PfC's Choice

Europe Lost and Found: Lost Highway Expedition
A multitude of individuals, groups and institutions will move along as well as across the unfinished "Highway of Brotherhood and Unity", connecting nine capital cities in the Western Balkans. It takes place in the framework of the project Lost Highway Expedition, a collaboration between Centrala Foundation for Future Cities and School of Missing Studies, together with partners from the nine cities in the region. Lost Highway is the fictional name for the old road made in the sixties through the massive voluntary campaign of all nationalities in ex-Yugoslavia in order to connect the major cities of its republics. Lost Highway Expedition is about constructing and experiencing an experimental network-based civic society that navigates the new and dynamic territorialities of the Western Balkans and explores new modes of linking its different entities. It will begin in Ljubljana, and travel through Zagreb, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Skopje, Pristina, Tirana, Podgorica to conclude in Sarajevo. Taking place from July 30 to August 24, the expedition is meant to generate new projects, new art works, new networks, new architecture and new politics based on experience and knowledge found along the highway. Experience, documentation and projects developed from the expedition will lead to exhibitions, publications and symposia of "Europe Lost and Found" in Stuttgart and Ljubljana in 2007 as well as conference at Columbia University in New York in the fall of 2006. "Europe Lost and Found" is an interdisciplinary and multi-nationally based research project to articulate and imagine the current evolution of new and transforming borders and territories of Europe.
For more details on this project visit www.europelostandfound.net.

 News from the region

Bosnia and Herzegovina: New lectures in the framework of AKCIJA's "New Cultural Policies" Programme
After a first debate organised in April, hosting Dragan Klaic as lecturer, AKCIJA Sarajevo continued its "New Cultural Policies" programme with a second lecture held on May 18 by Violeta Simjanovska, director of Multimedia Performing Arts Centre, Skopje, and initiator of one of the Policies for Culture action projects in Macedonia. Under the title "How to Turn the Enemy into a Partner? - Macedonian Experiences in the Process of Democratization of the Cultural System", the lecture focused on the way in which the independent cultural sector in Macedonia succeeded in building a dialogue with the public authorities, as a result of long-term efforts and initiatives, that gradually replaced the absence of communication prevailing during the 1990s. The series of lectures continues early June with a presentation given by Milena Dragicevic Sesic and Sanjin Dragojevic at Media Centre Sarajevo on "The arts and cultural manager: profession, activity or fiction?".
For more details write to Aida Kalender, project initiator, at aida@media.ba.
Source: SEE Portal.

Bulgaria: The Mobile Studios in Sofia
The nomadic production laboratory of Mobile Studios - a European project by Public Art Lab - closes its doors after 8 weeks of exploration, cultural exchange and co-producing of various urban interventions and talks. Mobile Studios gave an insight view into the cultural scene of Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest and Sofia. The Goethe-Institut Sofia, InterSpace and brainstoreproject - the partners at the last station Sofia - highlighted this mobile communication platform with daily topics like public art, audience development and mediation of art. The programme was structured in various talk and exhibition formats like "glance through the fence", "wide vista", "Sofia through emotions". Mobile Studios also hosted the Upgrade! meeting, which presented cultural institutions from the region. A wide range of representatives from different institutions participated to the debate.
For more information visit www.mobile-studios.org.

Bulgaria: Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights Festival (Rousse)
The festival under this title took place between 7-11 May, as part of a 1-year campaign for thhe promotion of copyright initiated by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture in 2006 with the support of the European Commission. The festival took place in Rousse - a city near the Romanian border - and also involved the Romanian counterpart of the Giurgiu customs authorities, as well as the Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs. It proposed a series of seminars on topics such as: creative industries and copyright; industrial property; collective management societies; anti-piracy and border control. The European Commission played a catalyst role during the entire event, by providing the participation of a number of experts from the Marketing and Competition Directorates. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) also took a very active part in all the events by providing expertise within the working seminars.
For more information write to Georgi Damyanov, Director of Copyright Directorate, Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria, at g.damyanov@mc.government.bg.

