Friday, 30 November 2007

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inseecp@gmail.com


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Monday, 5 November 2007

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Sunday, 4 November 2007

Members

inSEEcp's members:


Who is Who

Artservis
Founder
Artservis was founded by SCCA, the Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana (www.scca-ljubljana.si), a non-governmental and non-profit organisation based in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Description
Artservis (since 2001) is a web-based information resource for artists, curators, theoreticians and cultural managers who operate in Slovenia and/or abroad. Its basic mission is provision of information and advice. Artservis keeps its users constantly updated with the opportunities in the world of art through offers, tenders, invitations to co-operation, funding possibilities and advice in the field of contemporary art. It also publishes useful advice, shares experiences concerning tactical usage of the existing infrastructure, and stimulates feedback / opinion of users and public debate. Artservis usage is based on open access, user anonymity and Creative Commons licence policy. Over the years, Artservis has become a reliable and referential medium, visited daily by 915 users (statistics for Jan–Oct. 2008).
Users of Artservis come from Slovenia and the world – mainly Eastern, Central and South Europe, and the Balkans. The tool (browser) and data are in Slovenian and English, selected pieces of news are published in Croatian and Serbian, and are therefore accessible to international (non-Slovenian) speakers as well.
Artservis regularly distributes free Newsletters (up to 3 per month) through e-mail lists, with the aim to draw the users’ attention to the latest news, providing them with information about collaboration possibilities, fundraising resources, professional improvement potentials, artist-in-residence programs, conferences, etc. At present, 5963 international users are subscribed.
Editorial / Management
The SCCA team and the Artservis editor make all important strategic decisions together.
Editor in chief: Marija Mojca Pungerčar
Assistant editor Spela Škulj
Funding
The Ministry of Culture of the Republic Slovenia, private sponsorship (in the past), the solidarity fund of SCCA-Ljubljana (at present).
Contact
Marija Mojca Pungerčar, editor
SCCA, Center for Contemporary Arts - Ljubljana, Slovenia
Metelkova 6, SI-1000 Ljubljana
Phone: + 386 1 4318385
Fax: + 386 1 4300629

Culturelink Network
Founder
Culturelink was established by UNESCO and the Council of Europe in 1989, in Paris, at the Consultation of Representatives of Regional and Sub-regional Networks for Cultural Development Research and Cooperation. The Institute for International Relations in Zagreb, Croatia has been the focal point of the Network since its inception.
Description
Culturelink, the Network of Networks for Research and Cooperation in Cultural Development aims to strengthen communication between networks, institutions and professionals in the field of culture, encouraging the exchange of cultural information, ideas and knowledge, and furthering the development of research cooperation. It serves as a collaboration platform for cultural researchers, policy makers and practitioners, and through its portal, it collects, processes and disseminates information on new concepts, research challenges, trends, experiences and practice in the fields of cultural life, policies, and intercultural communication.
The main focus is the new context of culture in networked society, including issues of cultural identity, cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and digital culture, creative and knowledge industries, as well as cultural and media transitions in the context of democratic changes and globalisation processes. Its publications, including the Digital Culture: The Changing Dynamics, the latest book in Culturelink's Joint Publications Series, are available in the PDF version and are free for download.  
The Network provides its members with the following possibilities: collaboration on joint research projects, use of Culturelink web resources, subscription to the C-News (an electronic newsletter) and the Culturelink Joint Publication Series, and possibility to publish their own announcements.
Information and research results are disseminated in electronic and paper form through regular network channels.
The Culturelink Network gathers networks and institutions from about 100 countries in all parts of the world that deal with and are interested in cultural development, cultural policies and cooperation.
Editorial / Management
Members of the IMO’s Department for Culture and Communication.
Funding
Department members perform network-related activities on a volunteer and part-time basis.
All financing is project-based and used mostly for research activities. The scope of on-line activities depends on the capacity of the IMO infrastructure.
Contact
Culturelink Network
IMO - Institute for International Relations
Vukotinoviceva 2, P.O. Box 303
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Phone: +385 1 / 48 77 460
Fax: +385 1 / 48 28 361

