabled artists to break the glass ceilings of the contemporary theatre & dance sectors: to internationalise their artistic innovations and their careers; to develop a network of leading mainstream organisations with a commitment to present and commission at the highest level; to build European audiences interestedin high-quality innovative work by Europe’s disabled artists; and to develop tools and understanding in the wider performing arts market.

Europe Beyond Access will:

1) Contribute to artistic innovation of disabled artists in Europe through improved access to a greater number of creative development opportunities, countering geographic and aesthetic isolation (ARTIST CENTRIC)

2) Revolutionise the programming palette and possibilities in European performing arts through:

2a) showcasing world-class disability-led work and emerging talent, and helping artists and companies to better understand their market and how to position their work. (ARTIST CENTRIC)
2b): creating a network of experienced programmers interested in working collaboratively to commission and present disabled. (BUYER CENTRIC)

3)Increase interest in disability-led work for European performing arts audiences, with greater exposure to and familiarity with innovative work, creating positive associations and improving perceptions of the artistic experience, whilst also improving access for and engagement by disabled audiences. (AUDIENCE CENTRIC)

4) Create the best possible industry conditions to source, develop, produce and present work of disabled artists through supporting cultural managers to improve the accessibility of their processes and systems. (INDUSTRY CENTRIC)

European cooperation projects 2018

2020 Troubadours

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Via Lactea, Belgium

Etnofest Association, Serbia

Flonflons, France

International Visual Art Foundation, Hungary

Maximum Grant Awarded: 190.704,00 €

2020 Troubadours is an innovating and multidisciplinary project which uses positive possibilities of world music to improve the transnational mobility and entrepreneurship of young artists in Europe on one hand, and which wants to stimulate intercultural dialogue and audience development on the other.

It is a very concrete project carried out by four official partners and two associated partners from Belgium, France, Serbia, Hungary, Spain, Poland and Ukraine. This interesting composition of partners belonging to the ‘old Europe’ and new, candidate member states is really crucial: 2020 Troubadours wants to point out and highlight the possibilities of culture when it comes to social inclusion and mutual understanding everywhere in Europe; a topic which has been verypresent these days.

By organizing a series of Trouba Train Trips through some specific European border regions, the project wants to inspire and stimulate twenty Troubadours to work and create together during some Trouba Lab residencies and master classes. The objective is to innovate their own repertoire of popular world music and create a new contemporary repertoire of twenty pieces which will be recorded on an album and presented in a new multidisciplinary performance Trouba Rumba in different European countries outside the partners’ own regions. In the meantime, a team of photographers and filmmakers will also follow the whole creative process and deliver their precise artistic view on traveling through European border regions.

Presenting these different outcomes and deliverables to a wide range of professionals in the European world music industry will also be a very important element. This way, we can establish a new business model which will last beyond the duration of the project, and which stimulates cultural entrepreneurship by combining culture and education with the focus on participative activities with a low threshold. Artists learn from the audience and vice versa.

European cooperation projects 2018

Port of Dreamers

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Dubrovačke ljetnje igre, Croatia

Kulturanova, Serbia

Slovensko narodno gledalisce Maribor, Slovenia

Maximum Grant Awarded: 188.000,00 €

Port of Dreamers is an international collaboration project aimed at exploring the narratives, memories and places of migrations by creating artistic projects dealing with 100 years of migrations on European continent and at the same time offering different artistic tools to current refugees to express and redefine their own experiences.

The exploration of the migrations topics will result in development of innovative modes of co-creation, production of new works by young and emerging artists and encourage team-working and audience development. Ultimately, the Port of Dreamers seeks to explore the value of arts as an anthropological and cultural research tool and the power of this dimension to support the integration of refugees in Europe by giving the opportunity to artists and refugees to work together, discover, and learn from each other.

The purpose of this project is to concisely unfold the issues concerning the history of migrations, while at the same opening the opportunities for refugee inclusion. A number of accompanying events: capacity building sessions, exhibitions and thematic gatherings, will encourage the fusion of art and social programs and other scientific and theoretical initiatives centred on migrations research and methodologies.

The project will result with: 3 creative labs for artists, 2 theatre productions, 3 four weeks workshops with refugees, 2 creative capacity building sessions for cultural workers and managers, 1 exhibition and 1 publication of the project experiences and final presentation of all 2 art productions presented within the Dubrovnik Summer Festival programme.