Croatia: Communication of Heritage: A New Vision of Southeastern Europe (Opatija)
UNESCO (BRESCE) and the Culturelink Research Team have prepared a paper on "Communication of Heritage: A New Vision of Southeastern Europe", presented at the Regional Summit Forum held in Opatija, on 31 May - 2 June 2006. Organised by the Croatian President, Stjepan Mesic, and UNESCO Director-General, Koichiro Matsuura, in cooperation with Terry Davis, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, the Summit brought together about 100 international experts and political leaders from the region, highlighting the role of communication in the field of cultural heritage. At the end of this fourth regional meeting of Heads of States and leaders from SEE under the aegis of UNESCO, the Opatija Joint Declaration on Communication of Heritage was adopted. The Declaration outlines a set of eleven principles for future cooperation in promoting cultural diversity as a defining factor in South East Europe. The Heads of State also approved the Strategy on Cultural Corridors of South East Europe, an initiative launched at the Varna Summit (Bulgaria, 2005), which should give rise to shared actions linked to tangible and intangible heritage and reinforce the sense of a shared heritage in the region.
Consult the background paper of the Opatja Summit: Communication of Heritage: A New Vision of Southeastern Europe.
Source: Culturelink Newsletter.

Croatia: Cultural Transitions in Southeastern Europe Seminar - The Creative City: Crossing Visions and New Realities in the Region
This was the sixth in the series of postgraduate courses organised by the Department for Culture and Communication of the Institute for International Relations (IMO), Zagreb. The courses have been held at Inter University Centre (IUC) in Dubrovnik continuously from the year 2000. This year's focus was on the impact of creative industries on urban cultural development models and cultural policies, and on regeneration of cities in SEE region. The work plan followed two general orientations: theoretical issues particularly centered on creative city concepts, and presentation of case studies that included the cities of Belgrade, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Skopje, Split, Tirana and Zagreb. The lecturers and participants were researchers, professors and experts on cultural management and urban cultural policies, architects, sociologists, local decision-makers and postgraduate students in cultural management and policies.
For more information about the seminar contact Jaka Primorac at jaka@irmo.hr or visit www.culturelink.hr to consult the report of the course.

Romania: The National Cultural Fund mechanism under debate
During the first funding cycle launched by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN) - the institution established in 2005 which took over from the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs the task of distributing the project grants at national level -, a series of difficulties and incoherences in the functioning of this new financing system in Romania were encountered by the 300 cultural operators that responded to this first call for projects and subsequently the 90 granted. In order to bring to debate all the problems and identify ways of improving the mechanism before the next call for projects, and as a result of the initiative of the ECUMEST Association (Bucharest) and of AltArt Foundation (Cluj-Napoca), on June 13 the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs in collaboration with AFCN will organise a debate open to all cultural operators interested in this issue. As a background to the discussion, ECUMEST and AltArt prepared a detailed document synthetising all comments and suggestions made by cultural operators in relation to: the grantmaking strategy; the application procedure; the evaluation procedure (the setup of the evaluation committees and criteria for assessment); the contract making and financial reporting procedures; the evaluation of the projects' impact; and the functioning of the new institution.
For more details contact ecumest@ecumest.ro. The paper is available in Romanian at www.ecumest.ro. More details on the previous debates initiated by ECUMEST regarding the funding system in Romania are available on the same website in the ARCult > analysis and debate section.

Serbia: 'The Report on Belgrade' Project
The Center for Public Administration and Local Government PALGO (Belgrade) and the City Council of Belgrade are working on the project "The Report on Belgrade". This project aims to lead to the further definition and implementation of the Serbian's capital strategic plan (Belgrade Strategic Plan). All city systems are currently analysed by local experts, and the Report is expected to be finished and delivered to the newly formed City Commission for Strategic Planning by the mid of June. Within this initiative, Milena Dragicevic Sesic, Hristina Mikic and Svetlana Jovicic have written the "Report on Belgrade City Cultural System" that, aside the general objectives and priorities of city's cultural policy, elaborates on different aspects of cultural life and provides findings on the key developmental issues in culture: competence, decision making and administration; financing of culture; cultural partnership, cultural industries, employment and training.
For more information about the report contact Milena Dragicevic Sesic at msesic@gmail.com.

 Projects and Initiatives

Banlieues d'Europe Summer University: Cultural Diversity in Action
Banlieues d'Europe organises the first summer university programme proposed in the framework of the network, to be carried out in Lyon, from June 28 to July 1, 2006. Focusing on "Cultural Diversity in Action", the programme proposes a transdisciplinary approach to this topic, bringing together the social and artistic fields. This training session addresses professionals within the social and cultural sectors interested in projects and initiatives dealing with cultural and intercultural mediation. A series of case studies, workshops and debates proposed in this framework will focus on social and cultural policies, urban policies, existing financing frameworks at national and European level and projects case studies. The trainers will be researchers and relevent actors from the announced fields, as well as artists and cultural operators. The summer university will be held in French and is open to 20 participants.
For more information about this programme please visit www.banlieues-europe.com.