Culture.in.mk
Founder
NGO Junona and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia
Description
Culture.in.mk: presentation of cultural events in the Republic of Macedonia and presentation of Macedonian culture abroad. Daily updates of news, in both Macedonian and English.
Clipping of culture-related news from the Macedonian media, production of own news items from information received from cultural operators, and presentation of funding and cooperation opportunities. There is an in-built search engine.
Categories featured: Cultural life in the Republic of Macedonia (sub-categories: Music, Theatre, Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Film, Publishing, Literature, Popular Culture, Events, Projects, Festivals, Interviews, Cultural Monuments, Ethnology) and presentation of Macedonian culture abroad (with sub-categories: Events, Exhibitions, Macedonian artefacts in foreign museums, Amateur ensembles in international competitions).
Distribution takes place through its web-portal, occasional newsletters and queries upon request.
The target group are cultural operators, audience at cultural events, cultural institutions, the general public.
Editorial / Management
Editor in Chief – Gordana Gjorcevska
Editor/Coordinator of International Cooperation – Jasna Soptrajanova - Vrteva
Funding
Sporadic; initially the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia funded the entire production; later, it was sponsored by volunteer work of the portal team; two corporate sponsorships were obtained; it still relies primarily on volunteer work.
Contact:

Culturenet.hr - Web centre of Croatian culture
Founder
The portal Culturenet.hr was launched as a common project of the Ministry of Culture of Croatia and the Open Society Institute – Croatia, and was accessible on the internet from 2001 to 2004. Since April 2004, the Ministry of Culture has continued to support and develop the project.
Description
Culturenet is a bilingual portal (Croatian / English) that aims to gather information resources of Croatian culture (organisations, associations, institutions, projects, initiatives, artists…), encourage further development of these resources, and enable cultural workers to find information and project partners in one place. The portal aims to improve cultural cooperation in Croatia and beyond, and to contribute to better communication between institutions and artists, including the general public.
Culturenet contains six main segments: 1) Still Gallery of Culture (audio-visual illustrations of cultural heritage and the contemporary art scene); 2) Panorama (overview of some segments of Croatian culture in time and space – reviews of eminent experts); 3) Culture Catalogue (the largest interactive database of Croatian cultural institutions, with advanced search options for different categories) 4) Cultural Events (annual calendar that can be searched by different criteria); 5) Info-service (information about current events, conferences, contests, and various other events relevant to cultural professionals); 6) See Also (contests, foundations; cultural statistics, international cultural centres in Croatia, European and international cultural networks, national cultural portals, cultural policies).
Culturenet relies on users' input through the web page, e-mailing lists (a daily newsletter in Croatian, and semi-weekly newsletter in English) and RSS feeds. Culturenet uses Web 2.0 based distribution technology.
Editorial / Management
Culturenet.hr is coordinated by the editor in chief, and each segment has a separate coordinator.
Funding
The Section of the Culturenet Project and the Ministry website are a part of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic Croatia, and are therefore financed from the state budget.
Contact
Culturenet Croatia/Ministry of Culture of the Republic Croatia
Runjaninova 2
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
info@culturenet.hr – Culturenet editorial team
deborah.hustic@min-kulture.hr - Deborah Hustić, English version editor
rafaela.petrovic@min-kulture.hr - Rafaela Petrović (Catalogue)
ivana.podnar@min-kulture.hr - Ivana Podnar (See Also/Useful),
nena.franicevic-zlatic@min-kulture.hr - Nena Franičević Zlatić (Festivals)

Evrokultura
EU Programmes for Cultural Operators
Founder
SCCA, the Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana (www.scca-ljubljana.si), a non-governmental and non-profit organisation based in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Description
Evrokultura (Euroculture) is a web-based information resource available in the Slovenian language, and intended for culture operators or all those who are active in the field of culture and seek to obtain funding from various European Union programmes.
Evrokultura contains: listings with detailed information on various EU programmes available to the cultural sector; articles on good practice of EU funding in Slovenia; commented links to other websites that provide information on EU programmes; experts’ comments on new geopolitical and cultural-political conditions; reviews of publications in the field of EU programmes and cultural policies, as well as information on the mediation sector in culture; exclusive interactive thematic works of art: Umetnik Stane I, II, III.
Distribution of information takes place through an openly accessible online database on EU funding programmes, and case studies of good practice, including commented links to other information sources, as well as series of free public seminars on EU fund-raising.
Target group are cultural operators throughout Slovenia: producers, project managers, intermediaries, and analysts working in public organisations & NGOs.
Editorial / Management
The SCCA team and the Evrokultura editor make all important strategic decisions together.
Editor in chief: Mateja Lazar
Funding
The European Union, PHARE Small Projects Programme (2005), Government Public Relations and Media Office of the Republic of Slovenia (2005), Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia (thematic works of art).
Contact
SCCA, Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana
Metelkova 6, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
T: + 386 1 4318385, F: + 386 1 4300629

