amateocomms Arts Take Part, Courses & Conferences

Highlights: Amateo annual Conference & Award, Novi Sad 2019

Amateur Art Association of Vojvodina had the honour to host the 11th annual Amateo conference, in Novi Sad, from 07-08. June 2019. In the year when the city of Novi Sad is the European capital of Youth, attendees had the chance to open many questions and to share many good examples.

Bridges of Creativity “Amateur Arts & Youths in intercultural society”

The first day of the conference – after the inspirational keynote of Amateo president Susan Fazakerley – we had an opportunity to hear about the current climate for amateur arts and engagement with youth in Serbia, Netherlands and Slovenia, to listen to live singing presentation of multi traditional music which erase boundaries and finally, to hear about intercultural education and intercultural learning with the aim of overcoming national and all other barriers in multicultural societies with engaging youth in cultural projects. 

The second day was dedicated to good practice examples, where we heard about different projects from Netherlands, Germany, Serbia, recently initiated Amateo pioneer projects and how two titles (European Youth Capital 2019 and European Capital of Culture 2021) are helping youth from Novi Sad to participate in cultural activities and expand the voluntary service. Last, but not least, there was an interesting workshop where we found out more about our differences, similarities and prejudices.

Serbia’s regional broadcaster, RT Vojvodina, featured the Bridges of Creativity conference, telling their audience about the importance of amateur arts in their news broadcasts. Watch the clip and read the news article here.

In the beautiful venue of Vojvodina Government building, while we were watching and listening wonderful music performance, we realised how many different cultures live together in Serbia and the province of Vojvodina. The Amateo Award finalists from Serbia, Northern Ireland, Austria, Belgium and The Netherlands were all represented and the winner of Amateo Award 2019 was announced!

Snežana Sedlar, Vice President of the Assembly of Autonomius Province of Vojvodina, opened the Award ceremony, together with Susan Fazakerley, president of Amateo and Savo Mucibabic, Amateur Art Association of Vojvodina secretary. Watch the clip and read the news article here.

There are many more photos you can see on the Amateo Facebook page and some videos of musical performances from ceremony on the Amateo YouTube channel.

You can also view some of the presentations from conference:

Many more articles and extended presentations from the conference, on the theme “Amateur arts, Youth and Interculturalism” will be available to read in the upcoming book – co-published by Amateo, Cultural centre of Vojvodina “Milos Crnjanski” and Amateur Art Association of Vojvodina – later this year. One more great outcome of this Amateo event!

amateocomms Amateo Members

JSKD – Slovenia

AMATEO MEMBER:
JAVNI SKLAD REPUBLIKE SLOVENIJE ZA KULTURNE DEJAVNOSTI / REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA PUBLIC FUND FOR CULTURAL ACTIVITIES (JSKD)

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Member country: Slovenia
Contact person: Jan Pirnat, project manager

Who? JSKD is a state umbrella organization for amateur culture in Slovenia. The nationwide network was established in 1998. In Slovenia there are approximately 5000 cultural societies, associations and groups, which reunite over 100.000 adult members engaged in cultural activities. The headquarters with an expert unit and 59 regional branch offices (all over Slovenia) are enabling multi directional interaction between cultural societies, local communities and public institutions. The spatial dispersion and integration into the local environment are key to balanced development and crucial for networking on the regional, national and international level.

What? JSKD supervises the implementation of the national cultural program for various activities ranging from vocal and instrumental music, theater and puppets, folklore, dance and film to visual art and literary activity. 

Work also includes cultural education and introduction of new practices. In addition, JSKD carries out the procedures for co-financing of amateur cultural programs and projects, organizes events (festivals, competitions, concerts, exhibitions, etc.) and publishes professional literature (books, magazines, music collections, …) covering all topics of creativity in amateur art. 

The majority of the programs are carried out through a pyramid scheme (local, regional and state level) – systematic selection that promotes qualitative development. Groups that are selected for the state level are invited to national festivals, competitions, exhibitions. 

