inSEEcp on Conference: A Network of Possible Paths

The representatives of inSEEcp - Informal Network of South-East European Cultural Portals - are among the participants in the panel discussion "A Network of Possible Paths", organized on September 19 in Belgrade by Cultural Point Office / CCP Serbia, Ministry of Culture and Information Society, in cooperation with Bitef, and dedicated to the topic of importance of networking in culture and gathering around common goals.

Dušan Dovč will present - inSEEcp, and Vesna Milosavljević will talk about SEEcult.org, networking and cultural portals in the region. Dušan Dovč is a member of editorial of cultural portal Artservis.org (SCCA-Ljubljana), and Vesna Milosavljević is editor of Portal for South-East European Culture SEEcult.org. Both portals are founding members of inSEEcp.

Participants in the panel–discussion are also the representatives of regional CCP offices well as representatives of European formal and informal networks such are: NEMO, Clubture, IETM, TEH , Culture Action Europe, Europa Nostra, Lab for culture, Independent cultural association, Executive agency EACEA, DGEAC/European commision.

The chosen topics for the panel discussion should help explain that the strategy of networking and cooperation between public and private sector represents a very efficient way not only of bridging the gap between the two, which still exists in most countries in Southeastern Europe, but also of overcoming the numerous problems and shortcomings regarding infrastructure (lack of space, equipment, technical tools…), human resources (lack of trained staff for new professions, lack of certain skills, use of common resources…), lack of partners and contacts, lack of communication with the government, lack of contacts with international financiers, the problem of not meeting contests’ criteria, etc. Although the presentations are aimed at general networking issues, they also analyze current trends and praxes through several case studies from Europe; they pose the question of the necessity for initiating an independent cultural network, the current state of networks, key agents, and prevailing approaches and challenges, through some of the topics: Presenting European Cultural Networks and Informal Initiatives to Professionals and to General Public; Why Do We Need Networks; Managing Networks and Participating In Them; Accessibility, Transparency and Sustainability of Networks; Gaining Acceptance and Status; Evaluation and Efficiency of Networks; Importance and Advantages of International Networks in the Field of Art; The Role of Networks in Development and Culture / Partnership and Networking as A Strategy; Networking as A Strategy For Overcoming Problems and Deficiencies in Infrastructure and Human Resources, As A Means for Creating Partnerships and Establishing Contacts, for Communicating with the Government, with International Financiers… Therefore, the discussion aims not only at exploring the issue of networking in culture but at emphasizing some concrete examples of cooperation, that give practical results valuable to culture workers and beneficial to the cultural and social community as a whole.

Find out detailed program HERE

inSEEcp - PRIMER NEFORMALNEGA POVEZOVANJA (Slovenian)

Mreža kulturnih portalov inSEEcp povezuje uredništva kulturnih portalov in vzpodbuja mednarodno kulturno sodelovanje. Mreža je rezultat delavnic in on-line aktivnosti, ki so se začele odvijati leta 2006 v Beogradu v organizaciji portala SEEcult.org in Goethe-instituta Beograd ter s podoro Pakta za stabilnost. Prva delavnica je izpostavila temo Kultura na internetu, druga leta 2007 pa temo Mreženje in sodelovanje kulturnih portalov v regiji SEE. Prva javna predstavitev mreže je bila leta 2008 v Ljubljani na mednarodni konferenci Re-Network!, ki je potekala v okviru srečanja evropskih Kulturnih stičnih točk in v organizaciji Kulturne stične točke Slovenija.

Mreža inSEEcp je danes neformalno združenje, ki povezuje portale: Zagreb: www.culturenet.hr, www.kulturpunkt.hr, www.culturelink.hr, www.knjiga.hr, www.teatar.hr; Banja Luka: www.kulporter.com; Beograd: www.seecult.org; Skopje: www.culture.in.mk, www.plagij.at; Podgorica: pro-story.org; www.startmontenegro.com; Priština: www.stacion.org; Ljubljana: www.artservis.org, www.evrokultura.org, www.radiostudent.si.