Knjiga.hr - KIS ~ the Croatian Books Information System
Founder
Faust Vrančić d.o.o.
Description
The project aims to provide a better overview of all information and news from the book market, including information on available book titles, bookstores, publisher contacts, and to involve interested individuals to process information from the book market.
The project focuses on the book market with all its elements, such as: availability, sale, news. We are active primarily in the Republic of Croatia, but we disseminate news from the wider region as well.
Our database on books, publishers, authors and bookstores is updated daily. We publish daily news on books and the publishing industry in the world.
Target groups are publishers, booksellers, distributors, libraries, buyers and readers.
Distribution takes place through webpage www.knjiga.hr, a weekly e-newsletter sent to a growing number of users (there are currently 5,200 users).
Editorial / Management
Project manager: Valerij Jurešić
Funding
In the 2001-2004 period, the KIS project was co-financed by the Fund for Central and East European Book Projects (CEEBP), from Amsterdam, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Matra Programme), Open Society Institute - Croatia, and Next Page Foundation from Sofia.
Since 2007, the project has been partially financed by the Croatian Ministry of Culture, whereas the remaining funds (around 80%) are obtained through commercial activities.
Contact

KULporter
Founder
A youth non-governmental organization for the media, art and culture (NGO MUK) Laktaši, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Description
KULporter.com, a multicultural Bosnian e-magazine mainly focused on the promotion of cultural events in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the region. It was launched after an extensive research showed that this kind of website did not exist in BiH.
Its founders, for years engaged in the NGO sector in BiH, realised the sorrowful fact that people, including youth, still live in a divided society. In order to become a part of the “healing” process, members of the NGO MUK Laktaši, have chosen the new media to rebuild the multicultural society that once existed. The main objectives and activities of the NGO MUK are: development of civil society through cultural events in BiH, connecting people from BiH and the region through the new media and the promotion of cultural, informative and multiethnic ideas in BiH and beyond, development of new, electronic and written media in BiH, promotion of gender equality by encouraging women to enter the media workplace (which is still male-dominant), organisation of youth awareness-raising campaigns about deviant behaviour in society, and humanitarian work with children and youth.
KULporter.com distributes its information via new media platforms, and uses print materials when necessary.
KULporter.com targets individuals involved in the NGO sector, and focuses on cultural activities for youth, including daily readers from the country, other regions and the diaspora.
Editorial / Management
Editor and manager: Tamara Pejčinović.
Funding
KULporter.com is currently funded and operated by the NGO for Media, Art and Culture Laktaši
Contact
Organization for Media, Art and Culture Laktaši
Branka Radičevića 7, 78 250 Laktaši
Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Phone: + 387 65 535 184

Portal Kulturpunkt.hr
Founder
The Association of NGOs Clubture
Description
In the Croatian media landscape, cultural sections are losing their space, and even disappearing, while cultural topics are mostly, with a few media exceptions that unfortunately only confirm the rule, treated as (political) cases or (scandalous) excesses. Thus, a frequent editorial practice is to place some of these topics not on the pages of culture, but on the pages of more “juicy” sections meant for the broader masses. Even though culture as a whole faces the same treatment, the independent cultural scene has been pushed to the media margin.
In 2005, Clubture launched a portal, Kulturpunkt.hr, which has since then continuously covered the independent cultural scene and contemporary culture, and which has opened its space to citizens’ initiatives that are the forerunners of public advocacy, thus encouraging the adoption of responsible social and political decisions in Croatia, as well as greater participation of citizens in such decision-making. The portal focuses on youth culture, urban culture, social activism, new technologies, alternative economies, free software, etc.  
Alongside the information service that continually reports news and announcements of events, the portal offers articles and interviews related to culture or contemporary phenomena of popular culture. There are also critical overviews of various cultural sections of daily newspapers, theoretical texts that provide insight into the cultural policies of South East Europe, and various types of contests.
Almost all contents are under the Creative Commons licence.
Editorial / Management
Project manager: Dea Vidović
Editorial team: Stjepan Jureković, Vatroslav Miloš, Dea Vidović (editor in chief)
Programming: Aleksandar Erkalović
Design: Tina Ivezić
Funding
Donators so far (2005-2008): The Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb; Open Society Institute – Croatia; Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia; Ministry of the Family, Veterans’ Affairs and Intergenerational Solidarity – Unit for Youth; National Foundation for Civil Society Development.
Contact
Association of NGOs Clubture/ Portal Kulturpunkt.hr
Svačićev trg 1, 10 000 Zagreb, Hrvatska
T: +385 1 45 72 591
F: +385 1 45 72 592