The Network of Cultural Policy Professionals Project
The Center for Arts and Culture in Washington has recently conducted an open survey to determine the feasibility, interest, and the purposes an informal Cultural Policy Professionals Network could serve. The project aims to connect young cultural policy professionals internationally for comparative as well as collaborative purposes. Intended to gather people from the academic community, policymakers and practitioners in the private and public sectors, the network also aims at educating young policymakers and students of the importance of cultural policy, at creating a support platform for them and at connecting with and learning from the generation before. Following this feasibility study phase of the project, the initiators will establish an advisory committee and, if enough interest will be raised in the project, a larger meeting will be organised in summer 2006.
For more information about this initiative write to Aimee Fullman (formerly of the Center for Arts & Culture) and Catherine O'Connor of Georgetown University, at culpolpros@gmail.com, or visit www.culturalcommons.org.

 Upcoming Events

June 8-10: Altered Identities - workshop on Contemporary Art and Nationalism (Pristina, Kosovo)
Altered Identities - workshop on Contemporary Art and Nationalism brings together 15 artists and writers mainly from the Balkan region and the Nordic countries to discuss: the relation between nationalism and visual art; how contemporary artists deal with populist nationalist movements, how they formulate their national heritage and interpret influence of nationalism in their work. The aim of the workshop is also to open a debate on nationalism in the contemporary art scene in countries like Kosovo, where state and national identity are still under construction. Also, the international protectorate system of the political structure in Kosovo with NATO and UNMIK makes this state visually and theoretically even more interesting. The three days of the workshop are structured around presentations and panel discussions, moderated by Kosovar sociologist Sezgin Boynik. The workshop will take place at the Contemporary Art Institute EXIT, and is open to public. Altered Identities is organised by Stacion Centre for Contemporary Art and is part of the Nordic Council of Ministers' Norden Balkan Culture Switch programme.
For more details write to Minna Henriksson at minnalh@kuva.fi or visit www.norden.org/kultur/.

June 8-11: Visions after the Fall: Museums, Archives and Cinema in Reshaping Popular Perceptions of the Socialist Past (Budapest, Hungary)
Organised by the Open Society Archives Budapest (OSA), this workshop will analyse the use of audio-visual material - including archival footage, documentary and feature films, exhibition catalogues, memorials, and other traces of historical remembrance - in the process of 'reshaping' the memory of the socialist past in Eastern Europe. The aim of the workshop is to contribute to the understanding of the ways in which historical revisionism uses both familiar and recently discovered audio-visual material - from popular cinematographic imagery to previously classified information. The principles of exhibiting these materials and other ways of making them available to the broad public will be in the focus of the workshop discussion.
For more information write to Zsuzsanna Kerekes, OSA, at kerekesz@ceu.hu or visit www.osa.ceu.hu for the workshop detailed programme.

June 16-18: Mind the Gap. European Digital Culture Networking Event (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
This meeting organised by the AltArt Foundation (Cluj-Napoca) aims to contribute to the networking of artists and organisations working in the field of digital culture across Europe and to foster the debate on the trends and developments in media arts in different parts of the continent and the connections and transfers that occur among the producers of digital content. The event includes debates on the issue of cultural transfer among the European media art scenes, presentations of arts projects of local and international artists, with a special focus on the South East Europe scene. On the same occasion AltArt will officially launch the BINAR Centre for Digital Culture, a singular initiative of this kind in Romania. The event aims on one hand to be a platform for meeting and exchange for the artists and organisations and, on the other hand, to offer the local scene a preview of the international digital culture and a taste of what the centre attempts to bring to the community through its programme.
For more information contact Rarita Szakats at rarita@altart.org or visit www.altart.org.

July 9-14: Meeting of Balkan and EU artists and cultural operators (Avignon, France)
Balkan Express is partner to the organisation, together with Relais Culture Europe, Avignon Festival and the European Cultural Foundation, of a meeting of a group of artists and cultural operators from the Balkans and from EU countries. Taking place in Avignon, from July 9 to 14, this meeting aims at providing networking opportunities for professionals and laying foundations for possible future partnerships and cooperation projects. The programme of the meeting will include a series of debates and working sessions, as well as professional and artistic encounters in the framework of the Avignon Festival.
For more information write to Milica Ilic at office@ietm.org or Nevenka Koprivsek at bunker@siol.net or visit the BE page at www.ietm.org.

