PfC's Choice

Reclaim the City: Protest against the city administration in Zagreb
Early July, Reclaim the City initiative, gathering actors of the independent youth and cultural scene, among which Zagreb - Cultural Kapital of Europe 3000, Croatian Youth Network, the Association for Cultural Development - URK, the Autonomous Cultural Factory - ATTACK!, the Multimedia Institute and the Clubture network, started an action to cover the posters and billboards advertising the Zagreb Youth Salon, depicting a portrait of Zagreb's Mayor Bandic. The action came as a response to the lack of concrete measures took by the local administration following the advocacy process started in Spring 2005 by a series of independent cultural and youth organisations. This process initially resulted in the declaration "Independent Culture and Youth in Development of the City of Zagreb", and was also followed in September 2005 by the Operation: City project. The Mayor of Zagreb signed this Declaration before the last local elections, accepting the obligation to realize measures directed at the implementation of the City Youth Action Programme, securing infrastructural conditions, as well as procedural and other improvements in the functioning of city administration towards independent culture and youth. The above listed measures have not materialized so far and, at the same time, the industrial complex that hosted the Operation: City manifestation was later transformed into a commercial, services and storage zone. Reclaim the City initiators intend to continue this campaign until the city administration undertakes serious and realistic changes with regard to its public policies.
For more details read the news presented by SEE Portal.

 News from the region

Bulgaria: Is There Continuity in Bulgarian Cultural Policy?
The debate under this title was organised by Red House Center for Culture and Debate on July 5. The establishment of National Centres of Arts at the Ministry of Culture has set a determined wave of reforms in the area of film and book publishing, and created a feeling of anticipation for the upcoming liberalization of performing arts and museum management. The transformation of the National Centres has generated a debate around the question 'What vision of culture does the government offer us nowadays?' The discussion generated by these developments was moderated by Rayna Gavrilova, Director at the Trust for Civil Society in Central & Eastern Europe in Bulgaria.
For more information write to info@redhouse-sofia.org or visit www.redhouse-sofia.org.

Serbia: Place to Move on EXIT06 festival
More than 70 non-governmental organisations from South East Europe participated in the Place to Move programme, organised by Citizens' Pact for SEE initiative under the auspices of the EXIT06 festival, in Novi Sad. This edition of EXIT was marked by a campaign for liberalization of visa regimes, which included a discussion with Ollie Rehn, European Commissioner for EU Expansion, on the first day of the festival. Rehn said that he is aware that 70 per cent of Serbian youth have never travelled abroad, and that "getting a single visa can be an expensive bureaucratic nightmare", and assured the participants that Finland - which currently holds the rotating EU presidency - is committed to concluding a visa facilitation agreement this year. The forum, hosted by former Serbian Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, included current Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic, British journalist Tim Judah and Serbian EU accession adviser Milica Djilas.
Sources: SEE Portal and SETimes.

Slovenia: Alert for Metelkova, the Autonomous Cultural Zone in Ljubljana
On June 14 the government Inspectorate for the Environment and Spatial Planning brought an excavating machine to the Autonomous Cultural Zone Metelkova mesto, Ljubljana, to tear down one of the buildings of the converted ancient army barracks which is considered to have been erected illegally. The cultural operators, artists and supporters of Metelkova prevented the action. This attempt to destroy one of the most active cultural and intellectual locations in Ljubljana was the third one in the past few months. Metelkova is the second largest provider of cultural events in Ljubljana, being the only location in the city, and one of the few in Slovenia, where youth cultures and alternative cultures are systematically produced and presented to a large and active audience. Metelkova is a squat initiated in 1993, when a group of independent producers and activists occupied the ancient barracks of the army headquarters near the centre of Ljubljana in order to prevent its destruction. Although it has never succeeded in achieving a proper legal status, the location was registered as national cultural heritage in 2005.
To read more about latest developments at Metelkova visit www.metelkova.org.