PLAGIJAT - the new pine tree in the Macedonian internet woods
http://www.plagij.at

About:
plagij.at is the new pine in the Macedonian internet woods. Whole began in form of an internet magazine as a result of the friendship between few enthusiasts that were able to spot the constantly expanding void in the Macedonian urban culture.

Aims:
Improving the culture in the Republic of Macedonia
Promotion of the Macedonian culture and art outside the borders of the country
Archiving the products of Macedonian culture
Developing a civil society by promoting the different cultures and arts in the republic
Supporting sub-cultural movements that are resisting the kitsch and dominant values
To protect and promote various forms of creativity
To make conditions so that the culture can develop and prosper freely
Increase the awareness for the diversity of  creativity and raise the level of consciousness for its value on local and national level
Create atmosphere for dialog between cultures in order to provide wider and equal cultural exchange which will lead to intercultural respect and peace.

Target groups:
Plagij.at during its 1,5 year existence managed to create its own devoted audience that is shown by daily unique visits. At the moment that number is approximately 750 visits every day. This number is constantly growing. The visitors read about 9,27 pages each visit. The loyalty of the readers is shown on the diagram below. 81, 74% of the regulars revisit the site of the magazine.
With the cooperation between our second media the magazine www.xmkd.com we managed to unite the extreme sports and the culture in one sub – culture scene. So far we have organized a large number of contests, sessions, music performances, as well as one festival of Macedonian independent music, which are aiming at a precise target group.
We managed to attract performers and spectators with ages ranging form 14 – 45 with various ethnic and religious backgrounds. Among the members of plagij.at there are enthusiasts form almost all of the larger towns in Macedonia, but also there are such that live and work abroad.

Management:
A group of ten people is responsible for the web site maintenance as well as the management of various plagij.at events that take place during the year. Every week there is a meeting at which we discuss and evaluate the functioning of the web site. Besides the ten people that make the core of plagij.at there is also a large number of correspondents (a number that is continuously expanding) and who also contribute to the development of the web site and its contents.

Financing:
The financing of plagij.at, or, more specifically the hosting and domain costs are covered by the people responsible for the web site from the membership fee gathered thought the year. Unfortunately, so far, none of the major, as well as the other companies have not been interested in providing sponsorship for the development of the site and the organization.

Contact:
contact@plagij.at
Pro[story]
Founder
NGO Prostory, Podgorica
Description
The NGO Prostory was formed in 2004, in Podgorica, by respectable Montenegrin artists. The aims and tasks of the NGO are the following: keeping abreast and promotion of quality programmes, works and authors in the publishing field; promotion of current tendencies in the domain of books and culture in our country and the world; creation of programmes intended for the wide public, children, youth and citizens; establishment of links between non-institutional programs, authors and publishers, and raising educational, communication, artistic and professional standards in the country.
The most important projects that the NGO Prostory has realized since its foundation are the following: The Creative Wall, workshop Ice - Sculpturing, Bridges for Literature, Monitoring and Implementation of the Law on Authors' Rights in Montenegro, ActivART – Video Campaign for Montenegrin Culture, ArteVirtus - Blog Discussion, including participation in realization of the short feature film The Masks.
Information is disseminated through the web portal, press releases, media coverage of events and projects, various promotional material.
Target groups are artists, cultural audience, students, tourists, decision makers, local and state authorities.
Editorial / Management
Varja Đukić Popović – manager
Funding
The European Cultural Foundation, Pro Helvetia, USA Embassy in Podgorica, Ministry of Tourism of Montenegro.
Contact
Varja Đukić Popović
NGO “Prostory” Obala, Ribnice bb, 81000 Podgorica
T: +382 20 602 625
F: +382 20 602 626