On the other side, Port of Dreamers will present on-line base of narratives on 100 years of migration history in Europe. Web platform will as well engage our target group: refugees and enable them to express themselves, to inform themselves, to learn by using growing archive and to discuss topics that are part of their experiences.

European cooperation projects 2018

Rights4kids- Theatre Performances to promote the Convention on the Rights of the Child

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Aida, Italy

SynergActiony SA, Greece

Associazione Teatrale Trentina Interculturale, Italy

DAH Theatre Research Centre, Serbia

Network for Childrens Rights, Greece

Performalita, Czech Republic

Theatro Aeropolio – Ena Theatro Giapaidia, Greece

Maximum Grant Awarded: 198.547,92 €

Children from vulnerable groups do not constitute usually an audience for the Creative and Culture sectors and also run a high risk for the violation of their rights. Rights4kids is a project which aims to bring children from vulnerable groups closer to theatre and on the same time to raise awareness on the Convention for the Rights of Children encouraging children to reflect on their rights and share their experiences and stories.

To reach these aims, the following activities are foreseen:

– Participatory workshops in order to include the children in the process of the discussion of the convention and the selection of the performances that will be staged in each country.

– the production of theatre performances for children to be distributed locally, in the 4 countries of the theatre companies(Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Serbia) which are going to cover at least 2 articles of the Convention (each) and are going to be presented at least 6 times in each partner country

– The organisation of 1 Rights for Children theatre festival where all the performances produced in all countries are going to be presented together

– the production of an e-learning course that will provide support to all educators working with the children rights indifferent countries to work with theatre and children in themes related with the Convention of the Rights of Children.

– the development of an online portal which will host all the resources developed by the project (including performances, guidelines for workshops, scenarios etc). The project is going to focus mainly on refugee and minority children. It is going to be implemented in 4 countries: Italy, Greece, Serbia, Czech Republic.

European cooperation projects 2018

Mauerspringer (Wall-jumper) – New forms of artistic expression and participation in European street theatre

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Teatro Due Mondi Associazione Culturale, Italy

Compagnie du Hasard, France

DAH Theatre Research Centre, Serbia

Hortzmuga Animación S.L., Spain

Theaterlabor Bielefeld, Germany

Théâtre de L’unité, France

Maximum Grant Awarded: 199.962,00 €

Mauerspringers were called the people who jumped over the Berlin wall to live their life free. It is a project about the concept of “wall” in a social, political and individual sense. Its goal is to overcome the walls through arts, to promote dialogue through creative experience choosing the street as the place of confrontation and artistic expression. Theatrical production is based on a “participated” approach that aims to break down the wall between the artists and the spectators, to actively engage the audience in a street performance. In the public space, theatre intersects also with other art languages: photography and video will investigate the relationship between audience and street theatre and will be a part of the communication strategy using a web/mobile APPlication that stimulates active participation and calls people, young people and digital natives, to take to the streets and share the experience of live theatre.

The participatory approach promotes audience development and is supported also by a communication campaign where video and photography create a digital community.

Six partners theatre association from six different European countries want to strengthen street theatre as a tool of social transformation by developing a socially relevant street theatre dramaturgy. Through 7 participatory workshop and different forms of actively engaging audience, they will produce 6 “participated” street performances. Workshop are meant for non-actors and will particularly welcome refugees and migrants. In parallel, a nomadic workshop on street photography techniques will be offered by a renowned photographer to a group of young apprentices. 3 Mini-festivals will take place in the Partner countries, a European Festival of Street Theatre will take place in Italy at the end of a 2 years’ project and an International Conference on street theatre and social issues will be a bridge to the future of the project.

European cooperation projects 2018

Turbulator – generator of turbulent art brut practices

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Udruzenje Turbo Strip, Serbia

Curvaturva associação cultural e recreativa, Portugal

La “S” Grand Atelier, Belgium

Par Le Dernier Cri, France

Maximum Grant Awarded: 69.324,43 €

Turbulator is a medium term three-year project that involves 4 official partners from 4 different European countries: Turbo Comix Association (Serbia), La S (Belgium), Le Dernier Cri (France), Arara (Portugal), and many smaller groups, individuals and institutions acting the role of associated partners that will participate in smaller and more focused side events.

