Following the previous experience (Krakow – 1994, Tatihou – 1997, Lille – 1998, Paris – 2000, Belgrade – 2001, Oulu - 2002, Brussels - 2005 we announce the 9th meeting of ORACLE members to be held in Ohrid, Macedonia.



WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

As the region of South East Europe again becomes focus for EU integrative processes, we consider important to support cultural managers and operators from the region, providing good practices, skills and space for intercultural cooperation.

The Seminar programme aims to deepen the knowledge and improve the management skills of professionals who are developing cultural projects at regional and European levels. The Seminar provides room for exchange of ideas and experiences and gives the participants the expertise needed for a mobile and creative cultural workforce in Europe.

The participants of the Seminar are working on co-operative and innovative projects in the cultural and artistic fields. The Seminar comprises working sessions, workshops, case studies and cultural visits allowing the participants to analyze and understand the cultural policies of the hosting regions and countries.

The evolution of Europe - with the opening of the European Union -, and the necessity to develop fruitful cultural co-operation, between regions of Europe, especially in the frame of East-West relationship implies the development of strong cultural identities ready to share, to exchange and the necessity to take into account new intercultural skills.

We have good reasons to believe that the Oracle Network is an important - even if limited in size – step on that direction.

We also know it will be fruitful, not only to the cultural managers who are members of the Oracle Network, but also to cultural project leaders of the host country, in helping them to open the scope of their cross-fertilization possibilities. SEMINAR PROGRAMME

THURSDAY, 07. SEPTEMBAR

• 07h-16h Arrival of the participants - Skopje Meeting point: NGO Kontrapunkt office, Antonije Grubisic 6 (near caffe bar "Deus")
• 11h-15h visit tour for ‘early birds’: Children Theatre center + Youth Cultural center+ Mala Stanica center+PAC Multimedia
• 15-17h mini bus shuttles to Ohrid
• 18-19.30h accomodation at Hotel Belvedere Registration of participants (please bring your PR materials, brochures, leaflets)
• 20h openning Memory House "Gligor Prlicev" - Ohrid
  
  Welcoming adresses by:
  
  • Robert Alagjozovski, Oracle president
  • H.E. Mr. Erwan Fouéré, EU Special representative, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission -Spirko Nikoloski, deputy to the Mayor of the city of Ohrid
  • Jean-Pierre Deru, Marcel Hicter Fondation director
• 20.30h cocktail
• 21.30h free evening downtown

FRIDAY, 08. SEPTEMBAR
House of Culture - Ohrid

• 9.30 -10.30h introduction of participants
• 10.30 - 11.15h Seminar Focus -Sustainable development Presentation on the current Oracle project: SUS.DIV – Sustainable Development in a Diverse World, New forms of citizenship and cultural identities (2005 – 2010), by Ljiljana Simic-Deru
  Papers are a main output of SUS.DIV. They are of three types.
  
  • 1. Position Papers provide a state-of-the art of research in each Research Task and Structuring Action Line.
    On the basis of the state-of-the-art, they position briefly the research strategy to be implemented in the future. There is no common format in the drawing up of the Position Papers. Each addresses the issues that are specific to its thematic area of concern. This choice comes from the need to preserve SUS.DIV multidisciplinary approach to cultural diversity.
    At a minimum, however, all Position Papers include the following:
    a. Core concepts;
    b. Key literature review;
    c. An outline of future research activities.
    