Radio Student
Founder
The Association of Students of the University of Ljubljana
Description
Radiostudent.si is a portal of Radio Student, with a special part dedicated to the fields of art, culture, humanities and cultural politics. The genres range from short information extracts to long critical and theoretical texts.
Radio Student started broadcasting its programme in 1969, and from its beginnings it has been one of the few local asylums of alternative independent journalism and the only electronic media open to new waves in various fields of culture.
The basic principle of Radio Student editorial policy is to present items of information, art forms and music overlooked or ignored by other media. The primary principle of Radio Student programme policy is creation of a programme that does not conform to the taste of an average passive radio programme consumer, but aims to present its audience with serious themes in all fields of creative expression. Finally, in its programme, Radio Student supports the right to communication and a free flow of information and beliefs; it stimulates a creative manner of expression; contributes to democratic processes and pluralism of our society, and stimulates better understanding in support of peace, tolerance, democracy and progress.
The live programme of Radio Student can also be heard on the internet, as it is broadcast on its homepage in the mp3 format.
Editorial / Management
Director: Rok Kosec
Editor in chief: Tomaž Zaniuk
Contact
Zavod Radio Študent
Cesta 27. aprila 31, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
T: + 386 1 24 28 800

SEEcult.org Portal for South-East European Culture
Founder
NGO SEEcult.org
Description
SEEcult.org is a developmental, informative-educational, and presentation-documentary platform for South-East Europe culture and art, established in 2003, with the aim to inform, present and incite development of an open cultural and artistic scene in the region, its integration into Europe, and international promotion. Its aim is to help cultural institutions, artists and artistic organizations to plan and exchange production, present their creative works, participate more actively on the regional, European and the world scene, and to encourage the exchange of ideas, development of critical standpoints, and overcoming of stereotypes.
Besides daily updated news about events, cultural policies, open calls, debates and various projects (in Serbian and partly in English), SEEcult.org has an Events Calendar, Photo Galleries, Artists’ Gallery (photographs / reproduction of art works of selected artists), Forum, Blog, E-books, searchable archive, and special tools for users (webmail, content participation tools…).
Target groups are professionals in the fields of art and culture, as well as the general public.
Distribution takes place via a daily newsletter and the mailing list of the regional media. The new website, to be launched by end-2008, is fully web 2.0 optimised, and enables much greater interaction of users, as well as profile presentations of artists and cultural institutions, and provides other opportunities for the creation and distribution of content on the globally most popular social web networks as well.
Editorial / Management
Editor-in-chief: Miroljub Mima Marjanović
Director and project manager: Vesna Milosavljević
Funding
Belgrade City Council
Ministry of Culture of Serbia
Goethe-Institute Belgrade / Stability Pact for SEE
Private and commercial sponsors
Contact
27. marta Street 26, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Miroljub Mima Marjanović
T: + 381 11 3238 224, + 381 64 1535 321
Vesna Milosavljević
T: + 381 63 214 893

Stacion.org 
www.stacion.org
Established in 2006 by artist Albert Heta and architect Vala Osmani, Stacion Center for Contemporary Art  today is a structure of artists, architects, thinkers, critics and other cultural workers committed in reflecting and responding on relevant challenges of the contemporary society with an active, critical and emancipatory approach.
Designed to challenge, emancipate and advance the practice of the art scene and confront the present context, Stacion Center for Contemporary Art functions as an open platform that employs strategies to build up a dialogue with a differentiated public with clear social and political intents; encourage artistic practice to be in direct discourse with the developments in social, political and intellectual spheres and create conditions where contemporary art and thought can happen.
We are committed to re-creation of the necessary momentum for the advance and emancipation of the contemporary art scene and cultural environment of Kosova.
Station Center for Contemporary Art focuses on culture including the visual arts, design and architecture, locally-rooted practice as well as regional, European and international processes.
Contact:
Era Krasnici 
erakrasniqi@stacion.org
Prishtine, Kosovo