Turbulator is focused on inclusive artistic workshops (organizers, printers and artists will visit each other and collaborate on various artistic, silkscreen printing, bookmaking and on occasion even music projects as well as have a general exchange of experiences, skills and organizational techniques and approaches). Partners will collaborate and exchange skills and knowledge with a special focus on facilitating spontaneous exchange between artists coming from different geographic contexts as well as different backgrounds and approaches to art, presenting the artists as well as the results of the workshops to international audiences and establish new visibility through persistent cross-platform media promotion.

The aim of the project is to enable groups and organizations that come from various backgrounds and countries but share similar goals and practices to collaborate, exchange and visit each other in order to gain new knowledge, compare practical approaches and organizational skills as well as to enable artists to create art in new contexts, participate in workshops with other artists, acquire new skills and approaches and to present their work to new audiences.

The strength of this complex project comes from a wide spectrum of qualities gained from intense collaboration between all of the international partners on the project, which will contribute to increased visibility and mobility and establish a new network of organizations that support outsider art community.

European cooperation projects 2018

Vectors of Collective Imagination

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Multimedijalni institut udruge, Croatia

Association of citizens Kontrapunkt, Macedonia

Berliner gazette, Germany

Kulturföreningen Glänta ekonomisk förening, Sweden

Udruga za promicanje kultura KulturTreger, Croatia

Kuda.org, Serbia

Maximum Grant Awarded: 200.000,00 €

The project extends the collaboration that began in 2012 with the Aesthetic Education Expanded, a project that sought to update the notion of aesthetic education – connecting art, imagination and democracy – for the age of digital networks.

Vectors of Collective Imagination revisits this emancipatory notion, inquiring how a new political geography taking shape in Europe, marked by the refugee crisis, rising Islamophobia, economic disparities and hardening illiberalism, is challenging our collective imagination and its aesthetic means. Our aim is to organise 7 large events (festivals, conferences, exhibitions) in our respective locales and to address some facets of that central concern. The events will connect the dots between key places (Egypt, Maghreb, Northern Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe) of that new geography and artistic responses that can help foster a new collective imagination against retrograde political tendencies in Europe and beyond. We’re particularly suited for this as we’re all rooted in our social environments in a context of activists, neighbourhood communities, worker educations associations, schools, universities and critically engaged media which will be included in our activities.

All 7 events (segment: ACTORS) have formats that range from high-profile – aimed at presenting writers, visual artists, film-makers and theorists to popular and diverse audiences – to educational aimed at connecting artists and practitioners with high-schoolers, young migrants, young artists and art students. These events will be accompanied by tools (segment: TOOLS): an online database and a toolbox documenting best collective practices and methodologies, and publications (segment: VECTORS): two anthologies of Arabic literatures, a monograph on avant-garde collective practices and pamphlets responding to themes of the project. These are all meant to disseminate project’s creative and intellectual outputs to wide transnational audiences.

European cooperation projects 2018

CrossOpera. Otherness: fear and discovery

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena, Italia

Theater und Orshester Gmbh, Austria

Serbian National Theatre, Serbia

Maximum Grant Awarded: 200.000,00 €

CrossOpera joints 3 opera theatres from 3 different countries: Teatro Comunale di Modena (Italy), Landestheater Linz(Austria) and Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad (Serbia). The main objective of the intervention is to co-produce anew opera, whose 3 acts will develop short stories commissioned to 3 different composers and librettists representing each country. All 3 composers will work on the same given subject: “Otherness: fear and discovery”, sensitive to thepolitical and social issue of the migrants and the refugees. CrossOpera is particularly interested in composers with a classical background able to work on musical traditions with popular and ethnographic depth. The project is also particularly interested in non-European artists living within the European boundaries and reflecting upon their own ethnic tradition.

CrossOpera will start with the commission of the 3 acts opera to the composers and librettists. A travelling artistic team made of singers and musicians will follow a week of music rehearsals of each act in every theatre (‘Austrian’ act in Linz,‘Serbian’ act in Novi Sad, ‘Italian’ act in Modena) with the guide and supervision of the local composer. The staging of the opera will start in Modena, where a last round of music rehearsal and the stage rehearsals of the whole opera will be followed by the première of the show. Following Modena, the opera production with the whole team will travel to Linz and Novi Sad. Through the joint production of the opera, the project enhances the capacity and encourages the international growth of the administrative, artistic and production departments in Italy, Austria and Serbia, working in a transnational perspective.

