PfC's Choice

"Maison des PECO" in Nancy will develop exchanges with new Eastern countries
The academic exchange programmes of the "Maison des PECO"in Nancy (France) will include from 2006 Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia & Montenegro, as Jean Denis-Mouton, the director of the "Maison des PECO" (the House of Central & Eastern European Countries in Nancy), has recently stated in an interview given to Le monde. Mouton considers that these countries, even if not yet members of EU, are part of the CEE and they play an important role in the configuration of the new Europe. "Maison des PECO" has been launched in Nancy in 2000, at the initiative of the French Ministry of Education and Research, as a result of the half century activity of the European University Centre hosted by University Nancy 2, centre of excellency in European studies academic training, which has ensured the formation of many elites coming from the Eastern countries.
Source: Le monde (May 3, 2005).

 Policies for Culture news

Action project update: The ARCult Forum debate on the independent sector (Bucharest, Romania)
The most recent debate of the ARCult Forum, presented in the previous issues of the bulletin, was held on April 20 and focused on "the independent cultural sector". Among the main topics brought into discussions were the issue of representativity and of the ways of institutionaling a constructive dialogue between the decision-making level and the civil society; the status of "independent" and the instances which legitimated it. The participants came with a series of proposals concerning the need to: give priority to young artists and to contemporary creation; setup new creative spaces; extend the focus of the debates from the mechanisms to the values these should support. In the same area, at the commissioning of AFAA (Association Francaise d'Action Artistique) and in cooperation with regional experts, the ECUMEST Association is currently running a comparative survey on the independent organisations and initiatives in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus & Turkey, attempting to offer the background for setting up a European cooperation programme supporting the cultural sector on behalf of the concerned countries. The ARCult Forum setup by ECUMEST has launched a process of analysis, proposals and debates aiming to contribute to the design of a long term cultural strategy in Romania. Other cultural debate platforms with an already established tradition in the region are Red House Center for Culture and Debate (Sofia), Rex Cultural Centre (Belgrade), PAC Multimedia (Skopje) & Clubture Network (Croatia).
For more information write to ecumest@ecumest.ro or visit www.ecumest.ro.

Reminder: Case study on Technological Park Culture, Bulgaria now available
The second issue of the Policies for Culture 'Force of Example' Publication Series features a new case study focusing this time on the experience of the "Technological Park Culture I & II" action projects developed in the framework of the programme and implemented between 2001-2003. The publication, available in both English and Bulgarian versions, was prepared by the PfC team, and is available for free, by writing at the contacts below. The first publication in this series was the case study "Local Cultural Strategy Development for the City of Plovdiv - Bulgaria". Other case studies of the Policies for Culture action projects are under preparation and will be published in 2005. Policies for Culture will also launch early summer 2005 "The arts, politics and change", a book focusing on the experience of the programme from 2000 to 2004.
For more information and orders write to info@policiesforculture.org or visit www.policiesforculture.org/printed.

 News from the region

Bulgaria: Lobby of the contemporary visual arts scene
A group of Bulgarian artists caused a major public scandal by organising a fake opening of a Contemporary Art Museum in Sofia. Over 100 Sofia citizens, culture and media representatives flocked on Tuesday, 26 April, to the railway station of Podujane, expecting to see a grand opening of a new museum with the special presence of the Bulgaria-born artist Christo Yavasheff. At the fake opening came foreign ambassadors, also mislead by the media campaign promoting this event. As it later turned out it was a well-planned action for drawing the public attention to the urgent need of such a museum in Bulgaria. The project was organised by a circle around Ivan Moudov, one of the best known contemporary visual artists in Bulgaria, and launched a debate on this topic, currently underway.
For more details contact Ivan Moudov at ivanmoudov@yahoo.com.
Source: Sofia News Agency.