START Montenegro – event guide
www.startmontenegro.com

Founder and Owner
Marina Kornicer & Milena Luketić - MM Agency d.o.o. Kotor
Description
Startmontenegro.com is a web portal aiming to gather all the information regarding cultural events in Montenegro. The web site is a logical continuation of the START Montenegro magazine - printed monthly event guide. The web site has been active since November 2008.
Events Calendar has powerful search instruments that leads you to the latest and always updated information regarding vast number of cultural events in all Montenegrin municipalities. The Calendar is updated on daily basis - that is a guarantee for all the visitors that the given information is valid and accurate.
Besides Events Calendar, there are other segments regarding art, culture and fun in Montenegro. The address book offers contacts of relevant Montenegrin cultural institutions and can be searched by different criteria. According to the development plan of Startmontenegro.com, the site will be enriched with more interactive content, offering its visitors a space to comment on cultural life in Montenegro and participate in the creation of the web site itself.
Main target group of the web site is very vast - all those who wish to spend their free time in an interesting and nice manner. Startmontenegro.com is an important support for all the cultural operators in Montenegro. It is an important and effective channel of communication with broad public, aiming to inform about cultural events, promote and support them.
Editorial / Management
Marina Kornicer – program manager
Milena Luketić – editor in chief
Funding
Owners founds. Advertising.
Contact
Milena Luketic – editor in chief
redakcija@startmontenegro.com
cell: +382 68 838 871
Marina Kornicer – director and program manager
marketing@startmontenegro.com
cell: +382 68 838 873




Teatar.hr
Founder
Teatar.hr is owned by the publishing company Bofor-art.
Description                                           
Teatar.hr is a daily on-line news magazine dedicated to performing arts. Its focus is international, although a large number of news posted come from the region.
Apart from the magazine, Teatar.hr maintains the largest digital database of theatre plays in the region, with listings, contents and photos of each professional performance in Croatia, as well as a digital address book of all performing arts festivals and professional theatre companies in the country.
Using the web 2.0 technologies, Teatar.hr distributes its daily news via RSS and FeedBurner services to around 60,000 readers a month.
Its target groups are performing arts audience in general, theatre professionals, researchers, students…
Editorial / Management
A five-member editorial board, and its founder and editor in chief is Nora Krstulović.
Funding
Teatar.hr is financed mainly from the owner’s funds. Since 2007, it has been receiving some financial support from the City of Zagreb.
Contact
Nora Krstulović, editor
Zagreb, Croatia
T: +385 91 323 40 16
Posted by at

Monday, 29 October 2007

About

inSEEcp

Informal Network of SEE Cultural Portals
http://inseecp.blogspot.com
http://inseecp.wordpress.com/
inseecp@gmail.com

Contents
About InSEEcp                                 
1.1. Network of cultural portals: profile, management, members, funding                                         
1.2 Context                                         
1.3 Objectives and aims                                            
1.4. History: regional workshops                                
Activities 2008                                  
1.1    On-line                                        
1.2    Off-line                                        
Future                                      
Networking: Why and how to joins us?                  
1. About inSEEcp
1.1. Network of cultural portals: profile, management, members, funding

Profile
The Informal Network of SEE Cultural Portals (inSEEcp) is a result of two regional workshops of cultural portals (Belgrade 2006 and 2007), organised by SEEcult.org with the support of the Goethe-Institute Belgrade, and is the first initiative of that kind in the countries of former Yugoslavia. Regarding the importance of digital culture and common problems, as well as fast development of web technology generally, the network is needed for joint on-line and off-line advocacy in culture in internet, enabling and strengthening free flow of information of diverse regional scenes, as well as for improving professional and technical skills by exchanging information and experiences, with the aim to support and promote quality culture production and to gain wide audience.

Management
inSEEcp is at the moment the informal network with a horizontal management structure. In the process of formalization the network will be managed by working groups:
a) networking group dealing with common projects and further networking;
b) technological group dealing with web development;
c) cultural policy group dealing with counseling and advocacy;
d) fundraising group.
Each group is run by the coordinator, who informs and reports of the activities the whole network. The network itself is managed by the temporary director/head, who is voted for the chair with a 6 month mandate. During his/her presidency, the headoffice of the network is situated at the address of his organisation.

