In 2001, Dea Vidović graduated Comparative Literature and Indology at The Philosophy Faculty of the University of Zagreb where she is currently completing Ph. D. Program in Cultural Studies. She currently works as the program coordinator for Clubture network as well as the editor in chief and project manager of the portal Kulturpunkt.hr. She is also editor of the Case Study section on the platform LabforCulture.org.
In 2005 she was a Programme Coordinator of the project Operation:City which took place in Zagreb. From 2002 to 2004 she was working as editing coordinator of CultureNet Croatia, web centre of Croatian culture same time she was an executive editor of the publishing department at the Student Centre in Zagreb.
From 2000 to 2005 she was working on organization of the Urban festival Zagreb.
Through 8 years of her professional involvement in the Croatian culture she worked as project manager, journalist and editor, and the scope of her interests included: non-used spaces, problems of public spaces, position of independent culture and its relevance in local development, cooperation, networking, new forms of cultural institution, cultural policy, public – private partnership in the field of culture, urban regeneration, creative cities etc.


The Association of NGOs CLUBTURE
The Clubture network gathers organisations of the independent cultural scene in Croatia and functions as a collaborative platform within which they exchange programmes, i.e. directly collaborate on specific projects. Due to the diversity and the wide range of their activities, dynamic and numerous programmes, as well as an innovative model of collaboration and decision-making, the network has become a significant actor of independent cultural production in Croatia, primarily in relatively new (and boundary) areas, such as urban culture, youth culture, interdisciplinary artistic and cultural projects, activist and socially engaged programmes, etc.
Culture as the process of exchange is a fundamental idea around which the Clubture network is formed. Its basic aim is to enable and support direct partnerships among organizations of independent culture in Croatia, accomplished through a precisely defined model of cooperation and programme exchange which is the base of the network. In such a manner, it is primarily a programme platform. Unlike the majority of cultural networks, which are formed on formal membership and representation, Clubture is formed as the network of organizations and non-formal initiatives gathered exclusively through their active participation in production and distribution of programmes. Thus, the programme activity of a particular organization is the only criteria for its inclusion into the network.
In the first five years, more than 80 organizations from all around Croatia gathered around the Clubture platform. Through particular collaborative forms within the programme Clubture-HR, more than 100 programmes were realized, with more than 1000 diverse public events taking place in more than 50 cities, equally involving the bigger cities and smaller communities.
After the first three-year period, the network expanded its strategic goals as well as its field of activities. Alongside of the above-mentioned programme cooperation in Croatia, the preconditions for an internationalisation of its activities are made through the initiation of projects of cultural cooperation in the region. In such a manner, the programme platform entitled Clubture’s Regional Initiative was started, within which eight collaborative projects were realized so far, connecting organizations from Croatia with organizations from Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia. 19 organizations took part in the regional cultural collaboration, realizing more than 30 public events in ten different cities in only a few months.
The network and actors gathered around it also see the necessity to initiate the changes on the level of content and procedure in the decision-making and implementation of national and local public policies affecting this sector. This very directly refers to cultural policies, but also to other public policies which affect the stability, growth and development of independent culture. In the first place, these are urban policies, policies of space management and youth policies.
Clubture has also, as a response to the insufficient and non-quality media coverage of the independent cultural production, initiated the portal Kulturpunkt.hr. This portal not only promotes and presents the independent cultural scene, but also covers citizens’ initiatives related to it, directed towards wider social issues. An additional focus of the portal is the development of instruments enabling an analytical and critical approach to topics in the area of culture in general.
From its very beginning, the network recognized the importance of organizational development, i.e. of the building of specific knowledge and skills. Thus, a transfer of knowledge and experience in non-formal form through a series of collaborative programmes was always an important component of the network functioning. With insight into organizational capacity and the advantages and dangers brought about by new circumstances, Clubture directed itself towards a clearly structured, project defined and carefully planned educational programme and the accumulation and long-term transfer of knowledge within the sector.