Macedonia: Brother to brother, Culture for money. Capitalism, Culture, Balkans (Skopje)
The debated under this title was hosted by the Cultural Center Tocka on April 24, bringing together Elizabeta Seleva (theoretician of culture, Skopje), Aleksandar Stankovski (painter and director, Skopje), Vladimir Arsenievic (writer and publisher, Belgrade), Aleksandar Zograf (cartoonist, Belgrade) and Nikola Gelevski (NGO Kontrapunkt). The discussions focused on the situation in Macedonia, radically changed by capitalism, on the implications from the long and heavy "transitions" from a quasi self-managing socialism to wild capitalism. The debates were concerned with the cultural implications as well as the changes in the field of culture in Macedonia, in the region and beyond, in the current international political context. Among the questions addressed were: Do the cultural products have to be commercial? Can Art be self-sustainable? What is the relation among the state, NGO sector, cultural institutions and artist? Is the only remaining strategy to deal in the frames of the world of Simulation and Spectacle?
For more information visit www.kontrapunkt-mk.org.

Macedonia & Romania: Cultural cooperation programme signed in Bucharest
Macedonian Minister of Culture Blagoja Stefanovski and Romanian Minister of Culture and Religious Affairs Mona Musca signed in Bucharest on April 21 a Programme for Cultural Cooperation for the period 2005-2007. The programme is continuing the cooperation projects developed by the two countries in the field of culture and is encouraging direct collaboration between cultural institutions on the basis of their direct initiative and reciprocal performances of artists in cultural activities of national and international character.
Sources: www.cultura.ro & www.culture.in.mk.

Turkey & SEE: International Forum on Turkey-Europe Cultural Relations (Istanbul)
On May 6-8, Istanbul hosted the second edition of the International Forum on Turkey-Europe Cultural Relations, organised by the European Cultural Association. The Forum aimed at raising awareness of the importance of culture and the arts in the relations between Turkey and the EU, as well as other neighboring countries. One of the issues brought up was that at present, regardless of the common history and the strong historical ties, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of the current context and a feeble exchange between Turkey and the countries of South East Europe, and that more pursued cultural exchange and cooperation initiatives are a key tool in addressing this. Parallel to the Forum a development meeting of the Balkan Express network took place - bringing together representatives of Bunker Productions (Ljubljana), the ECUMEST Association (Bucharest), IETM (Brussels) and the contemporary dance initiative in Belgrade coordinated by Dalja Acin - which also aims at facilitating encounters and exchange between artists and professionals in the field of performing arts from Turkey and other Balkan countries.
For details on the Forum visit www.europist.net. More details about the upcoming Balkan Express activities will be available soon on the BE webpage at www.ietm.org.

SEE & MED: Arts Management Training Programme for Arab speaking MED countries
The first seminar in a series of three trainings, which has been launched in the framework of a Training of Trainers initiative of the European Cultural Foundation and its local partner Al-Mawred (Culture Resource) from Cairo, has taken place from 3 to 7 May in Cairo. This training programme benefits from the participation of two experts of the Policies for Culture network - Sanjin Dragojevic & Milena Dragicevic-Sesic. The proposed programme, addressing, among others, issues such as cultural policy - models, regional challenges, legislation, financing, decentralisation and regional cooperation, aims at building new capacities in the fields of arts management training in the Arab speaking Mediterranean countries. The methodology of the course is based on tools developed for similar challenges previously targeted by the ECF's Kultura Nova Programme in South East Europe. The participants to this capacity development project will also benefit from the publication of a first Arts Management Tool Kit in the Arab language, and will held their first sessions as trainers for young culture professionals in the MED countries in late 2005.
For more information visit www.eurocult.org and www.mawred.org.

 Upcoming Events

May 20-21, 2005: Cultural Corridors in South-East Europe (Varna, Bulgaria)
The regional Forum entitled "Cultural Corridors in South-East Europe: Common Past and Shared Heritage - A Key to Future Partnership" will be held on 20 and 21 May in Varna (Bulgaria) in particular to encourage heads of state of South-East Europe to promote this region as a potential ground for meeting, recognition and peace with culture very much to the fore. The Forum will take the form of a round table to favour dialogue between political decision-makers (10 countries of the region represented), experts and representatives of European and international organisations (Council of Europe, European Commission, ICOMOS, UNESCO, etc.) and is expected to lead to the adoption of a Declaration and plan of action that have the wherewithal to wield effective influence on development policies and activities for the preservation and promotion of the region’s cultural heritage strengthening social cohesion.
For more details visit the UNESCO website.