Members of informal network
inSEEcp is the initiative of KULporter.com (Bosnia and Hercegovina); Kulturpunkt.hr, Culturelink.hr, Culturenet.hr, Knjiga.hr, Teatar.hr (Croatia); Culture.in.mk (Macedonia); Artservis.org, Evrokultura.org, Radiostudent.si (Slovenia); SEEcult.org (Serbia). The participating countries are from the same former Yugoslavia region, with similar languages and cultural, social and political history. The members are representatitives of NGO organisations, as well of governmental institutions (Culturenet.hr is a portal of Croatian Ministry for Culture). All members are multidisciplinary working mostly in the field of arts and culture and are engaged to develop civil society in its local and national milieu. They have strong international connections and are members of different networks. The network is addressed to editorial teams of its members, cultural operators working in/with/from all cultural circles (state institutions, alternative non-profit centers, public spaces, NGOs, individuals, artists’ associations, enterprises, companies, foundations, governments, embassies, media, other portals etc.) in SEE region and Europe at whole.
New members are Pro-story.org (Montenegro) and Stacion.org (Kosovo), and in a process of joining are Montenegrina.net and Startmontenegro.com (Montenegro), Plagij.at (Macedonia), Creemaginet.com (Serbia)…

Funding
The network does not recieve any operating grant to co-finance expenditure associated with the permanent activities. Two unsuccessful aplications has been carried out in 2007 and 2008 at the European Cultural Foundation. However, the members of the network managed to get project based support for two alreday implemented regional workshops and another two planned in autumn and the end of 2008 in Belgrade (the Goethe Institute / Stability Pact for SEE) and the meeting in Ljubljana (Governement Comunication Office of the Republic of Slovenia).

1.2. Context
Up to the end of the nineties, culture and art scene in former Yugoslavia was quite developed in comparison with other Eastern European countries. Nowadays the major deficiencies of the state cultural policy in most of the countries are non-transparency, non-defined criteria, considerably low state budget for arts and culture, with bad taxation policy (tax deduction) that does not stimulate sponsorship… In the period of transition from socialistic system to liberal economy the cultural state institutions, and especially, non-profit organizations and artists in most of the countries in region are generally in disadvantaged position. Also, there are some differences between IT capacity in countries in region, which are now, after war time during 90’s, in different phases of democratic transition process and postwar reconciliation, and also in different phases of the process of European integration, with Slovenia as an EU member.
1.3. Objectives and aims
Regarding the importance of digital culture and portals as a new kind of cultural infrastructure, inSEEcp network of cultural portals is needed as unique platform for joint on-line and off-line actions for advocacy in culture in internet, improving our professional and technical skills, make influence on decisions made by policymakers in the cultural sector, as well as for contributing for cross border cooperation, multiculturalism and other diversities in region, making regional culture and art more visible on European and global level and confirming its European identity.
inSEEcp wants to:
- Emphasis the importance of digital culture and portals as a new kind of cultural infrastructure. Improve the situation of digital culture in region (infrastructure, legal issues, cultural policy…).
- Improve cultural cross border cooperation within SEE and its neighbourhood countries, including connections of non-traditional partners.
- Affirm culturally deprived zones and express the diversity of region within Europe, as well as its European identity.
- Improve possibilities for art for social change, policy development and capacity building in culture.
- Build capacity for joint actions of the network, i.e. training and workshops (improving technical skills, exchanging experiences, establishing web tools…) and further online networking and operating in digital culture, i.e. web site/blog as a domain for regional network of cultural portals.
- Joint activities for advocacy in culture (collecting and presenting individual comments and experiences, reacting in public in certain circumstances regarding culture issues…).
- Involve artists and cultural experts in the innovative and dynamic process of information-share and new methods and forms of collaboration.·
- Bring new audience to our portals, as well as our network, as an example of structural cooperation in culture.
- Broaden partnership in other countries in region.

1.4. History: regional workshops
First acquaintance of the editors of cultural portals, members of inSEEcp, took place in Dubrovnik, on the occasion of Second International Round Table Cultural Portals: A New Era of Cooperation, organized by Culturemondo.org in October 2006. The meeting offered a unique opportunity for cultural portal experts to enhance their working practices, to recognize emerging trends and to exchange experience.
The Informal Network of South-East European Cultural Portals - inSEEcp was later on founded in November 2006 in Belgrade as the result of the first regional meeting and workshop of the representatives of key cultural portals from the region of former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia). The workshop Culture on the Internet / Networking Participants in the Cultural Domain in South-East Europe through Specialized Internet Portals, was followed with the second workshop in December 2007, also in Belgrade, and other various activities of the founding members, including the inSEEcp’s blog as a joint platform for further various on-line and off-line actions for advocacy in culture on internet and cross-border cooperation, as well as for broadening the network.