JSKD also provides advocacy for active participation in culture and is one of two main organisers of Week of Amateur Culture. WAC seeks to create greater accessibility and mobility of cultural assets. The openness of the creative space can be seen in the interaction of amateurs and professionals, who make significant contributions to the creation of amateur culture. 

Why join Amateo? JSKD was one of the founding members of Amateo network. Behind the network start up was an idea of sharing ideas and promoting active participation in culture on an international scale. 

On the international level JSKD cooperates with other national organizations in various EU programs and projects. It is also a member of numerous international professional organizations and networks dealing with amateur culture.

Importance of international connections? Connecting with partners in international projects and networks grants partners but also participants in countries where the member organisations are working the access to information that helps to develop their full creative potential.

Future hopes? Our hopes for the Amateo network are that the network will grow not only in numbers but it will also develop in an idea hub and platform for information flow and flow of projects and participants, volunteers and groups between EU countries.

Interested in joining Amateo’s European network? Find out more!

amateocomms Arts Take Part, Pioneer Projects

ATP Pioneer Projects

Members of the pioneer grant jury Inga Remeta and Amateo President, Suzan Fazakerley have selected three project plans for a Pioneer Project grant from Amateo:

  • FanfaKids X Brassbandschool
  • Hidden Tracks
  • Meeting Unknown

All three projects were created as a result of new connections that were made at CONNECT2019 in Narva, Estonia, in March 2019.

Granted projects:

FANFAKIDS X BRASSBANDSCHOOL

Partners: Centrum West-D’Broej and Met-X Moving Music from Brussels, Belgium and Brassbandschool from Rotterdam, Netherlands

Description of the project:

The first part of the project has already been successfully realised. Seven FanfaKids have visited Rotterdam for two days. On 8th and 9th of June BBS organised a Brassbandbattle during the Festival “WereldsDelfshaven” for young players. Fanfakids joined the battle on Saturday.

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The second part of the project will take part from 1st till 3rd of August 2019. Seven BBS players will come to Belgium and together with seven players from FanfaKids will make a performance in four days, guided by teachers from both organisations. On the last day, 3rd of August, these two groups will perform together in Brussels at the big Belgian festival – Reggae Geel.

HIDDEN TRACKS

Partners: Post Bellum and The House of Children and Youth from Prague, Czech Republic; G.O. Tallinn Music College from Tallinn, Estonia, and Das Letzte Kleinod from Schiffdorf, Germany

Description of the project:

In the project “Hidden Tracks”, young people from different countries will look for traditional music and songs that are likely to disappear. Through interviews and meeting different groups of people (older people, folklore dance or song groups, elderly family members and others) the young people will collect “old” songs and develop their own interpretation of traditional music through the means of theatre. The cultures will mix, they will find similarities and differences. Through this project the forgotten melodies will be revived in a new way that corresponds to youngsters of today.

The youngsters will start working in their own countries and then meet all together to create a common performance in Germany. Later the performance should be presented in all the countries who are involved (Czech Republic, Estonia). The youngsters will be accompanied by professional musicians, theatre pedagogues, a dancer and an actress.

MEETING UNKNOWN

Partners: Post Bellum and The House of Children and Youth from Prague, Czech Republic and Centrum West-D’Broej and Met-X Moving Music from Brussels, Belgium

Description of the project:

A cultural exchange between Belgian and Czech students for children who are already active in extracurricular theatre and music programmes. During their visit, participants will learn about the cultural and social backgrounds of the children in the other organisation and actively engage in a workshop led by local theatre and music lecturers together with the local children, with the goal of making a documentary performance about their meeting.

Five Czech students from Prague, in the Czech Republic will visit five Fanfakids from Belgium (ten 11-13 year old children altogether) for five days and create a performance called “Meeting Unknown” accompanied by four teachers (two Czech and two Belgian). The performance will be presented and recorded locally in Belgium before being shown in Prague to a Czech audience.