September 27-30: New Art Net - International Conference for Young Managers in Performing Arts (Belgrade, Serbia)
New Art Net Conference is conceived as an innovative platform for arts management themes, contact making and exchange among performing arts managers from all over the world, with sessions delivered by international keynote speakers as well as participants' presentations. This conference intends to be a starting point for new developments in the performing arts sector, aiming at upgrading the participants' knowledge, increasing international cultural cooperation, facilitating exchange of experiences and fostering development and growth of managerial skills and expertise within the SEE region and beyond. The project partners are Jugokoncert (Bemus), Bitef (Theatre/Festival) and ArtLink, working in the fields of classical and contemporary music, contemporary theatre and multicultural dialogue. The conference registration is open until July 31.
For more information and the application form write to newartnet@jugokoncert.co.yu or visit www.jugokoncert.co.yu.

 Opportunities

Reminder: Balkan Incentive Fund for Culture
Application deadline: 1 July
The Balkan Incentive Fund for Culture - launched in March by the European Cultural Foundation, Hivos and the Open Society Institute - is open to cultural projects by applicants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo. The aim of the fund is to contribute to the Western Balkans' European integration, by bridging the gap from the current situation (in which there is almost no money for cultural cooperation) to the region's full participation in EU programmes. Special attention will be given to projects that explore intercultural dialogue and competence in regional cooperation. The fund is managed within the ECF's grants programme and follows its application procedures. The first deadline for applications to the Balkan Incentive Fund for Culture is 1 July 2006.
For further information write to Lodewijk Reijs at lreijs@eurocult.org or visit www.eurocult.org.

GIOCA - Graduate degree in Innovation and Organisation of Culture and the Arts (Bologna, Italy)
Application deadlines: 29 June / 7 September
The Graduate degree in Innovation and Organisation of Culture and the Arts (GIOCA) is a two-year second level degree in arts and cultural management within the Faculty of Economics of the University of Bologna (the degree is equivalent to a master degree according to international standards). The programme is designed to help students attain the management skills they will need to work in cultural organisations, focusing on providing in-depth managerial knowledge and using a strong interdisciplinary approach. The course programme will be aimed at the formation of a precise professional figure: an administrator positioned to interact effectively with the artistic-cultural dimension of different types of organisations, understanding their needs and requirements, and with the knowledge to act as an interface link the demands of the surrounding economic and social world. The deadline for non EU citizens is June 29; for EU member citizens is September 7, 2006.
For more details and the application forms write to gioca@economia.unibo.it or visit www.economia.unibo.it.

New Europe College: Europa Fellowship Programme 2006-2007 (Bucharest, Romania)
Application deadline: 10 July
The New Europe College - Institute for Advanced Study in Bucharest announces the call for applications for the 2006-2007 Europa fellowship programme, sponsored by the VolkswagenStiftung (Hanover, Germany). The programme targets researchers and academics from South East Europe as well as young Western scholars working on South East Europe. Applicants must be doctoral students, or hold a Ph.D. title. Selected fellows will be invited as members of a team, working in the framework of a research theme entitled "Traditions of a New Europe. A Pre-history of The European Integration in South-Eastern Europe". Each fellow is expected to pursue his/her own research project, and to take part in schorlarly events related to the project, as well as in other events organised by the New Europe College. Fellows are expected to hand at the end of their fellowship a paper representing the result of their research work, to be included in a NEC publication. The working languages will be English, French, and German.
For more information and the application procedure contact Irina Vainovski-Mihai, Program coordinator, at imihai@nec.ro, or visit www.nec.ro.

ArtsLink Residencies and Independent Projects Awards 2007 (USA)
Application deadline: 6 November
ArtsLink Residencies places artists and arts managers from Central/Eastern Europe, Russia and Eurasia - ArtsLink Fellows - at U.S. arts organisations for five-week residencies. This call's focus disciplines are literature and performing arts (residency will take place in fall 2007). Another ArtsLink programme addressed to artists and arts managers from Central/Eastern Europe, Russia and Eurasia who plan to undertake projects in the United States is the Independent Projects award. Differently from the residency programme, applicants must have a letter of invitation from a U.S. non-profit organisation in order to apply for an Independent Projects award. Among the eligible countries of both programmes are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia.
For more details and the application procedure visit CEC ArtsLink website.