Regional workshop of cultural portals No.1, Belgrade 2006
The first workshop of regional cultural portals, held on November 27-29, 2006 in Belgrade, and organized by Belgrade based SEEcult.org portal for the SEE culture, with the support of the Goethe Institute Belgrade. Among the participants was N-ost.de portal and, as moderator, representative of Germany's major independent online cultural magazine Perlentaucher.de and its English service Signandsight.com. As part of the workshop also was held a panel discussion on the theme Significance of Culture Portals, which brought together representatives of state institutions, cultural institutions, the university, artist groups and artists, media, net-activists and other professionals from culture portal’s target groups, as well as public.

Regional workshop of cultural portals No.2, Belgrade 2007
The second workshop of cultural portals from the SEE region was held on December 3-4, 2007 in Magacin Culture Centre in Belgrade, organized again by SEEcult.org with the support of the Goethe-Institut Belgrade, and bringing together the most active members of the inSEEcp in order to assess the results of joint activities and plan the agenda for 2008. Among the participants, beside the representatives of the inSEEcp’s members (Culturenet.hr, Kulturpunkt.hr (Croatia); Artservis.org, Evrokultura.org (Slovenia); SEEcult.org (Serbia), was also Anja Seeliger, founding member of Parlentaucher.de and Signandsight.com. Reviewing joint activities between two workshops, participants from region agreed on network’s name inSEEcp, discussed about drafts of possible joint projects and possibilities to apply on several open calls due to need to find basic financial resources for further activities. The conclusions were presented at the panel discussion on the theme Culture policy and Internet - SEE region and Europe, moderated by the Goethe-Institute Belgrade’s director Jutta Gehrig. All participants presented situation in their countries, which again attracted significant interest of public, as well as print, electronic and Internet media.
2. Activities 2008
2.1. On-line
inSEEcp blog (www.inseecp.blogspot.com, www.inseecp.wordpress.com)
A communication tool for network’s members and web presentation for public with editorial articles on common themes (cultural policy, web 2.0, cultural portals vs. commercial/tabloid web media, language question, cultural tourism…), testimonials of selected intellectuals from the region regarding importance of culture in Internet and special columns (art residency, art market…).

2.2. Off-line
Re-Network!, Ljubljana, 12 June 2008
International conference on networking in the cultural sector and stimulating transnational cooperation and free flow of information aims to to find out how “old” and “new” cultural networks manage the problem of free flow of information especially if relevant to transnational cooperation. Among the participants Vesna Milosavljević (SEEcult.org, inSEEcp) for the first time presented inSEEcp in front of the international audience.
inSEEcp meeting, Ljubljana, 12–13 June 2008
The meeting in Ljubljana was focused on a process of network's formalization and building capacity for presenting diversity of SEE culture through the regional network of cultural portals
inSEEcp workshop No.3, Belgrade, October 2008
The possibilities of web 2.0 for inSEEcp's members and possibilities of joint projects, further networking and cooperation with inSEEcp’s members.
inSEEcp Conference, Belgrade, December 2008
A regional panel discussions on cultural policy and Internet, importance of web 2.0 development and possibilities of improving cooperation on regional and European level.

3. Future
inSEEcp plans to:
- Improve organizational and structural capacities of inSEEcp (rotating coordination of activities, projects and fundraising).
- Look for new potential inSEEcp’s members from participating countries and from the rest of region (Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania…).

4. Networking: Why and how to join?
inSEEcp is trying to improve cooperation between cultural portals in SEE, due to a fact that there is a lack of free flow of information relevant for the cultural sector in former Yugoslavia, despite the fact that all portals in region have similar activities, aims and target groups. At the same time, all cultural portals in region need further optimization toward new possibilities that are enabled by web 2.0 development.
Members will improve its professional skills through offline activities (workshops, panel discussions and joint activities) and online collaboration, which also contributes to the internationalization of the diverse regional cultural and art scene, enabling also the reverse process - promotion of contemporary world trends in the region.
Mapping of potential members is carried out by already participating members and is at the moment formed as informal invitation, addressed to relevant national cultural portals. No membership fee is required, an interest and a willingness to participate at the joint activities are more than welcome. 
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