Danes se med portali vzpostavljajo sinergični učinki izmenjave informacij in skupnih projektov. Štirje člani so samostojno že izvedli projekt, podprt s strani Evropske kulturne fundacije: Let's Talk Critic Art (2009-2010). O kritičnih aspektih sodobne umetnosti (okrogle mize, intervjuji, teksti). Partnerstvo so oblikovali: SEEcult.org (Srbija), SCCA, Zavod za sodobno umetnost - Ljubljana/Artservis (Slovenija), Kulturpunkt (Hrvaška) in Forum Skopje (Makedonija). Pravkar pa poteka projekt dveh portalov in partnerskih organizacij, podprt s strani programa Kultura EU: Criticize this! Kritična diskuija o sodobni umetnosti. Partnerstvo sestavljajo: Kulturtreger in Kurziv iz Zagreba, KPZ Beton in SEEcult.org iz Beograda in Plima iz Ulcinja.

Mreža kulturnih portalov je tako tudi mreža kulturne produkcije, organizacij in umetnikov v vseh glavnih mestih, od Podgorice do Ljubljane.

inSEECp's conference covered at Labforculture

The conference Cultu(RE)gion online!_The Future Goes By!,  which took place this week in Belgrade has been covered at Labforculture portal.

'Gathered representatives of the portals for culture collected new knowledge in order to improve their work. Through sharing their professional experiences and through the workshops of social and cultural aspects of the web 2.0, but also through the practical usage of portals, blogs, social media and free software, they learned how to use social media in a better way. With presentations of existing portals for culture in SEE and through the discussions on possibilities and challenges of the art and culture in the digital era, they also promoted importance of digital culture.'

Read the whole coverage here

New inSEEcp's logo by Andrija Nikacevic

'The shape of new inSEEcp logo is based on square that presents the basic unit of the screen resolution – pixel, in that sense showing the media it represents – the web portal. At the same time, squares are associate to web windows, their interlacing and information exchange; as well as the collaboration between portals in the region.'

'By spreading the squares from the upper left to the bottom right side in different colors, this logo is geometrically placed within a certain geographical and abstract context of the region, but this dynamic form itself shows a tendency for expanding outside of the borders. With the color pallet, logo for inSEEcp presents optimism and awakens positive vibrations.'
Andrija Nikacevic, graphic designer, Belgrade

Andrija Nikacevic is respectable designer with many projects behind, his latest project was visual identity for the Octobar Salon. Nikacevic was participant of many international artist-in-residence programs, as well as jury member of design contests.

In the occasion of the conference Cultu(RE)gion online, Future Goes By!, the organizers will publish a brochure on English, German and all regional languages of the portals included.

The conference will gather about 20 portals – present and future members of the informal network, as well as representatives of many foundations, cultural centers and different targeted groups.

(RE)gion online, Future Goes By! Has been organized by SEEcult.org portal, Goethe Institute Belgrade and Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe.

More info: www.seecult.org, www.goethe.de/belgrade

CULTU(RE)GION ONLINE! FUTURE GOES BY!

The regional conference Cultu(RE)gion online! The Future Goes By, dealing with the significance of culture portals, the need to utilize the potential of Internet development and opportunities and challenges on the path towards innovative cooperation in the region will take place on 8-9 December 2008 in Belgrade. It is organized by Goethe Institute Belgrade and the Portal for Culture of South-Eastern Europe, SEEcult.org.

The conference be held in the premises of Goethe Institute in Belgrade, and it is an activity within the two-year project for development of Informal Network of Cultural Portals of South-Eastern Europe inSEEcp (Informal Network of South-East European Cultural Portals), supported by the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe.

Minister of Culture of Serbia, Nebojša Bradić, will open the conference. In addition to the representatives of some twenty cultural portals from the region, participants in the conference will be the founder of Berlinergazette.de Krystian Woznicki and one of the pioneers of net-art and lecturer Vuk Ćosić from Ljubljana, who will speak about the phenomenon of social networks on the Internet.

Representatives of local and state authorities, cultural, academic and research institutions, art associations, non-governmental organizations, foundations, media and web-magazines, as well as artists, activists and other representatives of target groups of culture portals are invited to attend and participate in the discussion.

