Monthly Archives: November 2020

Results of the Competition “Bridging Culture and Audiovisual Content through Digital”

27/11/2020

The results of the inter-sector competition call “Bridging Culture and Audiovisual Content through Digital”, published in January of the current year, have been published. Eight projects are supported with the total of 3,176,333.97 Euros, and the participants of one of them, “MUSE.ar” project led by the organisation Pro Progresione Kulturalis from Hungary, include UPT Lepenski Vir from Donji Milanovac. We are congratulating all institutions and organisations supported within this competition.

The list of support projects and organisations can be downloaded here.

Prior to establishing the Laboratory for Creative Innovation within the next cycle of the Creative Europe programme 2021-2027, European Commission initiated the pilot call “Bridging Culture and Audiovisual Content through Digital” to support cross-border, inter-sector activities. The aim of the competition was to support projects offering new forms of creativity by mixing different field of cultural and audiovisual professions, with the use of innovative inter-sectoral approaches and tools to achieve easier access, distribution and promotion of all field of culture and creativity, including cultural heritage.


When you cross the border ‒ challenges of growing up in a female body through European female literature

09/11/2020

Arete Publishing House

Maximum grant awarded: 59,294.05 €

Adolescence is a liminal period of crossing from childhood into adulthood and because of this it carries numerous challenges. For girls it represents an especially sensitive topic of perception and acceptance of one’s own body within socially acceptable norms, peer requests and the media creating the image of an ideal body. Body-image still leads to constructing the self-image and it often leads to unhappiness, fears and anxiety. The result is crossing the border towards behaviours and psychological states that can be life threatening. Through eight titles exactly dealing with topics of this kind of liminal behaviours, the idea of this project is to bring literature from eight European countries closer to young girls. These novels offer different female characters in adolescence having specific problems on the personal level through which their relationship with themselves is constructed, and further through it the relationship with the outside world. 
These are the topics requiring wider engagement, debate and communication and this is why an equally important part of the project is crossing the border of common promotional methods which would be achieved through performative approach to promotion of all titles through applied theatre and work with psychologists and pedagogues, and also cultural and theatre workers.


Do You Speak Feminine? – Literature as a Way of Women’s Empowerment

09/11/2020

Kontrast izdavaštvo

Maximum grant awareded: 59,951.57 €

Project “Do You Speak Feminine? – Literature as a Way of Women’s Empowerment” gathers 7 books written by female authors in 7 different languages. Focus is on significant female authors from the beginning of XX century to the present day. Female authors have been underrepresented for far too long. Today, women’s voice is much stronger, as authors as well as readers, and they make healthy majority of literary industry. However, there is still a lot to be done for female empowerment, and this project tends to gather women from all fields of expertise: translators, editors, proofreaders, designers, managers etc. Our main task is to deliver quality translation, publication, promotion and dissemination of selected works of high literary quality: French writer Sophie Daull (Au Grand Lavoir) and Finnish novelist Piia Leino (Taivas) are winners of EUPL, Mercè Rodoreda is considered the most important Catalan novelist of the post-war period and La mort i la primavera as her magnum opus. Cora Sandel was Norwegian pioneer in female emancipation with her Albertetrilogien. Anja Golob is acclaimed and award-winning Slovenian poet. Her poetry collection Vesa v zgibi was awarded with Jenko Poetry Prize by Slovenian Writers Association. Ingeborg Bachmann is one of the most authentic literary voices of her time and her poetry collection Ausgewählte Gedichte is a unique philosophical meditation on the questions of gender, homeland and borders. Also, she was in the vanguard of Austrian women writers who strived for emancipation. Dorota Masłowska, author of poetry collection Inni ludzie is the leading female voice of contemporary Polish literary scene. She received most prestigious literary awards in Poland: NIKE and Paszport Polityki. Female authors are still under-promoted in Serbia, and this project is part of Kontrast’s tendency to change that. It is expected to bring more attention to important questions of female empowerment in region, while having huge impact on our readership.