Subsequently, in 2020, five Fanfakids from Belgium will visit the Czech students and create another documentary theatre performance, this time about the farewell, named “Goodbye Known.”

The Arts Take Part Pioneer Project team will continue to collect and share information about the pioneering projects using a monitoring format. Check back here for updates or follow Amateo on Facebook and Twitter.

amateocomms Courses & Conferences

Bridges of CREATIVITY

Save the date for our eleventh Amateo Annual Conference – Bridges of CREATIVITY, Amateur arts and Youth in intercultural society!

Serbia, Novi Sad, 07-08. June 2019!

About the conference

Thinking about culture always leads to thinking about the relationship between cultures or their interaction. This interaction involves the presence of mutual interest, acceptance and respect, exchanging experiences between cultures and dialogue at different levels, from local to international. Is that precisely the essence of an intercultural society?

Inter-culture means the possibility of confronting ideas, which presupposes a change in the way of thinking, and as such is based on the idea of a better and more humane society and the future in which racism and all forms of discrimination will be eliminated.

This phenomenon is of particular concern to young people – those to whom European integration enabled mobility and much more frequent encounters with other cultures, through the prism of active participation in culture.

How tolerant are young people towards others who are different and is the amateur art a bridge that connects them?

These and other issues will be addressed by experts from different fields of culture and will be an opportunity to get acquainted with examples of good practice from Serbia and Europe.

Welcome!

Event hosted by:
Amateo – European Network for Active Participation in Culture
Amateur Art Association of Vojvodina
Cultural center of Vojvodina „Milos Crnjanski“ and
The Assembly and Government of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina

Conference venue:  Great Hall, Assembly of AP Vojvodina, Novi Sad

Check out the conference programme  and register your place (see registration form for details).

Sign up is open until 1st June 2019.

** All Amateo network members can attend the conference for free. **
New members can join Amateo here. The participation fee for non – Amateo members, for the two-day Amateo conference is € 40.00. 

Please note hotel and transportation are not included with registration fees.

Travel & Accomodation

If you need our help concerning your accommodation and transportation to the conference, please fill in the questionnaire.

For more information, please contact:
Milka Salatić,  +381640043051, savezamv@gmail.com

 

amateocomms Amateo Members, Arts Take Part

HSK – Croatia

AMATEO MEMBER:
Hrvatski sabor kulture / Croatian Cultural Association

Member country: Croatia
Contact person: Valentina Dačnik, Head of dance department

Who? The Croatian Cultural Association is umbrella organisation of amateur arts in Croatia and it is also a non-governmental organization that provides for amateur culture. We are working on our mission to be a strong network of 21 county cultural associations with the goal of development and preservation of Croatian amateur arts and Croatian national and cultural identity.

What? Our programme activities are:

  • Organisation of lectures, courses and seminars for advanced professional training and competence
  • Publishing activities (printing winning compositions and publication of two specialised series: Croatian Folk Costumes and Croatian Folk Dances
  • Stimulating domestic music creativity (competitions for new compositions)
  • Organising manifestations at the state level for presentation and evaluation of the best accomplishments in amateur artistic creativity (encounters and festivals of choirs, small vocal groups, wind and tamburitza orchestras, folklore, dance and theatre ensembles, literary and art groups)
  • Ongoing professional and organisational help to individual members
  • Selecting choirs, orchestras, folklore, dance and theatre ensembles for participation at international festivals

Why join Amateo? To grow our organisation internationally and to provide artistic and educational exchanges of groups and professionals for our members

Importance of international connections? HSK is a member and in co-operation with many similar European cultural associations and networks. It is very important to gain new knowledge, experiences and to get to know new people, methods and best practices.

Future hopes? That people understand the power and the benefits of amateur culture for everybody.

amateocomms Amateo Members, Arts Take Part

Consulta Periferie Milano

Amateo Member: Consulta Periferie Milano

Italy

Member country: Italy
Contact person: Giorgio Bacchiega

My name is Giorgio Bacchiega and I’m lecturer at the Catholic University of Milan, Director of the Milan’s Urban Peripheries Research Centre for Consulta Periferie Milano and member of the Research and documentation team for Amateo.