Transnational mobility of the music ensemble as well as the singers, the conductor, the director and the people involved in the rehearsals of the opera will be functional to the production and creation of a multilingual and multicultural final work.

European cooperation projects 2018

Play! MOBILE

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Progressione kulturalis nonprofit kouhasznu, Hungary

Asociatia Medium Contemporan MAGMA Kortárs Közeg Egyesület, Romania

Association Kulturanova, Serbia

Pardi Mini Teatro, France

Maximum Grant Awarded: 200.000,00 €

The idea of Play!MOBILE is to encourage a new way of cultural participation in micro regions all over Europe. We believe that the community art practice and the development of a unique participatory rural game offers a sophisticated and inclusive way for capacity building and development of new audiences for contemporary art in more isolated areas. By turning public spaces into playgrounds of contemporary art, we are experiencing an alternative way of cultural consumption, a methodology to present artworks without the necessity of having high profile infrastructure.

The international team of artists – together with local young and emerging artists – will create a site specific interdisciplinary and participatory game, which will be adapted to the different settlements involved in the project, thus bringing contemporary art closer to the audience. The interdisciplinary nature of the project is ensured by the selected partners, representing different disciplines, while well experienced in community art practices.

The project focuses on capacity building, especially in the peripheries of the art scene. We have invited local institutions from twelve small settlements from the project area to join us as associates. They are working on local level, realizing cultural and community activities, but lacking the capacity in terms of infrastructure, tools to reach new audiences and international networking opportunities. Play!MOBILE will build their capacity, help their internationalization and foster further projects in contemporary and interactive art forms.

The project encourages the exchange of best practices and reaches outside of the current partnership by inviting other organizations with relevant practices in the field, creating a network of cultural actors active in the scene. Play!MOBILE will bring audience closer to contemporary art in the micro regions and will generate discussion between cultural operators on the issue of access to culture too.

European cooperation projects 2018

MADE IN-Crafts and Design Narratives

15/10/2018

Project leader: Muzej za umjetnost i obrt, Croatia

Mikser, Serbia

Muzej za arhitekturo in oblikovanje, Slovenia

Nova IskraKreativniHab, Serbia

Oaza, Croatia

Werkraum Bregenzerwald, Austria

Maximum Grant Awarded: 197,649.12 €

Made in is a research, design and heritage initiative that encourages collaboration and knowledge exchange between traditional craftsmen and contemporary designers. The aim of the project is to, on one hand revitalize crafts tradition and on the other hand to educate designers about material and immaterial heritage, thus creating new, authentic and more sustainable value of contemporary design. The project encompasses a variety of activities like traveling exhibitions, craft design residencies and workshops, professional development workshops for craft heritage and design curators and designers, seminars/conferences and innovative audience development activities. Through different interactive audience development activities the project will advocate accessible and inclusive design and present European craft heritage to wider public.

The project is also proposing a creation of new European web platform Made in. The intention of this platform is both to stimulate collaboration between craftsmen and designers and thus encourage new business models of craft heritage revitalization through contemporary design, but also to stimulate innovative approach to design services, scenarios and products based on craft tradition.

Project Mission

Exchange of knowledge between craftsmen’s and designers through innovative business models and expansion of audience for craft and design.

Project Objectives

– To promote European craft heritage to a broad range of audiences

– To educate contemporary designers about different European craft traditions

– To foster development of new design services, scenarios and products based on crafts tradition

– To support revitalization of crafts tradition through creation of new sustainable business models for connecting crafts mens and designers

– To develop new and innovative audience-development activities

– To establish new European network of craft-design professionals

European cooperation projects 2018

Parallel Traces “A new lens for Jewish Heritage”

15/10/2018

Project Leader: Association Européenne Pour la Présérvationet la Valorisation de la Culture et du PatrimoineJuifs (AEPJ), Luxemburg
Culture & Media Agency Europe, Belgium
Fundacja Bente Kahan, Poland
FundatiaTarbut Sighet, Cultura siEducatieIudaica, Romania
Imascono Art, S.L., Spain
Israeli House, Georgia
Patrionat Call de Girona, Spain
Tačka Komunikacije, Serbia
Maximum Grant Awarded: 197.439,77 €

The Parallel Traces project aims to create an opportunity to unearth the urban imprints of Jewish cultural heritage providing European citizens from several countries the possibility to discover them. It combines a focus around the traces of Jewish Heritage in the European urban landscape with artistic photography, audiovisuals and the use of augmented reality. This will take place by combining two elements with the same partners, linked by subject matter and joint communication and dissemination mechanisms.

