Monthly Archives: July 2019

Mobility scheme for artists and/or cultural professionals

Artistic and cultural mobility has increasing received policy attention both at European Union and national levels. Mobility has always been a policy priority under the European Agenda for Culture and a crucial component of the Creative Europe programme. More recently, Culture ministers have explicitly called upon the European Commission to investigate the possibility of setting up a specific mobility action for artists and culture professionals.

Some opportunities for the international mobility of artists and/or cultural professionals exist with the support of public institutions, private foundations and/or NGOs, at local, regional, national, European and international level. At national level the situation is quite varied and at EU level, several EU programmes and funding instruments offer various opportunities for cross-border mobility activities that may include the cultural and creative sectors. However, none are specifically focused on the needs of artists or cultural professionals but rather on formal education, entrepreneurship or volunteering. The Creative Europe programme supports the mobility of artists and/or cultural professionals but only within cooperation projects and platforms.

This Call for Proposals is the second initiative taken by the European Commission in organising mobility for artist, attempting to address these shortcomings and in line with the 2019 Annual Work Programme for the implementation of the Creative Europe Programme.

The first initiative is the pilot scheme i-Portunus, which is currently being implemented, following a Call for Tenders, by a consortium headed by the Goethe Institute. The beneficiaries selected under this Call for Proposals are requested to review the current i-Portunus projects and build upon it. In addition the beneficiaries will have access to the recommendations, electronic portal, electronic forms and other tools developed by the i-Portunus project, including the name and logo which will be delivered to the European Commission by the end of February 2020.

The general objective of this Call for Proposals is to develop and implement their own short-term individual mobility actions through the provision of financial support to artists and/or cultural professionals and produce recommendations to the Commission. The results of all projects will be taken into account by the European Commission in developing a permanent action under the Creative Europe Programme 2021-2017 dedicated to supporting the mobility of artists and cultural professionals.

The two grant agreements envisaged in this Call will be for a maximum grant of 750,000 each. The duration of the projects shall be 16 months.

Please find more information here.

Prepare for the Next European Cooperation Competition

This year’s competition for European cooperation projects is expected to be open from the beginning of autumn, and the next few months are sufficient time to prepare to apply. Throughout the year, Creative Europe Desk Serbia helps all institutions and organisations planning to apply, so we invite you to use all opportunities for help we are offering in order to prepare your project as good as possible.

The competition supports projects od institutions and organisations active in the field of culture, which assume cooperation with at least two partner organisations from Europe with a focus on audience development, improving mobility or strengthening work capacity. So far 76 European projects of cooperation have been supported, in which 100 institutions and organisations from Serbia participate. If you wish to become a part of a European partnership, we would like to bring your attention to several important steps until autumn:

1. Research the so far supported projects on our website and in the browser of projects in order to gain insight into possibilities offered by the programme. Getting familiar with supported projects can help you design an authentic response to the competition priorities. Apart from this, it is useful to research the last year’s application guidelines.

2. If you have a project idea, devote sufficient time to searching for the right partners for your project idea; these do not have to be organisations similar to yours, it is important that you recognise their strengths, share values and that there is mutual trust between you. Only such partnerships are successful because they guarantee longevity. If so far you did not establish personal contacts with European organisations, partners can be found in the database of calls for partnerships or by creating your own call. Also, contact European networks you recognise as important for your work and the project you are preparing – perhaps among their members there are some who are interested in cooperating with you.

3. If you need help in defining the concept and financial plan of your project, contact us to help you or apply for participation in trainings we organise. From 5th-8th August in Tršić, a project writing seminar will take place, and during the end of summer, there will be another one in Vojvodina. Every work day, you can schedule a meeting with our team in offices in Belgrade and Novi Sad.

European cooperation projects are an opportunity to acquire additional funds to realise your ideas, to connect with key actors of the international scene and to build credibility of your organisation on the international plan.

We are at your disposal for all questions, contact us!

Results of the European Cooperation Projects Competition 2019

The results of the European cooperation projects competition 2019 have been published today where the total of 15 projects have been supported, in which 14 organisations from Serbia will participate. These are three leader projects: Stories Behind Cities (Novi Sad, Rijeka and Timisoara) led by Art Association Inbox, followed by BITE – Introduction of new business model into European contemporary art operators to generate new young audience, led by Civil Association Bum, in which the Cultural Centre Belgrade and the organisation Color Media Communication participate as partners, and the project Beyond Quantum Music, in which the Musicology Institute SASA participates as the leader, and the Centre for New Art as a partner.

Also, project partners will be:

• Children’s Cultural Centre in the project Young Theatre on the Move;

• Association KROKODIL in projects: Reading Balkans: Borders vs. Frontiers, The Ulysses’ Shelter: Building writers-in-residence network 2 and Connecting Emerging Literary Artists;

• EXIT Foundation in projects Hub for exchange of music innovation in Central and South-eastern Europe and MOST – The Complex Strategy to develop the Balkan World Music Scene;

• Foundation Novi Sad 2021 in the project European Outdoor Arts Academy: School of Participation

• Association Kulturanova in projects: TRAINART – Building new skills for innovative business models in the performing arts sector, Z Elements: Artistic experiences and exchanges to attract a younger audience through Transmedia co-creations,

• Theatre laboratory Blue Theatre in the project Inclusive Theater(S);

• Centre for promotion of healthy lifestyles in the project A New European Generation – Exploring Freedom and Identity through Creative Integration;

• Foundation Fond B92 in the project Paint the Change.

Congratulations on exceptional results to all institutions and organisation which worked hard and it paid off!

The list of remaining supported projects was published on the website of the European Commission.