The Arc of Time

09/11/2020

ProPolis Publishing House

Maximum grant awarded: 52,643.47 €

The project, The Arc of Time, title building on title of one of our books, aims at supporting cultural and linguistic diversity by publishing 9 books from lesser used languages – Finland, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and books from Belgium and Germany.
The selected books and authors are awarded with prestigious literary awards.

Their works promote European values, openness, diversity, ecology, humanism, heritage and innovation. They are innovative in their treatment of topics, roles of main and side characters, relying on, and diverging from literary traditions and conventions, storytelling techniques and approach to language. With their quality, they contribute to popularisation of reading to young public.

Our selection of lesser genre is for a broad age-range, from books for pre-schoolers to books for young independent readers to books for adolescents and young adults. The books within this scope vary in genres (or mix genres). There are playful explorations of fairy tales questioning stereotypes, adventures, war stories, detective mysteries, time travel, voyages and all elements making reading joyful, engaging and exciting. They gently teach young readers about values, without being openly didactic.


Literary traslations 2020

7 Languages of Love

09/11/2020

Darma Books Publishing House

Maximum grant awarded: 59,975.11 €
Project 7 Languages of Love is based on the idea that, even though today there are roughly 7,000 known languages, one universal language is common for us all – love. As a transnational language, love connects people from around the world on a deeper level, much like literature itself. We have selected 7 titles of high literary value from 7 different languages, which show various aspects/kinds of love and its significance in human lives: novels Sestra by Jàchym Topol, Dimineaţă pierdută by Gabriela Adameșteanu, Lala by Jacek Dehnel; short story collections Seta Despedida by Maria Judite de Carvalho, Господи, помилуй by Deyan Enev, Gli amori difficili by Italo Calvino; and poetry collection Die Suchende by Nelly Sachs.
Darma books’ mission is successful coordination of every phase in this project: translating, editing, printing, publishing, promoting and disseminating these 7 packages of literary works, while designing a well-balanced budget and making sure all payments in the project are punctual.
Our overall objectives are publishing and promoting quality European literature and providing Serbian readership better access to a wide range of quality and diverse (both linguistically and culturally) foreign literature. Our main priorities include developing promotional strategies, using modern digital technologies in promotion and dissemination and enabling a good circulation of published titles by well-thought out distribution. Expected results of the project are contribution to greater circulation of works, especially those translated from lesser used languages as well as neglected genres, while ensuring good visibility of all participants in the project (EU, Darma, translators and authors). Expected impact includes raising the accessibility of quality foreign literature in the national market, attracting new audience, increasing visibility of artists and translators and contributing to their further engagement and work opportunities in their field of work.


Literary traslations 2020

Restor(i)ed: European Short Story Today

09/11/2020

Partizanska knjiga Publishing House

Maximum grant awarded: 38,593.83 €

The project is based on the publisher’s tendency to publish short-story collections and on the key objectives of the Creative Europe Translation Programme and the European Agenda for Culture. It comprises translations of 8 short-story collections originally written in 8 different European languages, which will be published both as a print and an e-book.
Besides, selected stories from books by 4 authors from the publisher’s catalogue will be translated into English, Spanish, German and French, respectively, with an aim of reaching out to European agencies, publishers and wider audiences.

The idea is to publish 4 books in Serbian translation and excerpts from 2 collections translated into the foreign languages per year. The promotion process will start immediately upon publication. However, special
attention will be paid to pre-publication periods, which will be utilized to reach potential readers by means of book trailers, pre-release reviews, and creation of comprehensive promotional kits. All the authors and translators will be invited to attend promotional activities, both in person and online.
Promotion will take diverse forms: 2 book fairs, 2
round table discussions, 2 festivals and 2 creative reading and translating workshops. Each book will also be promoted in institutions whose activities are closely related to its topics and potential readership. Social media and online promotion will be conducted regularly by posting relevant content, videos, images, podcasts, interviews, by organizing contests and special offers. Printed books will be distributed to major bookshop chains and independent bookshops, and e-books via national and global e-book selling platforms. As a result, the works are expected to reach wide audiences (marginalized groups, adolescents, young adults and adults), with the aim of restoring the sense of well-being in the very act of reading about shared identity concerns and common issues, despite individual differences.