SEE: Second Meeting of the Ministers of Culture in South East Europe
Ministers of Culture, high officials from SEE countries, from the Council of Europe and the European Commission gathered in Varna, Bulgaria, from 22 to 25 June for a new meeting of the Council of Ministers of Culture in South East Europe. The event reinforced the importance of effective national policies and cooperation as key foundations for further developing South East Europe as a dynamic European region. One of the main topics addressed by the forum was the regional initiative in the field of cultural heritage. Following the Declaration "Communication of Heritage", adopted by the SEE Heads of the States in Opatja, Croatia, early June 2006, the participants to the meeting in Varna adopted the Strategy for identifying, preserving, sustainably using and promoting cultural corridors of SEE, and agreed upon a related action plan. The forum was organised under the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council, being chaired by Stefan Danailov.
For more information contact Tsveta Andreeva, Senior expert, Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria, at C.Andreeva@mc.government.bg.

 Projects and Initiatives

Open Society Institute for Europe to be launched
The Soros Foundations Network has announced its intention to establish an Open Society Institute for Europe (OSIFE), to be formally launched around November 2006. The Institute's mission will have among its main directions to support the development of a strong EU committed to the principles of open society and with the policies and institutional mechanisms needed to put those principles into practice. OSIFE will undertake operational activities and grant-making and will also engage in public policy advocacy activities either alone or in collaboration with partner organisations, in accordance with its annual strategy. It may also provide opportunities for cultural organisations working in the above mentioned fields.
For more information about the profile of the future Institute visit: www.altus.org.
Source: ENCATC newsletter.

Mobile. Home Project
IETM, the Finnish Theatre Information Centre, Pearle (Performing Arts Employers Associations League Europe), Visiting Arts, On the Move and associated partners have recently launched Mobile.Home - a year-long collaborative project, in the framework of the 2006 European Year of Workers' Mobility. The project aims to look at successes and obstacles to the movement of arts and artists across European borders and thus create a lasting, on-going platform for progressive dialogue and resolution to arts workers' mobility in Europe. Mobile.Home intends to highlight good practice, increase understanding of the benefits of both working abroad and in a new occupation and bring together the public, private and social actors. A major conference will held in the frame of the project in Helsinki, on 9-12 November 2006.
For more information visit www.pearle.ws/mobilehome and www.on-the-move.org.

 Upcoming Events

August 31 - September 2: A Critique of Creative Industries (Helsinki, Finland)
This meeting is part of the European Cultural Policies 2015 workshop series, started in 2005 with the book 'European Cultural Policies 2015' and a workshop at IASPIS - International Artists Studio Program in Sweden (Stockholm), being organised by the eipcp - European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies in cooperation with FRAME – Finnish Fund for Art Exchange. The workshop will gather different national and urban case studies, put up a general critique of creative industries and theorize from different angles of Europe how the paradigm of creativity contributes to constituting cognitive capitalism. As outcomes and forms of distribution both an issue of FRAME's print magazine 'framework' and eipcp's multilingual webjournal 'transversal' will be published.
For more information visit the www.eipcp.net.

September 7-9: 9th Meeting of ORACLE Members (Ohrid, Macedonia)
ORACLE (Network of European Cultural Managers) and NGO Kontrapunkt from Skopje, Macedonia, are organising the 9th Meeting of ORACLE Members, to be held in Ohrid on 7-9 September 2006. Supporting cultural managers and operators from the region and giving participants the expertise needed for a mobile and creative cultural workforce in Europe, the seminar is designed to provide a space for deepening the knowledge and improving the management skills of professionals developing cultural projects at regional and European levels through working sessions, workshops, case studies and cultural visits. The registration deadline is 30 July 2006.
For more details contact Robert Alagjozovski, Program Coordinator, NGO Kontrapunkt, at robert.alagjozovski@gmail.com or visit www.kontrapunkt-mk.org.

