CONTENT  |  TOPICS  |   FORMAT

European Capital of Culture – 2020 and Beyond

Key issues: How the European Capital of Culture developed from the beginning and what are the prospects from 2020 onwards? Experiences form previous and current ECoC: the best and worst practices and models of ECoC. What is the role of civil society participation in the process of planning, implementing and follow-up the ECoC project? How to make sure that the ECoC is a sustainable long term project, also after the ECoC year? How to ensure that political short term objectives do not undermine the participation of independent cultural scene in the European Capital of Culture process?

Depolitization of Culture / The role of citizens

Key issues: Is it a strong partisan “system of values” deeply embedded into institutions in Serbia, which often results in putting particularistic interests on top and carelessly disregard professional competence and expertise? Certain key positions are allocated without a clear strategy, mostly on the basis of distribution of political power, and rarely on the basis of knowledge and experience. As a result of this tendency corruption is wide spreading, Governmental NGO’s are appearing only to reveal the illusion of democracy and transparency where the role of citizens in these processes is being minimized if not neglected. How can civil society sector become a more relevant and important player in the decision making processes and in creation of new strategies? Is culture just a tool for short term political interests to promote their own agendas? Is a separation of the leadership of over 700 public institutions in Serbia, in particular cultural institutions, from the political party’s distribution of power, feasible? These questions have never been publicly raised. The purpose of this panel is to explore the current state, throw a light on a very complex issue, and possibly map potential solutions. Representatives of the civil society sector, together with representatives from EP with local and regional cultural actors, will take active part in dealing with this sensitive issue.  These representatives will make an effort to find the best models from the EU and beyond, which could be suitable for implementationin the SEE region.

New Horizons – Culture and Business

Key issues: How should the business and culture sectors cooperate for the socio-economic development of society beyond sponsorship and creative industries? How can effective and sustainable “cross-sector social responsibility” be implemented? How can the public sector be included in this endeavor? What are the “best practices” and models of implementation that can be applied in Serbia and in the region?