The conference has the aim of highlighting the potential of the network of cultural portals, as a platform for innovative cooperation in the region, but will point also to the obstacles that portals, as non-profit projects, face, in view of the inadequate cultural policies in the region and on the European level. New opportunities and challenges in the areas of culture and arts will be discussed, as well. A workshop will deal with the social and cultural aspects of web 2.0, presenting practical uses of portals, blogs, social web services and free software in culture and arts.

This will also be an opportunity to add new members to inSEEcp, for the moment only from the region of former Yugoslavia. The new visual identity of inSEEcp, designed by the Belgrade graphic designer Andrija Nikačević will be promoted, as well as a booklet on inSEEcp in the original languages of the portals, as well as German and English.

Members of inSEEcp are the portals Artservis.org, Evrokultura.org and RadioStudent.si from Slovenia, Culturenet.hr, Kulturpunkt.hr, Culturelink.hr, Knjiga.hr and Teatar.hr from Croatia, Kulporter.com from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pro-story.org from Montenegro, Culture.in.mk from Macedonia and SEEcult.org from Serbia. An associated member is Stacion.org from Pristina, while Plagij.at from Macedonia, Montenegrina.net from Montenegro and Creemaginet.com from Belgrade have started the process of association.

Representatives of portals Startmontenegro.com from Montenegro and Forumskopje.com will also be among the participants of the conference.
InSEEcp is a result of workshops, meetings and on-line activities of culture portals in Southeast Europe, initiated in 2006, at the first regional meeting organized by SEEcult.org and Goethe-Institute Belgrade.
Given the importance of digital culture, common problems of culture portals in the region, and rapid technological advancement, InSEEcp was launched for the purposes of on-line and off-line advocacy and promotion of culture on the internet, facilitation of a free flow of information about the diversity of cultures in the region, exchange of experiences, and professional enhancement, with a view to supporting and furthering quality production in culture and the arts, and drawing attention of the widest possible public to such production.
At the very outset of its development, InSEEcp has gathered portals from the former Yugoslavia, and has thus formed a natural starting point for further networking in the SEE region, especially in light of related cultures and languages, and historical links of nations in the region.

The first regional workshop of culture portals, titled “Culture on the Internet / Networking Participants in the Cultural Domain in Southeast Europe through Specialized Internet Portals” was held in Belgrade, in November 2006. Representatives of German portals Signandsight.com and N-ost.de were also present at the event. A round table – “Significance of Culture Portals”, hosted during the workshop, brought together representatives of target groups of portals, and attracted undivided attention of expert and wider audiences.
Some InSEEcp members had already met each other at the round table of the Culturemondo international network, co-organized by Culturelink.hr, in Dubrovnik, in October 2006.

Concurrently with the continuation of on-line activities, the second inSEEcp regional workshop, titled “Networking and Cooperation of Culture Portals in the SEE Region”, organized by SEEcult.org and Goethe-Institute, and supported by the Stability Pact for SEE, was held in Belgrade, in December 2007. A round table “Cultural Policy and Culture on the Internet – SEE and Europe” was held within the workshop. Representatives of the German portal Perlentaucher.de and target groups participated in discussions.

InSEEcp presented itself for the first time to the international expert audience in Ljubljana, on 12 June 2008, at the “Re-Network!” conference, organized by CCP Slovenia / SCCA Ljubljana.

InSEEcp members also took part in the international round table “Intercultural Dialogue and Digital Culture”, hosted by Culturelink.hr, in Zagreb, in November 2008.

Within their two-year activities aimed at networking portals in the region, SEEcult.org and Goethe-Institute Belgrade, with the support of the Stability Pact for SEE, hosted a working meeting of inSEEcp in Belgrade, in October 2008, and also are organizing a regional conference “Cultures of the Region Online!_Future Goes By!” in Belgrade, on 8-9 December.

More information: http://www.seecult.org / http://www..goethe.de/belgrad / http://inseecp.blogspot.com
Contact: info@seecult.org / inseecp@gmail.com
Vesna Milosavljevic, vesna@seecult.org, + 381 63 214 893

Video from the Re-network! conference in Ljubljana (June, 2008)

Here is video from the Re-network! conference which took place in Ljunljana on 12th June 2008. This was the first international conference where inSEEcp presented its members and activities.

