International Conference of informal cultural organizations and initiatives, 1-3 October 2010, Ohrid, Macedonia

On October 1-3, 2010, an International conference of informal cultural organizations and initiatives was held in Ohrid, Macedonia. The conference was the final activity of project "Non-Institutional Partakers of Cultural Policy in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia", funded by the European Cultural Foundation and implemented in partnership between the Committee for Civic Initiatives from Niš, Serbia, as the lead partner, the independent artistic association “Remont” from Belgrade, Serbia, the Contemporary Art Centre from Skoplje, Macedonia and Expeditio from Kotor, Montenegro. In Montenegro, this initiative was conducted as part of the SOSTENUTO project.

The project had a three-fold aim:
a) to examine the capacities of key cultural policy partakers in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia who act outside the system of public/state cultural institutions;
b) to map and assess the strength of these independent culture scenes, and
c) begin the process of an operative/tactical networking of cultural policy partakers at the national and regional levels.

The conference brought together representatives of over 50 NGOs, independent cultural associations and initiatives in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, as well as of some official cultural institutions in these countries.

The conference presented the results of a study aimed at researching the capacity of key partakers of the independent cultural scenes in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, which had been conducted in the previous period.

The conference in Ohrid focused on discussions related to the third aim of the project, i.e. possibility for operative/tactical networking of cultural policy partakers at the national and regional levels for the purpose of exchanging cultural programmes, jointly applying for international funds, strengthening the capacity of the independent cultural scene and increasing its influence on cultural policy decision makers at the national and local levels.

The conference was attended by 10 representatives of Montenegrin independent cultural scene.

------------------------------