Literary traslations 2020

Dangerous Liaisons in Women’s European Literature

09/11/2020

Štrik Publishing house

Maximum grant awarded: 44,952.84 €

Štrik is focused on publishing high quality literature primarily written by women with the aim to provide insight into different literary voices. We want to make female literature more visible, form a new sensibility among readers to recognize its literary value, and create equal opportunities for evaluation of female literature.

This project is another step in that direction as it illustrates how one important theme, characteristic of literary classics written by male authors – ambivalent, often controversial and clandestine family, partner and friendly relations, which we symbolically named “dangerous liaisons” after Pierre Choderlos’ literary classic of the same name – is received, analysed and rendered in contemporary literature written by women.

Overall objectives of the project are to promote high quality and diverse European literature, female authors and translators; to ensure wide accessibility and visibility of works through strong distribution and proven and innovative promotion strategy; to reach new audience for different female authors and genres; to influence the reception of women’s literature; to contribute to transnational mobility and circulation.The project includes several key activities: translation, publication, promotion and distribution of 6 high quality works written by female authors from 6 European countries, 3 different genres and 3 less frequently used languages.

With far-reaching three-level promotion of books, authors and translators (1. standard promotion; 2. guerrilla marketing; 3. digital promotion), participation in book fairs and festivals and authors visits, we target different groups: general public (primarily women), but also younger readers, students, literary community, etc. Our previous results testify that the number of our readers, followers and book club members is steadily increasing, which shows success in reaching important goals of this project: increasing reading audience and promoting European literature and values.


Literary traslations 2020

Literary Conversations with the Future

09/11/2020

Heliks publishing house

Maximum grant awarded: 59,920.00 €
 
The project aims to enrich Serbian publishing scene with contemporary European literature pieces. Special emphasis is on cultures less prominent in Serbia and authors new to Serbian readers. Our objective is also to stimulate debate on defining points of modern society: xenophobia and global migrations, equal opprtunities and dehumanization of urban society. Furthermore, we want to highlight translators’ role and EUPL award.
 
Key activities are: translation of 4 novels (3 EUPL awarded), 3 children/YA books and 2 short stories collections written on 9 languages, organizing EUPL Winners Festival (2021, 2022) and Festival of Icelandic Literature, promotional visits of three authors and literary evenings/ discussions about books and presented social issues. Participation in book fairs and festivals in Serbia and abroad, global distribution of printed and e-books and cooperation with media, cultural organizations and activists, use of social platforms, digital tools and promotional material will attract wide audience.
 
We see this project beneficial for 9 translators, 9 authors, our in-kind partners and target groups (from several thousands Scandinavian culture fans to tens of thousands interested in equal opportunities to hundreds of thousands adolescents to over two million in general public in Serbia and neighbouring countries).
 
We expect results in boosting visibility of books and authors from lesser-represented cultures (e.g. Icelandic literature), translators and EUPL award, but also a social benefit – raised awarness of prejudices against marginalized and discriminated, and of socially transformative processes.
 
Outputs of the projects will be 9 books published, 3 festival organized, 3 authors’ visits, 15 literary evenings/panels, project Web site, live streamings of promotional events, media articles/reviews and promo materials (EUPL winners mini-book, 15 posters and flyers, 5 catalogues, 2 book trailers).


News

Online presentation: Manners of paying subcontracting fees to artists and external collaborators

03/11/2020

Realisation of every European project in culture implies subcontracting to external collaborators: artists, curators, researchers, educators and other professions necessary in a successful realisation of activities in various fields and concerning various topics dealt with by the Creative Europe programme. Bearing in mind that the legal-formal procedure of including external collaborators opens numerous questions to numerous cultural institutions and organisations, we decided to devote one of the presentations within the online cycle “Legal-financial framework of European projects in culture”.