September 17-20: The 2nd Annual Regional Museum Conference: Our Museum, Our Community: Our Partnership (Bucharest, Romania)
Following the 2005 meeting on the theme "Do Museums Still Matter? Making the Case, Finding the Ways", this conference is designed to underscore the necessity that the museums in the Balkan region begin to look outward to the communities in which they exist and to the diverse audiences they should serve, rather than maintaining the prevalent inward focus on their collections and stewardship responsibilities. The conference will stress that the museums must have a clear sense of purpose external to their own operations and connected to their communities that will foster long term collaboration and partnership. The event also intends to provide an opportunity to establish collaboration and partnership between similar museums and museum experts in the region. The conference is organised by the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs of Romania and the Fund for Arts and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe.
For registration and more information write to alis.vasile@cultura.ro or raluca.capota@cultura.ro.

October 20-22: 2nd Culture.mondo International Roundtable. Cultural Portals: A New Era of Cooperation (Dubrovnik, Croatia)
Following a first international roundtable held last year in Japan, Culture.mondo - the International Network for Cultural Portal based in Canada, in partnership with Culturelink, invite cultural portal experts from around the globe to gather in Dubrovnik, at this new meeting that will offer an opportunity to enhance their working practices, to recognize emerging trends and to exchange experiences. The objectives of the event are to consider how cultural portals respond to the users' and stakeholders' needs, to explore new avenues of cooperation and information exchange, and to share how the success in achieving the envisaged goals is measured. Registration for this expert meeting is not open yet, but those interested can indicate their intention to participate by sending an email at the address below.
For more information write to marie-france_joli-coeur@pch.gc.ca or visit www.culturemondo.org or www.culturelink.org/culturemondo.html.

November 18: European Festivals Research Project workshop & Call for contributions - What makes festivals sustainable? (Le Mans, France)
Research contributions are being sought for a one-day workshop being organised by the European Festivals Research Project (ERFP). The workshop will be hosted by 'France Festivals', as part of its own 2-day colloquium entitled "Les nouveaux territoires des festivals". Interested researchers are invited to submit a short outline of their presentation, together with a short biographic note, by 10 September 2006, at the address below. European Festival Research Project is an international consortium of researchers from various disciplines, focused on the dynamics of artistic festivals today and the explosion of festivals. EFRP defined its research model and approach in Brussels in May 2004, held a researchers' meeting at the Divadelna Nitra festival in September 2005 and another one at De Montfort University in Leicester in March 2006.
To send you contributions contact Katarina Pejovic, at kata@mur.at, or visit www.efa-aef.org for more information.

July 8-11, 2007: 9th International Conference on Arts and Cultural Management. Call for papers (Valencia, Spain)
The organisers of the 9th International Conference on Arts and Cultural Management (AIMAC 2007), to be held in Valencia invite the submission of papers on any aspect of arts and cultural management to be considered for inclusion in this scientific conference, which will address various sectors of the arts and cultural industries. The conference will include among others the following topics: marketing and the arts; consumption of cultural products; arts and cultural management; audience research; arts financial issues; arts and business relations; cultural production and programming. Papers are welcome on all management approaches, including: strategic planning, marketing research, human resources, organisational behaviour, accounting and finance, production, or information systems. All those wishing to present a paper at the conference must submit an abstract in English or French with research objective, methodology and theoretical perspectives, main findings and conclusions. Deadline for abstracts is 15 October 2006. Final papers must be submitted by 1 April 2007.
For more information visit www.adeit.uv.es/aimac2007.

 Opportunities

European Cultural Foundation's second call for projects 2006
Application deadline: 15 September
The ECF Grants Programme supports projects that promote European cultural exchange and cooperation. The creation of artistic works, media projects or cultural policy development as well as capacity building of cultural organisations or international collaboration of arts managers are among the eligible types of projects. The programme funds small and medium-sized independent cultural organisations that work on cross-border and inter-regional projects. From 2006, the ECF gives extra attention to issues of diversity, which will also be expressed in the Grants awarded.
For more details visit the Grants page at www.eurocult.org.