Who is Consulta Periferie Milano?

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Consulta Periferie Milano is a network-centric platform (formally a second-level association of undertakings or association of associations of undertakings) formed by 36 cultural, charity, trade, visual and performing arts organisations, cultural centres and local newspapers active in the peripheries of Milan with the purpose of drawing constant attention and find original solutions to the problems of the multifaceted peripheral landscape of Milan in cooperation with academic, political and societal forces.

What does the platform do?

During its first 13 years, CPM has established itself as a working method, operating through the sharing of initiatives and fostering unexpected connections among a wide range of sectors. Its current activities include:

• Elaborating a cartography of all the resources located in the peripheries and devising strategies to make them interact and work together with a shared vision. The map currently gathers, among the more numerous strategic categories CPM has attempted to investigate so far, 109 professional and, especially, amateur theatres, 168 cultural associations and centres and 87 amateur choirs.

• Creating the conditions eventually leading to a consistent development of amateur cultural activities. This goal has led CPM to sharing projects with more than 150 associations based in the peripheries up until now.

• Fostering the establishment of an alternative cultural system that nowadays, just in the field of music, embraces every year around 100 concerts with free admission, taking place in 50 different peripheral locations, involving 50 organisations, 40 amateur choirs and an increasing number of amateur classical musicians, reaching an audience of more than 10.000 people per year.

• Investigating the problems related to the peripheries and developing solutions to debated problems that cause the perceived divide between the centre of the city and its peripheries. Insights are captured during public meetings, then analysed and translated into legislative proposals with the help of the municipal commissions on peripheries and participation and finally submitted for approval to the city government.

Why join Amateo?

Amateo represents a unique, privileged opportunity for gaining information, debating and finding original solutions to complex social problems through participation. Each European country has developed its own specific strategies to give value to amateur arts and CPM aspires to be an important part of this debate, sharing its experience and learning from established practices of other countries.

What are your hopes for the future?

The peripheries are not just a local or national theme, but a global one. There amateur arts do have the potential to thrive for the foreseeable future, contributing to the reshaping of the cities, inspiring positive relationships between people from different backgrounds, nationalities and neighbourhoods and helping urban regeneration, social cohesion and crime prevention.

amateocomms Amateo Members

KUBIA – Germany

AMATEO MEMBER:
DAS KOMPETENZZENTRUM FUR KULTURELLE BILDUNG IM ALTER UND INKLUSION / CENTRE OF COMPETENCE FOR CREATIVE AGEING AND INCLUSIVE ARTS (KUBIA)

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Member country: Germany
Contact person: Janine Hüsch (Communications & Public Relations)

Symposium ALL IN: Ästhetik und Methoden der inklusiven Darstellenden Künste Eine gemeinsame Veranstaltung von: Kompetenzzentrum für Kulturelle Bildung im Alter und Inklusion (kubia) und Un-Label, Performing Arts Company, in Kooperation mit Sommerblut Kulturfestival e.V.
Schrei mich an // INCLU:CITY // Regie Marita Ragonese

Who? KUBIA is a professional forum and service platform on all issues relating to cultural and arts-based activities for older and/or disabled persons. It is based in Remscheid, Germany. Our target groups are artists, arts facilitators, care professionals, staff of cultural institutions and local authorities.

What? KUBIA provides information, training, networking opportunities and advice on all issues relating to cultural and arts-based activities and lifelong learning. Our aim is to raise awareness of the important role of cultural participation at all ages by developing trend-setting concepts and innovative models.

We focus on professionalising arts-related educational practices for older people and persons with disabilities, promoting inter-generational dialogue through the arts, developing arts-based programmes for the frail and people with dementia, promoting participation and volunteer work in arts and culture in later life as well as developing intercultural and inclusive schemes. KUBIA also runs a forum for theatre by older adults in North Rhine-Westphalia (Theatergold).