    
  • 2. Strategic Papers follow from the Position Papers. They provide details of the research that each Research Task and Structuring Action Line intends to carry out in their own area of concern. Each Strategic Paper is a programme of future research activities. They are forward-looking and represent the ground for the scientific development of SUS.DIV, also as concerns the self-sustainement of the Network.
  • 3. Research Papers represent the third step of SUS.DIV effort towards sustainable development in a diverse world. They are research outputs summarising the main results of the networking and research endeavours carried out within each Research and Structuring Action Line. They are of high quality and ready for publication.
    Each Research Task and Structuring Action Line produce its own Papers along the in-phase-structure summarised above. SUS.DIV papers are now downloadable free of charge from the download page. Our dissemination strategy foresees also their publication in FEEM Working Papers Series. Link to FEEM Working Papers Series! http://www.ebos.com.cy/susdiv/
• 11.15-12.00h Best practice presentation: "Sustainable diversity", Accert, Tondela, Portugal, by Miguel Torres
• 12. - 12.30h Coffee break
• 12.30 - 13.30 Challenges to the Macedonian multicultural model, by Robert Alagjozovski
  Many things related to the Macedonian multicultural model remain unclear, insufficiently developed, and dysfunctional, as part of the national policy and strategy. This is so because multiculturalism in Macedonia represents a “relic” of competitive nationalisms and their nightmares. They have led to political transformation of the country into a consocial democracy; this originally caused ethnic pacification of the country, but due to the low quality of the young democracy, it may be dangerous in future to walk on the thin line regarding its stability and efficiency. In order to avoid such trends that may ultimately lead to a fatal division of the country along ethnic borders, huge and comprehensive implementation is needed of the multicultural model as the necessary means of correction, but also as a laxative of the recently introduced consocial model.
• 13.30 - 15.00h Lunch break
• 15.00.-16.00h Best practice presentation: PublicArtlab, Berlin Mobile Studios - a nomadic multimedia platform, by Susa Pop
  Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest, Sofia and Gdansk From April to May 2006 the Mobile Studios have been traveling as a nomadic multimedia platform from Belgrade to Bratislava, Budapest, Sofia and possessed temporarily the urban spaces in these cities. Together with the curatorial partner institutions Remont in Belgrade, 13kubikov in Bratislava, A38 in Budapest and Interspace, brainstoreproject and the Goethe-Institute in Sofa the curatorial programme was developed and produced. In Gdansk the Mobile Webcast Studio has been in digital exchange with the nomadic community of Mobile Studios during their journey.
  Challenging Walls
  project by Ruthe Zuntz, Michael Reitz - Walkscreen, Berlin A wall – a nine meters solid concrete more than twice as high as the Berlin Wall – is what Israel has built between its own land and Palestine territories. It is meant to be a safety device, to stop terrorists from entering Israel. But it also does what walls do by definition – it indiscriminately locks out people and prevents every day contact between the two peoples. It will lead to the separation and estrangement of two peoples who used to be bound through century-long interdependency.
  
  This project is envisaged to bring over 200 hundred diverse individuals: artists/creative thinkers, intellectuals, philosophers, historians, sociologists, psychologists, human rights advocates, social workers, media, researchers, students and citizens. A series of art exhibitions along the wall will be organized alongside a large-scale conference in Jerusalem and workshops that will engage the expertise and experiences of the participants to address the concerns emanating from the existence of the “wall” . “CW ” will use the separating barrier itself as a silver screen, thus making the wall transparent: projecting the pictures of Israelis on the Palestinian side, and Palestinian life on the Israeli side. Thus, the “abstract enemy on the other side” will be dissolved into personal, human portraits that will help both people to understand that their lives are in fact mirror images of each other.
  
  
• 16.00.-17.00h Sustainable Development: follow up discussion
• 17.00- 17.30h Coffee break
• 17.30 – 19.30h innovative cultural practices: local models -NGO Kontrapunkt, Skopje by Iskra Geshoska, -Lokomotiva, Skopje, by Biljana Tanurovska & Iskra Shukarova
  
  Lokomotiva is an NGO created in 2003 by three women- two artists and one manager/producer that were active as individual creators in the arts and culture. They founded the organization with aim to establish a platform in the country and wider region that informs, educates, promotes, fosters and mobilizes authors, creators, performers, cultural producers; an forum where they can receive and exchange information, discuss, share experiences, ideas and knowledge, and articulate them into new creations -innovative, independent cultural activities that will provoke social and cultural developmental changes.
  
  All programmes are structured to be interactive, focusing on new tendencies and supporting new initiatives in the arts and culture.
  
  In the past years they sustained their work by developing partnerships on local and regional level. They have focused their work in development of contemporary dance scene in the past years, but also addressing the needs in other domains. Lokomotiva has developed nearly thirty projects as part of the programmes www.lokomotiva.org.mk. Their recent interest is to influence cultural policy changes and system in which contemporary arts is operating through collaborative projects on regional and local level. Recent such project they are developing is Nomadic Dance Academy, a collaborative project of Balkan Dance Network.
  