On the one side, the Project will organize existing information gathered by its Partners to develop an application (App) providing augmented reality in connection with a series of identified places and venues. On the other, the Project will organize a pan-European contest for the creation of original photographic and audiovisual work focusing on contemporary physical traces of European Jewish culture in the fields of architecture and urban planning in any of the Consortium’s participant countries and the cities identified by them.

Selected artworks, all of them in digital format, will be turned into an itinerant exhibition to travel to the different participant cities. The augmented reality app will be an important tool helping to disseminate and discover the Jewish history and values to a large audience. The international contest, and exhibitions following, will promote the circulation of artistic works, and promote exchanges between cultural agents and artists, creating new networks and possibilities of increased access into new transnational and international markets.

These combined actions will turn tangible resources inherited from a shared and often forgotten past (including monuments and sites) into a source of inspiration for artistic contemporary creation, thus strengthening the interaction between the cultural heritage and other creative sectors such as photography, multimedia, video art, or similar expressions of digital-related creativity.

News

Results of the Competition for Literary Translation 2018

03/10/2018

The results of the Competition for Literary Translation in 2018 were published today. Publishing houses from Serbia are again at the top of the winners list ̶ in the category of two-year projects of cooperation the most numerous are the projects of domestic publishing houses.

These are the publishing houses Akademska knjiga with the project Modernity and tradition of European literature, Areté with the project Literary Migration: Spatial, Temporal and Spiritual Dislocation, Heliks with the project Creative Voyage: Destination Europe, Kontrast Publishing with the project Literary Translation: Two-way Street and Štrik with the project From Sewing Machine to Facebook: Two Centuries of European Women’s Literature. Congratulations to everyone for the results their results, which are expected after four consecutive successful years for Serbia on this competition!

Apart from Serbia, the most successful also include the United Kingdom, Romania and Croatia with 4 supported project each.

Domestic publishing houses did not apply for the category of several-years long translation projects. The total amount of grants awarded to publishing houses from Serbia in the category of two-year projects of literary translation amounts to 279.880,68€. More information on the results of the competition can be found on the European Commission website.

Blog

Elena Vasić Petrović: Heritage in our Hands

03/10/2018

What is cultural heritage for you?

Contemplating on European cultural heritage assumes simultaneously observing the complexity of the duration and intertwining of centuries and the millennia, numerous peoples and civilisations, and at the same time the simplicity of the feeling of continuity as well, contained in every sensible human being living in this area.
The fact that heritage is all around us and a part of our lives, and hence, that all us also have to belong somewhere and to something, are key to its understanding and preservation, whether we are speaking about a private legacy, a piece of personal history, or national cultural monuments or collections.

Which historical periods and events from Serbian history are important for you and interesting from the point of view of a shared European cultural space, shared history?

I generally don’t approve of using commonplace expressions and terms such as “Serbia at the crossroads of the East and the West” and the like, but it is a fact that this area of ours was truly throughout history a battlefield of great turbulence and turning points, that the mighty West and the great East came and went away, seeking and finding their interest precisely in our country and that this is still ongoing. Hence, our and European history are a single inseparable entity.

There are bright moments in our history when our creators while upgrading their qualities and skills using the knowledge and experience of other civilisations and nations succeeded in ascending high above their role models and teachers, but also above their own time, and this is what should represent our pride and inspiration for the future.
There are such examples in all spheres of life, and there were many more in the long and rich culture of Serbian people.

In what way will your institution participate in marking the European year of cultural heritage?

From the first contact with heritage, across numerous experiences, as a student, associate and director of the Institute, to being a founder of a non-governmental organisation, I cannot abandon the impression that our heritage is definitely the most secure in the hands of the youth.

Symbolically, one of the educational programmes of UNESCO, intended for people up to 26 years old, concerned with volunteer camps across the globe, bears precisely this name – “Heritage in our Hands”. This is where all the wisdom is, and all our past and the bright future, in the hands of those who will be making decisions in the years to come. Several key moments are contained precisely in that sentence. Firstly, a young mind desires knowledge and recognition, and the contact with heritage will satisfy both of these needs. Heritage is an inexhaustible source of information, and caring about it offers great satisfaction, awakens the awareness of its importance and creates an inseverable bond with something yearning for continuous attention and nurturing. Secondly, the energy borne by young people, especially at the beginning of their professional careers, is incomparable with anything else, hence channelling it into such a sensitive and important sphere of culture is certainly a great step towards a better future. And the third, and perhaps the most important was expressed through the wisdom of ancient philosophers and, in a way, it sublimes the previous two theses, and it is so easily applicable precisely to our story: to educate the mind, and not the heart, is worthless. There is no mistake with heritage, both aspects will be satisfied.

