ECUMEST on-the-move
A series of changes took place within the ECUMEST team starting with
June 2006. Oana Radu is currently programs coordinator of the Romanian
Cultural Institute in New York. Oana Radu will continue to participate
to the ECUMEST projects as an expert, taking part in its executive board,
as member of the association. Aura Corbeanu withdrew from the position
of executive director of ECUMEST at the beginning of June, remaining one
of the founding members of the association. Stefania Ferchedau is currently
securing the overall coordination of the ECUMEST programs, from the position
of executive director. As always, ECUMEST will continute to work with
many other collaborators for its ongoing projects.
In the following months, ECUMEST will increasingly shape as a network,
exchange platform, resource of information and coordinator of studies
and researches in the fields of expertise developed in the past years.
The Policies for Culture programme, the e-bulletin, the other online publications,
consultancy in the fields of fundraising, mobility, training in cultural
cooperation and accompaniment to the artistic sector will continue to
represent central activities of the association. We are counting on the
support, collaboration and the ideas of all those being part of the ECUMEST
network in Romania and abroad.
Projects, studies, publications
Following the training sessions organised starting with 2005, ECUMEST
proposes for the end of August a new seminar open to Romanian cultural
operators focusing on the theme Culture and local developement: the
artist and the strategic project of the cultural organisation. The
session will be held in Bucharest by Corina Suteu & Saviana Stanescu,
in the framework of a project funded by the National Cultural Fund, whose
first phase took place earlier this May. As a result of the training seminars
organised throughout this year, ECUMEST will prepare an information and
training publication in the field of cooperation and of cultural management,
which will include part of the case studies presented in the frame of
these sessions. The booklet will be available by the end of 2006. More
details are available in Romanian at www.ecumest.ro.
Together with the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam) - as initiator
and coordinator - , Interarts Foundation (Barcelona) and SEE TV Exchanges
(Brussels), ECUMEST is part of the project Active Citizens - Local
Cultures - European Politics. Guide to Civic Participation in Cultural
Policy-Making for European Cities. The project aims at collecting,
analysing and disseminating evidence in the field of participative cultural
policymaking in Europe. The planned activities include an inquiry and
analysis of relevant practices, a working meeting of experts and practitioners
in the field, the production and distribution of a TV programme and the
production and dissemination of a guidebook. Results of the projects developed
in the frame of the Policies for Culture programme will represent the
focus of these materials, with Timisoara (RO), Zagreb (HR) and Zilina
(SK) providing some of the background case studies. ECUMEST will coordinate
the realisation of the guidebook resulting at the end of this process.
The project is supported by the European Commission in the framework of
the programme for the 'Promotion of Active European Citizenship' and runs
between mid 2006 and mid 2007.
Following its participation to the process launched by the Berlin Conference
for European Cultural Policy (November 2004), ECUMEST together with AltArt
(Cluj) will develop in collaboration with 'A Soul for Europe' initiative
(Berlin) and in partnership with CULT.BG Foundation (Sofia) the project
Culture for Structural Development. The project aims at advocating
culture as an agent of regional development in South East Europe and including
it more strongly in EU policies, particularly in regional policies. The
initiators intend to offer a platform of encounter and common reflection
for a series of organisations active in the field of contemporary arts
in SEE that would work as a think tank in a process of reflection, self-evaluation
and critical analysis on the societal impact of their work. The results
of this research and exchange process (to be undertaken over one-year
period between 2006-2007) will be translated into policy recommendations,
with the view to prove that culture - as illustrated by ongoing local
projects in SEE - has a structural and strategic role in regional development,
as well as for the EU policies. A development meeting inviting several
SEE organisations and to which a series of MEP and members of 'A Soul
for Europe' initiative will participate will be organised in Rousse (Bulgaria)
on September 16-18, benefiting from the support of the Bulgarian Ministry
of European Affairs. The overall coordination of the project is secured
by the AltArt Foundation.
In the frame of the project From cultural diplomacy to cultural relations
- the role of cultural agencies in the European integration process,
ECUMEST is currently carrying out an applied research on the institutional
structure, functioning, and policy of the cultural diplomacy and cultural
cooperation agencies of the CEE countries. The study, which will be released
by the end of 2006, aims to also identify whether specific policies are
designed and action taken with regard to the EU integration objective.
The research benefits from the support of the European Cultural Foundation
(Amsterdam).
ECUMEST has finalised the distribution of the French edition of the Short
guide to the Romanian cultural sector today, published in April 2006
with the support of the the French Embassy in Romania, the Romanian Cultural
Institute and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - General Commissariat for
the Francophonie, under the title "Guide du secteur culturel roumain.
Un panorama en faveur de la coopération culturelle". The book
was distributed free of charge at an international scale to a large number
of cultural organisations, mainly from the francophone space. The updated
English edition will be launched in autumn 2006, still with the support
of the Romanian Cultural Institute.
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