June 3-4, 2005: Politics of Virtuosity (Zagreb, Croatia)
The event, organised by the Center for Dramatic Arts (CDU) in Zagreb, aims to offer a platform of encounters and discussion on new perspectives on the political potentiality of performance, on the performer's and thinker's virtuosity; on coordination of new dance/performance initiatives in transformative situation in the region (in Ljubljana, Bucharest, Tallinn, Belgrade, Zagreb etc); on recent developments and potential for the future of tactical collaboration among artists, thinkers and activists. The event will be a part of CDU's project "On Labour" - developed in the framework of the project Zagreb - Cultural Kapital of Europe 3000 and joint project of performing art magazines The FaMa.
For more details write to Una Bauer at una@cdu.hr or visit www.cdu.hr.

June 3-5, 2005: Europeanization as Secularization - The arts, sciences, and the
domestication of the cultural "furor" (Zagreb, Croatia)
This workshop organised by the Goethe Institute Zagreb aims to encourage a critical examination of
the roles that cultural production has been playing in the recent past and will be playing in the near future in the context of socio-political and economical changes. The workshop addresses students of social sciences, young scholars in culture-related fields, artists, journalists, and all those who are
interested in a critical discourse about European culture(s). Short lectures/presentation proposals are welcome on themes such as: Mapping Europe - cultural geographies and the rise/decline of the national factor; Urban Centres and rural communities within the politics of change; The dimension of "European Disintegration" (anti-European sentiments among Europeans); Artists and writers as "cultural warriors"; "Entdeutschung" - Subversion and forms of cultural anti-representation, etc.
To send your proposals write to Zoran Terzic, workshop content coordinator, by sending an email with the subject "workshop Zagreb" at zterzic@yahoo.com.

Reminder: June 9-12, 2005: Second World Culturelink Conference (Zagreb, Croatia)
In its second announcement of the conference "Dynamics of Communication: New Ways and New Actors", the Culturelink Network informs about the preliminary programme details (available at the link below). In four working sessions, 22 key speakers and 31 speakers from 28 countries world-wide will focus on issues concerning new ways and actors of global communication and dialogue among cultures in the 21st century. Corina Suteu, independent expert and president of the ECUMEST Association, will be participating in the conference with an intervention focusing on "New actors of communication", addressing issues such as: cultural cooperation, networks and communicating about diversity; knowledge transfer, media and new technologies as communication tools; the need for 'cultural content communication laboratories'. Consult the abstract of this presentation on the ECUMEST website.
For more details about contact clinkconf@irmo.hr or visit www.culturelink.hr/clinkconf.

June 23-24, 2005: On-The-Move. Arts and on-line information seminar (Nantes, France)
The two days of discussion hosted by this seminar will focus on the encounter between the 'cultural field' and the 'digital culture' and will question if the cultural operators and resource centres are lagging behind in the exploitation of new possibilities. This colloquium aims to bring together three sides of the debate: cyber-specialists, new technology specialists working on social, cultural and artistic consequences of web-based communication tools; cultural operators, resource centres and webmasters working specifically in the field of culture; the general audience and users, interested in a better understanding on this subject and the shapers and main developers of the 'digital culture'. Approximatively 5 participants from the Eastern countries will atend the seminar, depending on the projects submitted. Corina Suteu, member of the OTM steering committee, and Georges-Albert Kisfaludi, ERBAN Nantes, are the coordinating experts of this seminar. On The Move is organising this event together with the City of Nantes, IETM - Informal European Theatre Meeting, Relais Culture Europe and ERBAN - Regional Beaux Arts School of Nantes.
For more information contact communication@ietm.org or visit www.ietm.org.

October 24-26, 2005: Creative Clusters Conference 2005 (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
"Unlocking the Secrets of a Creative Economy" will be the topic of the Creative Clusters Conference 2005 - the only annual international conference on policy for the creative industries. The growth of creative industries has been explosive – communities, cities, regions and nations are embracing this shift, leveraging their culture to build valuable assets that can transform their economies. The conference themes will be: Investing in Creativity; Delivering Skills for Creativity; Inclusion Through Creativity; and an Open Section. The call for speakers is open until May 16. The conference gathers experts, researchers, cultural managers, policymakers, artists, etc. Participants concerned with creative industries from eastern European countries are also welcome.
For more information visit www.creativeclusters.com.