The Foundation of the Architect Aleksandar Radović is focussed precisely on young people, hence for us this year was also dedicated to programmes intended for them.
In March we awarded the second Award bearing the name of our esteemed colleague and one of the most fruitful conservators Serbia ever had. The Architect Aleksandar Radović Award was established precisely to support young creators who already had contact with heritage in their work or who are successfully and seriously dealing with these topics.

The recently completed two-week volunteer restoration camp bearing the name “Adopt a Household in Gostuša”, is a part of a great international programme encompassing 15 projects from 8 countries, and it was realised in cooperation with the organisation European Heritage Volunteers from Weimar in Germany. This is a project which had the mark of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 both in Germany and in our country, and it represents the rounding of the several years long work on the so-called “stone village” on the Balkan Mountains. We started in 2010, conducted voluminous researches in 2012 and 2013 and systematised all the data within the Study which was published in 2015, and already in 2016 it brought the first Europa Nostra award and the Grand-Prix of the European Union.

The programmes for the youngest ones are expected soon within the manifestation “The night of researchers”, when we will present ourselves through educational games united under the title “Stories from the stone”, when we will present interesting facts from one of our most important archaeological sites, Caričin grad.

Of course, we placed the focussed throughout the year precisely on the European Year of Cultural Heritage through regular activities, and all of this with the desire to inform as many people as possible about the existence of such a programme and the fact that Serbia, in a way, participates as an equal in its, like other European countries, and also that huge financial means are not necessary to do this, and neither are great efforts, but instead that everyone can make their small contribution.

Elena Vasić Petrović is born in 1978 in Pirot. She graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture in Niš in 2004. During the same year she started working at the Institute for the Protection of Cultural MonumentsNiš (2004 – 2012 Associate, 2012 – 2017 Director). She became specialized in stone restoration in 2011 (ISCR/Roma_Italyand CIK/Belgrade_Serbia)and the Management of Archeological Sites with Mosaics (Getty Conservation Institute/LA_USA).
She is the author of: 7 exhibitions, a newspapers column, 30 works and articles and 3 publications, all from the field of the protection of cultural heritage. She is the Founder and ChiefEditor of “Stubovibaštine” a gazette of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural MonumentsNiš. She is the winner of the Europa Nostra Award and the Grand-Prix of the European Union for 2016 for the Study on the protection of the village of Gostuša in the Municipality of Pirot. She is the Founder and Manager of the Foundation of the Architect Aleksandar Radović.

Monthly Archives: October 2018

Unearthing the music: Sound and Creative Experimentation in Non-democratic Europe

Food is Culture

European Cultural Heritage Onstage

Make it new!

Crafting Europe: Past and Future / Crafting Europe in the Bronze Age and Today

Journey to the Beginnings

Heritage Hubs

Someone from Home – in the sense of belonging to Europe

Future Epics

Milena Milošević Micić: The Spirit of Our Heritage

Public Call for Projects of European Cooperation 2019

Results of the Call for Participation in Andrevlje Training

Jazz And INterculturalism

Create to Connect -> Create to Impact

European ARTificial Intelligence Lab

Be SpectACTive!

Europe Beyond Access

2020 Troubadours

Port of Dreamers

Rights4kids- Theatre Performances to promote the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Mauerspringer (Wall-jumper) – New forms of artistic expression and participation in European street theatre

Turbulator – generator of turbulent art brut practices

Vectors of Collective Imagination

CrossOpera. Otherness: fear and discovery

Play! MOBILE

MADE IN-Crafts and Design Narratives

Parallel Traces “A new lens for Jewish Heritage”

Results of the Competition for Literary Translation 2018

Elena Vasić Petrović: Heritage in our Hands

What is cultural heritage for you?

Which historical periods and events from Serbian history are important for you and interesting from the point of view of a shared European cultural space, shared history?

In what way will your institution participate in marking the European year of cultural heritage?

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