RE-NETWORK from toni poljanec on Vimeo.

Re-network! (short overview of the conference)

Re-network!

International conference on networking in the cultural sector

12 June 2008

City Hotel Ljubljana,

Dalmatinova 15, Slovenia

Short overview of the conference

The international conference dedicated to the topic of networking and stimulating transnational cooperation and free flow of information in the cultural sector hosted altogether 150 participants, mainly representatives of various international cultural networks, including ca. 50 delegates of European Cultural Contact Points.

A lively and sincere discussion involving speakers as well as the audience has reaffirmed the absolute significance of transnational networks while highlighting their specific roles as:

- »guardians« of the public domain (the power of networking is sharing),

- common platforms for identification of and discussion on relevant issues,

- »translators« (mediators) between different stakeholders,

- empowering structures (survival and self-education; visibility and recognition),

- enablers of the decentralisation of cultural industry.

In general it was stressed that culture should not be seen as a mean (illustration, decoration, PR) but as a value as such. As a concrete example of anachronistic notion of the role of culture in our society, the obsolete and unproductive category of »Ambassadors« supported within the EU Culture Programme was pointed out. This financial support should be rather used to stimulate networks and festivals which can actually enhance transnational cooperation.

Appropriate conditions on the national and regional levels as well should enable and enhance transnational cooperation through programmes stimulating mobility of cultural workers. The EU support programmes should broaden the geographical scope and substantially include the EU neighbourhood (more should be invested on future Members and regions “on the borders”).

Existing definitions related to networks are out of date and networks should adopt more innovative conceptions of operation and contemporary, synthetic approach. We should avoid thinking in paradigm of a rigid and stable structure (‘network’) but rather of a fluid and changing process (‘networking’).

Alenka Pirman, moderator
Mateja Lazar, organiser (CCP Slovenia)
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The international conference Re-network! was organised within the Informal meeting of European Cultural Contact Points (Ljubljana and Maribor, 11–14 June 2008) being one of the official events of the Slovene EU Presidency cultural programme.

Re-network! was organized by Cultural Contact Point Slovenia / SCCA, Center for Contemporary Arts-Ljubljana with a support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the European Commission (DG EAC) and Executive Agency (EACEA), Government Communication Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Slovenian EU Presidency Secretariat, CCP Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and other partners.

This conference reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Working meeting of the network

Working meeting on the theme of:
- collaboration of the network at the meeting of the Cultural Contact Points Network during the Slovene EU Presidency
- possibilities of further developments of the Informal SEE Network of Cultural Portals

Present (representatives of InSEEcp and of CCPs HR and SLO):
- Anja Jelavic (Ministry of Culture of Republic Croatia / CCP HR)
- Deborah Hustic (Ministry of Culture of Republic Croatia / Culturenet.hr)
- Dea Vidovic (Clubture Network / Kulturpunkt.hr)
- Marija Mojca Pungercar & Dusan Dovc (SCCA-Ljubljana / Artservis & Evrokultura)
- Mateja Lazar (SCCA-Ljubljana / CCP SI)

Zagreb, February 7, 2008

A. Informal SEE Network of Cultural Portals
As the follow-up of two regional workshops of cultural portals, held 2006 and 2007 in Belgrade, the SEEcult.org portal for South-east Europe culture with its partners from region continues developmental project of networking in the field of digital culture in region.

At the meeting in Zagreb, members of the network discussed the aims of the network and how to start expanding the network by including portals from different SEE countries (1st stage: in the region of ex-YU countries).