Why join Amateo? The philosophy of the Amateo network is very much in line with our conviction that artistic and creative activities and cultural participation are important keys to social inclusion, quality of life and wellbeing. We look forward to working with like-minded partners on an international level.

We appreciate very much being part of Amateo as a European cultural network since we benefit and learn from the mutual exchange and the co-operation for a common cause. International co-operation gives us new inspiration, strengthens our reputation on national level and helps us to improve our work.

Future hopes? Together with the Amateo network we would like to ensure that the artistic and cultural participation, especially by the elderly and people with disabilities, plays an important role in the agenda-setting of social and cultural policies in Europe. For this reason, we wish Amateo to be a fast-growing and strong network for the promotion of participatory arts in Europe.

Interested in joining Amateo’s European network? Find out more!

amateocomms Amateo Award

Op Roet: Amateo Ambassador 2018

On Thursday 11th May 2018, the Op Roet theatre foundation received the first European Amateo Award in Ljubljana for their performance of Ed van Hoorn FucktheSystem. The jury of the Amateo Award was impressed with the artistic and meaningful impact of the performance. Ed van Hoorn FtS was one of 42 cultural projects that were nominated for the prize, from 16 European countries.

European Ambassador
One part of the Amateo Award consists of being an ambassador for participatory art projects. For one year, Op Roet will use this ambassadorship to facilitate interaction between newcomers and inhabitants through art and theatre.

The performance of Ed van Hoorn FtS has shown what such interaction between newcomers and inhabitants can yield. It’s a way to uncover and reduce biases, and a way to stimulate social integration. The performance showed how important it is to listen and share stories with each other and how cultural differences are precious and form special relationships.

As part of the ambassadorship Op Roet has created a program consisting of 4 parts: a trailer, a new performance, new encounters, and the makers. These 4 parts can be combined or used individually.

Trailer of Ed van Hoorn FtS
A taste of the atmosphere of the performance and interviews with newcomers, who talk about what participating in the performance meant for them. The trailer is 7 minutes long and is in English.

https://www.facebook.com/StichtingOpRoet/videos/737811503227281/

Ed van Hoorn FtS lead to the making of a new performance: Friends to be… What happens when a Arab and a westerner meet and want to become friends? How can they learn from each other, what do they have in common?

Nour Mardini and Gerard Venverloo will go on a quest to find the right answers. They ask the questions that often stay untouched. The performance will be 40 minutes long and it will be in English.

Monique Schoorl, director of the Language training centre: “Nour takes us on a journey about the power of people: when your own world literally collapses, and you accept this fate, you can start again, in a strange and foreign country”.

The Interaction
Op Roet aims to emphasise on interaction between local newcomers and visitors of Amateo events. Together with local organisations in charge of integration (which will differ per country), Op Roet will organise encounters within the programme of the current Amateo congresses and symposia. As such, Op Roet has developed a program consisting of theatrical speed dates, that have already proven to be successful.

The makers
Lyda Tijsen and Ingrid Docter are, as director and writer, responsible for connecting and shaping the various parts of the program. The foundation Op Roet develops art & theatre projects with immaterial heritage as main inspiration. The purpose of these projects is to create a dynamic and vivid connection between material and immaterial heritage in the past, present and future.

amateocomms Amateo Members

NOC – Slovakia

AMATEO MEMBER: NARODNE OSVETOVE CENTRUM / NATIONAL CENTER OF CULTURE AND FURTHER EDUCATION (NOC)


Member country: Slovak Republik 
Contact person: Alexandra Stefkova

Who: National center of culture and further education (NOC) is a state contributory organisation of the Ministry of Culture of Slovak Republic, which provides functionality and nationwide professional methodology for educational and cultural activities.

What: NOC supports the development of cultural, educational and artistic activities in local, regional and national conditions, in particular: publishing activity, research and monitoring activities in culture, exhibitions and presentation activities.

Continue reading “NOC – Slovakia” →