November 17-19, 2005: Inclusive Europe. Horizon 2020 (Budapest, Hungary)
With the organisation of this meeting, the Hungarian Ministry of Cultural Heritage wants to maintain the momentum created by the Berlin conference for Cultural Policy held in November 2004; "Inclusive Europe: Horizon 2020" aims to be another stage in the way towards firmly establishing the role of culture in the construction of the new Europe. The debate will focus on the questions of access, equity, participation and voice these challenges now present. There will be a special emphasis on the issues raised by different types and dimensions of cultural difference particularly salient in Central and Eastern Europe. The discussions will bear upon both the role of governmental policy and, given the nature of EFAH, on the role of artists and cultural operators in addressing these issues. Among the co-organisers of the conference are the Hungarian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage, the Budapest Cultural Observatory.
For more details contact Peter Inkei, Director of the Budapest Observatory, at peter@budobs.org or visit www.budobs.org.

 Opportunities

Postgraduate Studies in Cultural Management and Cultural Policy in the Balkans at the University of Arts in Belgrade
Application deadline: 31 May 2005
The postgraduate programme is organised by the University of Arts in Belgrade, in partnership with the French universities Lyon II and Institute of Political Studies in Grenoble, as well as a series of regional partners among which the ECUMEST Association. It enjoys the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the participation of UNESCO and the Central European Initiative. The programme is open to graduates with university degree and to professionals with proved experience in the field of culture (at least two years) from the Balkan region as well as other European countries with an interest in the region. It aims to train the future managers of cultural organisations and cultural project leaders by providing necessary theoretical and practical tools for the development and implementation of cultural policies and cultural projects. French-speaking applicants from the region are advised to ask at the French Embassy in their country for scholarship opportunities. For more details write to Darja Butigan, MA coordinator, at coordinator@arts.bg.ac.yu, or visit www.arts.bg.ac.yu or www.ecumest.ro to download brochures and application forms.

MA in Euroculture at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow
Application deadline: 17 June 2005
The Master of Arts in Euroculture is an interdisciplinary, international programme, with the general aim to focus on the cultural and social dimensions of modern Europe, and particularly on the functioning of the European Union. The programme especially emphasises the study of modern European culture and society in the context of the EU integration process. The Euroculture courses present information about European culture and the political governance of the EU, and therefore equip students with the cultural-reflexive skills necessary to analyse current transformations of Europe and the EU. The programme is also open for students from Eastern European countries and EU candidate candidate countries, for whom a limited number of scholarships is available.
More information about the programme is available HERE.

Call for papers on the topic of cultural policy in the new Europe
Proposals deadline: 31 December 2005
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (Purdue University Press) has recently launched a call for papers on the thematic issue of cultural policy refering the European Union and Central and Eastern Europe. Cultural policy is understood as all aspects of community-, institution-, government-, and international organisation-based policy in theory and practice with regard to all aspects of culture. The call for papers is in conjunction with the international conference "Dialogue on Culture and Culture Policy in the New Europe" - an international working conference to be held in the 2005 or early 2006 in Budapest, Hungary. Papers should be sent in the Comparative Literature and Culture style and format about which you can find more HERE.
For more details and to send papers contact Steven Totosy, Editor of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture & Ph.D in Comparative culture and media studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, at clcweb@purdue.edu.

 Publications & Information Resources

Culturelink: eCulture - The European Perspective. Cultural Policy, Creative Industries, Information Lag
Culturelink 2005, Sanjin Dragoevic, Diane Dodd, Biserka Cvjeticanin, Cas Smithuijsen eds. Culturelink has recently published this title representing the proceedings from the Round Table Meeting held in Zagreb, 24-27 April 2003. As Ritva Mitchell stresses in her introduction, "the articles in this volume show the way to new thinking and research on the concepts of information society and eCulture".
For more details and orders contact Culturelink/Institute for International Relations, Zagreb, at clink@irmo.hr.

Comedia has relaunched its website
April 2005. COMEDIA Original thinking - transforming cities has recently relaunched its website. The newly designed site contains details of Comedia's latest projects such as The Intercultural City and also includes a full on line book shop featuring among others titles such as "The Intercultural City Reader", edited by Phil Wood, and "Planning for the Intercultural City", by Jude Bloomfield and Franco Bianchini.
Visit it at www.comedia.org.uk.