 Publications & Information Resources

LabforCulture is online
June 2006. LabforCulture - the new interactive website aimed at all those in arts and culture who collaborate, create, share and produce work across borders in Europe, went live yesterday, 8 June 2006. The site is a vast source of current information and debate on European cultural cooperation, from case
studies and inspiring stories of trans-border collaboration to online cultural news and newsletters, from information and tips on how to fund a project to links to key cultural organisations and networks. There is an extensive resource section and research information includes topical cultural trends and debates in Europe. The website welcomes your own experiences, resources and points of view through MyLabforCulture, an online meeting place for all those involved with cultural activities. LabforCulture
was initiated by the European Cultural Foundation together with many partners. It is supported by all the leading European cultural organisations, by many Culture Ministries, and the European Commission.
Visit it at www.labforculture.org.

The New Central and East European Culture
2006. Editors: Steven Totosy de Zepetnek, Carmen Andras, and Magdalena Marsovszky; Shaker Verlag, Herzogenrath; English version. The volume is a collection of selected papers presented at the international conference "The Cultures of Post-1989 Central and East Europe" (Targu-Mures, Romania, August 2003) organised by the editors of the volume, as well as papers submitted for publication in the volume following an open call for papers. The papers are about various aspects of Central and East European culture after the fall of the Soviet empire and reflect the ongoing changes in the region. The themes addressed cover a wide range of fields in the humanities and the social sciences including political science, cultural studies, media studies, ethnic studies, history, sociology, anthropology, literary studies.
For more details on this book write to Steven Totosy de Zepetnek at clcweb@purdue.edu.
For orders contact info@shaker.de or visit www.shaker.de.

Launch of the Serbian translation of "Art and Revolution. Artistic Activism During Long 20th Century"
June 2006. Author: Gerald Raunig; Publisher of Serbian translation: Futura publikacije, Novi Sad; Editor of Serbian translation: New Media Center_kuda.org, Novi Sad. In this study, to be launched on 8-9 June in its Serbian version, the author Gerald Raunig presents prolific material for the analysis of the diverse relations of exchange between art and activism based on a poststructuralist revolution theory. Gustave Courbet's engagement in the Paris Commune, German activism of the 1910s, post-revolutionary Soviet art around Eisenstein and Tretjakov, the Situationist Internationale in Paris in May '68, the confrontation of Viennese Actionism and the students movement in the action "art and revolution", and finally the genealogy of the PublixTheatreCaravan from an anarchist theatre collective of the 90s to a transversal interlinking of anti-globalisation and the European noborder network: These investigations open up an alternative art history of the 20th century.
For more details visit kuda.org. The English version of the study is available online on the eipcp (European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies) republicart project's website.

Inclusive Europe? Horizon 2020: conference proceedings
2006. Edited by Peter Inkei, Barbara Lazar, Attila Zongor; Kulturpont Iroda; English version. This joint conference by EFAH and the Hungarian Ministry of Cultural Affairs last November in Budapest brought more than a dozen culture ministers, as well as high-level European officials and hundreds of cultural professionals together. The event represented a follow up to the Berlin conference for Cultural Policy held in November 2004, aiming to be a stage in the way towards establishing the role of culture in the construction of the new Europe. The debate focused on the questions of access, equity, participation and voiced these challenges now present. A special emphasis was on the issues raised by different types and dimensions of cultural difference particularly salient in Central and Eastern Europe. The texts of all lectures, plenary and workshop sessions are now available in print.
For orders visit www.inclusiveeurope.hu.

Cultural policy in France : a reader (1955-2005)
2006. Anthology of texts by Genevieve Gentil et Philippe Poirrier; Travaux et documents - Comité d'histoire du Ministère de la culture. Département des Etudes de la Prospective et des Statistiques (DEPS); French version. This book gathers the debates raised during the last half of century in France around issues of cultural policy, following the set up of the ministry of culture early 60s. The selection of the 45 texts featured cronologically in the anthology give a broad perspective on the evolution of arguments that gradually legitimated a public policy in the field of culture. The discourses and essays belong to various public figures that got involved in the cultural policies of their time.
For more information and to order the book visit La documentation francaise.

BalkanLink Network
2006. A virtual network of professionals (both present and emerging ones) in the field of cultural management and cultural policies has been recently set up. BalkanLink is an initiative of three postgraduate students carried out within the framework of the MA in Cultural Management and Cultural Policy from the University of Arts in Belgrade. The network aims to link cultural actors coming from various countries of the Balkan region and more largely from Europe. Balkanlink wants to encourage cultural networking in the region by giving a greater visibility to cultural activities and supporting dialogue between the various actors. The platform hosts students, professionals, but also institutions and organisations interested to share knowledge and experiences.
Visit the website at www.balkanlink.org.