  -CKD (MKC, CKI), Bitola, by Toshe Ivanovski
• 20h mini audit
  
  -Center for Culture Ohrid
  -Balkan summer academy for performing arts (by NGO Mediaartes-Ohrid and M.A.P.A. -Amsterdam)
  
• 21h dinner Restaurant ‘Kaj Cetkarot’ (Ohrid main square)

SATURDAY, 09. SEPTEMBER

• 9 - 12h Oracle General Assembly
  Oracle – the Phoenix nature of the European cultural networking - presentation of Oracle new launch experience (by board members) Discussion on future models of operation
• 12.-14.00h Seminar Focus
  -New Challenges for Diversity: Integrating South East Europe panel discussion (speakers: Biljana Tanurovska, Tamara Jokovic, Miroslav Karic, Robert Alagjozovski)
• 14.00 - 1530h Lunch
• 15.30 16.30h Seminar Focus -New EU Programme on Culture 2007-2013 (Introduction by Ana Dusa, CCP Slovenia)
• 16.30h-17.30h Innovative cultural practices - Project "Ittaca", Belgium, by Frédéric Jacquemin
  
  You are a cultural manager. You are a creative cultural manager. You have a project, you are a project manager. You also organize seminars for cultural managers. You make videos from the seminars you organized. You put a seminar when you present a project, you make projects with people you met in seminars. You are also a consultant. You consult projects for people that attend your seminars. You belong to a pool of consultants that make movies about their seminars. You are editor of a cultural publication. You walk in the corridors of congress venues to interview people and ask if they want to publish in your publication. You make DVD also. You make DVD with video of seminar people. You insert DVD in your publication. You want your readers to see your DVD, you want your seminar people to read your texts, you invite those who write in your publication to come to your seminars. You do interviews with people you meet, you do interviews with people you would like to meet, you tell the people you meet about your publications and DVDs and seminars. You become gently schizophrenic. You understand the context.
  Freely adapted from D.Lodge,D.Lesage and H. Miller.
  
  -Presentation of the project "The stage is yours" (KD Priden Mozic), by Goran Zavrsnik and Ana Dusa
  
  "With the project we try to connect "local youth with no future", as they are often referred to as, with the work we do on cultural field in Kamnik"…
  
  - Remont, Belgrade, by Miroslav Karic
  
  Remont – the independent art association was founded in October 1999 as an active and dynamic organization whose mission is to establish new professional standards and the popularization of contemporary art in Serbia.
  Since the very beginning the work of the organization has been marked with the initiating and participating in great number of art and cultural projects at the local as well as at the regional and European cultural scene.
  Remont distinguishes itself in its engagement due to the support it gives to the creators belonging to the younger generation. Above all, this reflects itself on the program of the gallery activities, but it also reflects itself as the presence of young artists, critics, authors, art professionals in the magazine published by this association since the year 2000.
  As an addition to the uniqueness of Remont engagement is our activity in the field of the decentralization of the Serbian cultural map, which we realized through the connection with the close initiatives from the inner part of Serbia, activating their potentials involving them in cooperative projects.
  I would especially emphasize the readiness of the people who are permanently involved in the realization of the activity and the projects in Remont to improve their knowledge, professionalism, and skillfulness at the leading of the program, which by now they have realized by having taken part in the numerous workshops and training programs for the management programs (European Diploma in cultural project management, Looking Inside Program, Kultura Nova Program, Gulliver Connect Program...).
  Last year, the continuity of the work of Remont – the independent art association had been doubted because of the finances and for the first time within the 7 year existence serious examination what to do and how to go on after two big projects which we should realize till June 2006. The decision was to close Remont and to start a new story from the beginning. We created a new project called “the finishing of the work October the 1st 2006.” which would through a series of the lectures, round tables, big exhibitions and serious studies with the topic “sustainability”, i.e. the expiry date of one NGO” should be dealing with the position and meaning of the work of the organizations which have main activities in the field of contemporary cultural production…
  Actually we are somewhere in between these two fields from one side is art field what is our natural environment (we are art historians, curators, gallerists, art journalists) and from the other side is field of cultural management, cultural policy in which we are also swimming…We want to use advantage of that position to use in right way skills and knowledge that we have from both sides, to see in what way we can use this combination and to create on that new profile And identity for Remont…
  
• 17.30h transfer to Ohrid old part (St. Jovan Kaneo) by boat
• 18.00h Sightseeing walk around the old town core
• 21h – intercultural dinner and farewell party (please bring your national food and drinks with you)

SUNDAY, 10. SEPTEMBER

• 8.30h departure to Struga
• 9h visit of Struga poetry evenings memory park, Crni Drim river springs out of the lake
• 9.30h study visit to Struga House of Culture, with Biljana Jakimoska
• 11 h departure to Skopje or elsewhere