The members agreed that first steps should be taken as follows:

Network
- to define ways of a formal operating of the network
- to review the statement of the network
- to describe the history of the network
- to review short descriptions of all members portals
- to prepare some questions for editors (politics, langugae, finances) in order to get similar descriptions of cultural portals
- to research culture on-line in BiH, Montenegro, Macedonia in order to detect possible new partners/members

The blog
- to start working on the inSEEcp blog
- to prepare links to network members
- to provide a domain for the blog
- to start organizing different contents for the blog (e.g. rubrics for cultural policies) and to search for interesting themes for the articles
- to prepare an article / editorial comment from the perspective of language (which language is used by different cultural portal) in the light of promoting multilingualism in Europe

Fundraising
- to prepare a project proposal for the ECF open call, deadline April 1, 2008

B. Meeting of the CCP Network during the Slovene EU Presidency

Mateja Lazar (responsible for the CCP SLO) presented the program of the CCP meeting (to be held in Ljubljana on June 12-14) including also a public conference dealing with the subject of networking in the cultural sector with a special emphasis on cultural cooperation between the EU and SEE region. This public event will be organized as a moderated discussion with guest speakers and panelists, aamong them two representatives of the Informal SEE Network of Cultural Portals.

Re-network!
International conference on networking in the cultural sector and stimulating transnational cooperation and free flow of information

In the light of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 (EYID), the meeting will focus on intercultural dialogue between the EU and South East Europe (SEE). The SEE region is an integral part of the Slovene orientation not only due to its historical and geographical links but also especially in the light of further enlargements of the European Union. On practical level, the meeting will be structured around the topic of fostering the networking and information flow between different arts and culture stakeholders in the EU and SEE region.

The international conference entitled Re-network! will be dedicated to the topic of networking seen as an indispensable prerequisite stimulating free flow of information and transnational cultural cooperation. Networking in arts and culture has had a long tradition in Europe and there is hardly any professional organisation that is not a member of at least one international network. However, networks as well are facing radical changes affecting cultural industries: new technologies enabling free flow of works and information, audience being transformed into active users… It seems that the only problem to be solved remains free flow of persons, i.e. transnational mobility of people working in the cultural sector.

With the special emphasis put on the intercultural dialogue between the EU and SEE the conference’s aim is to find out how “old” and “new” cultural networks respond to these circumstances and how they manage the problem of free flow of information especially if relevant to transnational cooperation.

The conference (public panel) will focus on the political and cultural context of developing and enabling cultural networks as a link between local, national and international cultural milieu.



(Text by Dusan Dovc: SCCA-Ljubljana / Evrokultura)

Follow-up

The second Regional workshop of cultural portals, Belgrade 2007

Magacin Culture Centre, Kraljevica Marka 4



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 (Artservis.org and Evrokultura.org, Slovenia, Culturenet.hr and Kulturpunkt.hr, Croatia, and SEEcult.org Serbia), was also Anja Seeliger, founding member of from Perlentaucher.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. Also was talking on possibilities for exchange of contents (writing, translating, publishing…at least one text monthly on actual cultural politics or related specific themes), as well as about possibility to establish a network for training new young collaborators (writers, editors… as inSEEcp’s internship program) etc.



Beside some organizational issues, like establishing rotating coordination, the workshop was dedicated to some concrete joint projects and among the conclusion of the workshop is to create inSEEcp’s blog on some of free services (like Blogger.com), where should be posted the Network’s manifesto, as well as data base on forming the network and its founding members, cultural policy in respective countries in the region regarding culture on internet and other related topics. In 2008 are also planed monthly features on themes of common interests,



SEEcult.org announced the third workshop in Belgrade until the end of 2008, which should bring together all participants from the first workshop, as well as new potential members from the region. Due to lack of money - not only for joint actions, but also for individual portal’s activities, the participants concluded that there is necessity for extra fund that will enable further networking, which is also one of the main tasks of coordination team.





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 respective countries, which again attracted significant interest of public, as well as print, electronic and Internet media.





All photos in this post by Tihomir Stojanovic, http://creemaginet.com/ (c)



(Text by Vesna Milosavljevic, SEEcult.org)

The inSEEcp’s History

The Informal Network of South-East European Cultural Portals - inSEEcp was 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, Serbia and Slovenia).

The workshop “Culture on the Internet / Networking Participants in the Cultural Domain in South-East Europe through Specialized Internet Portals”, was the first initiative of that kind in the region, 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.
(Text by Vesna Milosavljevic, SEEcult.org)