Journal of Southeastern Europe relaunched - Call for contributions
This journal has already issued 30 volumes and has been mainly distributed in the USA. The publisher, Charles Schlacks in California, offered the Europe & Balkans International Network to take on the leadership of the Journal, thus aiming to develop it in a peer reviewed journal with scientific visibility in both the USA and Europe. The journal encourages pluridisciplinarity, giving space to issues of political science, history, sociology, law, anthropology, cultural studies, and comparative approaches, aiming to present results of theoretical research and informed policy debate, implications of research for policy innovation, analysis of the outcome of previous initiatives. A call for articles is currently open.
For more information write to Nicola Nobili, Europe & Balkans International Network, at nicola.nobili@poloforli.unibo.it.

 Publications & Information Resources

Transcultural Europe - Cultural Policy in a Changing Europe
June 2006. Authors: Ulrike Hanna Meinhof and Anna Triandafyllidou; Palgrave Macmillan, England; English version. Which are the key questions to be asked about cultural policy in twenty-first century Europe? How is cultural policy at metropolitan, national and European level addressing recent developments that are complicating the cultural and social realities of contemporary Europe? This book offers an innovative assessment of these questions and aims to provoke debates about the future role and dimension of cultural policy in Europe. Based on extensive theoretical and empirical research, this volume critically addresses the way in which cultural policy has evolved, and develops new conceptual and theoretical perspectives for re-imagining cultural change and complexity. Among others, the book includes the article "Imagined or Real Divides?", by Milena Dragicevic Sesic and Sanjin Dragojevic.
For further information about the book and orders visit www.palgrave.com.

The challenge of transcultural diversities - final report published
March 2006. Author: Kevin Robins; Council of Europe Publishing; English version. The Council of Europe Cultural Policy and Cultural Diversity project, carried out between 2001 and 2003, produced a transversal study on the national diversity policies in 15 countries. The final synthesis report of this study by Kevin Robins has now been published, together with eight research position papers, under the title "The challenge of transcultural diversities: transversal study on the theme of cultural policy and cultural diversity". The report draws together the conclusions of the project and also elaborates a transnational and transcultural approach to cultural diversity policy in Europe.
For more information go to Cultural Policy and Cultural Diversity project. The publication is available from Council of Europe Publishing.

ConnectCP - the International Who's Who of Cultural Policy, Planning and Research
At the World Summit on Arts and Culture held in NewcastleGateshead, England, in June, and in Vienna, Austria, at International Conference on Cultural Policy, on 14 July, IFACCA and Boekmanstichting have launched ConnectCP, the International Who's Who of Cultural Policy, Planning and Research, and are calling experts on cultural policy from around the globe for inclusion in the online database already listing 275 experts from 55 countries. Each profile outlines an experts' experience, current interests, and other information relevant to their work in cultural policy.
For more details and to search profiles visit www.connectcp.org.

ECF launched new website
The European Cultural Foundation has recently launched its new website highlighting as statements "We support, We advocate, We focus. We believe in the enriching experience of diversity and in the power of culture to promote mutual understanding and respect. We therefore support cultural cooperation and advocate strong cultural policies for Europe". The new website features include: Agenda, on the Home page, which features the latest news and events, and Highlights, which draws the users attention to current projects and partnerships. There is also a Showcase section, featuring a series of ECF projects, and there is a new process for Applying for Grants.
Visit the website at www.eurocult.org.

Shrinking Cities Vol. 2: Interventions
June 2006. Editor: Philipp Oswalt on behalf of the German Federal Cultural Foundation; publisher: Verlag Hatje Cantz; English version. This is the second volume produced in the frame of the project "Shrinking Cities", a three-year project of Germany's Federal Cultural Foundation that has focused for the first time, from an international perspective, on the globally spread phenomenon of urban shrinkage processes. The book provides an international overview and critical discussion of concepts and strategies for shrinking cities from the fields of architecture, landscape design, urban planning, the media, performance, and art. The approaches discussed range from artistic responses and self-empowerment projects to architectural and landscape interventions, strategies of media communication, and city marketing, to new legal regulations and utopian designs. A series of essays critically discusses current projects in North America, Europe, and Japan, as well as important historical positions in architecture and art.
For more information contact press@shrinkingcities.com or visit www.shrinkingcities.com.