Marina Kostić, advisor for collaboration activities of the Centre for the promotion of science will speak about the manners of paying the fees to external collaborators from Serbia and abroad, types of contracts and obligations implied (taxation, contributions, copyrights, etc.), proving the residential status and justifying these expenses. Centre for the promotion of science is a state institution and so far, it realised a large number of European projects within various project (Horizon2020, Creative Europe, Erasmus+ and the COST framework, etc.), and Marina is also involved in project realisation, within activities concerned with financial-administrative management.

You can watch the presentation on our YouTube channel.

About the cycle

Successful implementation of European projects in culture implies constant improving of knowledge and skills in various field of management – from understanding the relevant legal framework and being familiar with best practices, to working in international teams and monetary management.

Although this knowledge is best acquired through project realisation, in order to get immersed into project administration, it is very important to be well informed, i.e. to participate in the exchange of knowledge and specific experiences. With the idea to answer the most important financial-administrative questions, we initiated the cycle of online presentations “Legal-financial framework of European projects in culture”.

The cycle is primarily intended for representatives of institutions and organisation new to the programme, especially the ones that are realising the first ever leadership projects, but it can also be useful for those realising European projects within other EU programmes or only planning to apply.


News

Training for Project Implementation Held in Andrevlje

02/11/2020

With the aim of successful implementation of projects supported within the competition “Strengthening cultural cooperation and competitiveness of cultural and creative industries of the Western Balkans”, Creative Europe Desk Serbia and the Antenna of the Culture Desk Serbia organised training in the Congress Centre “Ceptor” in Andrevlje.

The training was attended by ten representatives of supported project, which was the maximum number of people allowed under the current epidemiologic measures. The call for participation was intended for all organisation realising European projects for the first time, more specifically:

– Biljana Jotić, Civil Association “Beoart Kontemporeri”, Belgrade
– Ilija Petronijević, Civil Association “Fenomena”, Belgrade
– Ana Konstantinović and Željko Maksimović, Civil Association “Eho animato”, Belgrade
– Dajana Vujaklija and Sanja Ćirković, Civil Association “Ink fest”, Novi Sad
– Aleksandar Stamenković, Association of comic book and written words lovers “Nikola Mitrović Kokan”, Leskovac
– Mirjana Utvić, Dušan Mitić and Jelena Joksimović, Civil Association “Škogled”

The programme of the training was designed so it answers the most important questions of project implementation:

– Presentations Practical advice on implementation of European projects in culture and Financial planning and managing the action plan of the project, were held by Dejan Vujinović, Art Director of the festival “Etnofest” and “Jazzirè” and manager of the project “2020 Troubadours”, supported by the sub-programme Creative Europe. The presentations had the aim to familiarise training participants with basic rules of administrative-financial realisation of EU projects, but also with specific experiences on the project “2020Troubadours” concerning domestic laws, that can be applied in the realisation of new projects in order to anticipate potential challenges;

– Presentation Successful communication and cooperation with partners, held by Luka Kulić, Gallery of Matica srpska, who was engaged in several projects within the Creative Europe programme. Through the presentation, participants were acquainted with the most important guidelines for realisation of successful cooperation with partner organisations, with obligations and rights of project partners, but also advice on expanding the area of influence through establishing informal partnerships during project realisation;

– Presentation Communication and Dissemination of Project Results, was held by Mirjana Žarković and Milan Đorđević, project managers of the Culture Desk Serbia. Through the presentation participants were familiarised with the possibilities of developing a successful strategy of communication and dissemination of project results, which implies precise defining of interested groups, clear outline of aims of the strategy and the action plan (selecting communication channels and communication style);

– Also, within the seminar a presentation was organised of the project “Strengthening entrepreneurial skills of cultural and creative industries for valorisation of cultural heritage and the development of sustainable tourism model in the Adriatic-Ionian region – CCI4Turizam” funded within the Intereg Adriatic-Ionian programme of transnational cooperation – Adrion 2014- 2020, with the aim of emphasising other funding possibilities through EU funds to participants. The presentation was held by Jovana Kontić, expert associate of the Foundation “European Affairs” of the AP Vojvodina.


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