W: www.clubture.org
E: clubture@clubture.org

LEV KREFT, ALF – Anna Lindh Foundation

Born 1951 in Ljubljana (Slovenia), studied philosophy and sociology, PhD. D. 1988 with thesis "Struggle on the artistic left", associate professor for aesthetics on the University of Ljubljana.
Professional career in Ljubljana culture (1973-1977), politics (Socialist Youth Union of Yugoslavia1977-1980; Member of Slovenian Parliament 1990-1996, Deputy Speaker 1993-1996), and university (1992-). Part time university engagement from 1976 with different members of University of Ljubljana (Faculty for Philosophy, Academy of Music, Academy for Visual Arts etc.), after 1992 full-time member of the Department of Philosophy, with lectures on aesthetics, philosophy of art and philosophy of culture on the Department of Philosophy, Department of Art History (Faculty of Philosophy) and Department for Design (Academy for Visual Arts).
Founding member of Slovenian Society of Aesthetics (1984), now its president and member of Executive Committee of International Association for Aesthetics. Coo-organized national and international colluquiums on avant-garde in the eighties (Historical Avantgarde in Slovenia 1985, Co-existence of Avantgardes 1986), member of preparations-team of the exhibition "Slovenian Historical Avantgarde" (1998, Modern Gallery).
(source)


Anna Lindh Foundation – Euromediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures
The Anna Lindh Foundation is a unique organization, resourced by and reporting to the governments of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and acting as a network of civil society organizations working for dialogue in the region. Our mandate is to bring people and organizations from both shores of the Mediterranean closer together through sustained dialogue and help to bridge the gap between them. The Anna Lindh Foundation was created by the governments of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the far-reaching political agreement established in 1995 between the European Union and its ten Southern Mediterranean partners in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Syria and Turkey. Recognizing the essential role of intercultural dialogue to promote coexistence in the region, the Partnership established the Foundation in 2005 to support organizations and individuals working for the promotion of dialogue and the political objective of shaping the Euro-Mediterranean region as ‘an area of co-operation, exchange, mobility, mutual understanding and peace’. During the conception of the Foundation, each government nominated an institution within their country to build a network of organizations from across the civil society dedicated to the promotion of dialogue: the Anna Lindh National Networks. Today this network forms the basis of the Foundation’s work which focuses on two principal pillars: support for the activities of the network of civil society organizations and assuming the role of observatory for coexistence in the region.

W: www.euromedalex.org
E. info@euromedalex.org

MARKO BRUMEN, TEH - Trans Europe Halles

Born July 1976 in Maribor, Slovenia.
Was blissfully unavare of arts and culture and decided to study economy and marketing. Worked in marketing and research agencies, till I got job as a student in Slovene National Theatre.
After that I moved to work in Kibla multiumedia centre and finally got hooked on visual and new media arts.
After falling in relationship with no-jazz-jazz music trough co-ordinating Izzven jazz festivals (2003-2007), I graduated at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor with a thesis "Use of marketing mix in private not-for-profit cultural organizations" and decided to explore the word of culture further.
Meanwhile I also started to collaborate with Pekarna magdalenske mreže on voluntary basis and became their Trans European Halles delegate in 2007.
After co-ordinating Ana Desetnica festival (part of Lent festival) in Maribor since 2004 and working at student radio MARŠ for some time, I was awarded one of five Chevening-Valvasor Awards for study abroad (funded by UK FCO and Slovene Ministry of Culture) in 2006.
In 2007 finished postgraduate studies in Cultural Management at City University, London and worked at Artsadmin for few months.
Returned to Slovenia and continued working for Ana Desetnica and Lent festival, while extending knowledge of contemporary performing arts with work on Mladi levi and Drugajanje festivals for Bunker. In autumn 2007 produced Nagib festival of experimental movement for Pekarna magdalenske mreže.
One of 22 participants of TEH&ASEF Independent Creative Art Spaces Leadership Training (Paris 2007).
Currently working as freelance cultural operator and co-ordinator.

Trans Europe Halles
Trans Europe Halles is a network of independent culture centres. It was founded in 1983 and currently has 48 members in 25 countries.
Trans Europe Halles provides a stimulating platform for exchange, support and co-operation between its members. The network brings together a great diversity of independent and multi-disciplinary cultural centres.
All of the organisations in Trans Europe Halles have their own distinguishing features; however they share the same spirit of support for new talent, innovation, young artists and cultural exchange. Many of the network’s centres have been pioneers in providing opportunities for young people to utilise and develop their artistic skills and challenging the common cultural policy.
The projects undertaken in the Trans Europe Halles network are conducted within the local context but provide an international perspective. They address artistic and social issues and aim to promote co-operation and understanding between European cultural organisations.
Trans Europe Halles supports the idea of culture in its broadest sense and encourages collaboration between different artistic disciplines. The network aims to support alternative modes of artistic expression and provide a stage for artistic work that cannot be experienced elsewhere.
Trans Europe Halles is a member of the European forum of arts and heritage, EFAH.

W: www.teh.net

NEVENKA KOPRIVŠEK, IETM – Informal European Theatre Meeting

Nevenka Koprivšek was trained (Ecole Jacuqes Lecoq, 1983) and first worked as actress, than theatre director and later on as artistic director (Glej Theatre 1989-97). In 1997 she has founded BUNKER and since then has acted as the company’s director. One of Bunker’s major annual events is the MLADI LEVI international festival for theatre and dance, renowned for its demanding creative orientation, artistic excellence, and expertise in discovering new talent. In 2004, Bunker won the public tender to transform STARA ELEKTRARA, an old power plant into performing arts centre. Koprivšek was the initiator, and co-author of a three-year applicative research study entitled "Spaces of independent performing and visual arts production in the city of Ljubljana 1999-2001." This research project became the basis for the conversion of two old movie theatres and six industrial spaces into cultural centres. Koprivšek was the author and co-author of the study “Models of revitalization for industrial heritage commissioned by the city of Velenje.” In 2007, Koprivšek was project manager of the team that developed a concept for the Slovenian Cultural Capital 2012 commissioned by the Slovenian Ministry of Culture. In 2007, she was commissioned by City of Ljubljana to write the concept report for Ljubljana’s competitive bid for the Slovenian Cultural Capital 2012. Nevenka Koprivšek has been involved in many international networks and projects (IETM, Junge Hunde, APAP, D.B.M., Theorem, Balkan Express, Sostenuto, Network 2020: Thin Ice, Slovene Association for Contemporary Arts and is on advisory board of Anna Lindh Foundation. Occasionally she is writing, researching, lecturing and advising on different issues of programming and cultural policy. She is also teacher and practitioner of method Feldenkrais.
In 2003, the City of Ljubljana gave Nevenka Koprivšek a major municipal award for special achievements in culture.

IETM – Informal European Theatre Meeting
IETM is a membership organisation which exists to stimulate the quality, development and contexts of contemporary performing arts in a global environment, by initiating and facilitating professional networking and communication, the dynamic exchange of information, know-how transfer and presentations of examples of good practice.
The mission of IETM is to stimulate the quality, development and contexts of contemporary performing arts in a global environment by initiating and facilitating professional networking and communication the dynamic exchange of information know-how transfer and presentations of examples of good practice.
IETM aim to:
Anticipate : new artistic tendencies and evolutions in the environment of the contemporary performing arts in Europe and around the world.
Connect: diverse organisations who share common interests in a cross-sector network.
Catalyse: international partnerships, exchanges, collaborations and knowledge transfer.
Strengthen: the contemporary performing arts sector by providing new arguments for the arts and by supporting professionals via informal learning experiences.
Influence: public policy through active participation in cultural policy debates, policy for and through direct advocacy.
Federate: different actors in the sector through IETM’s neutral and international nature.

W: www.ietm.org
E: ietm@ietm.org

PETER TOMAŽ DOBRILA, X-OP – eXchange of art operators and producers

Born in Maribor, Slovenija, in 1963
1988 Graduated in Decomposing the programme graphs and started working on the Master Degree.
1998 Finished General Management Program at IEDC (International Executive Development Center) in Brdo.
2008 Finishing master degree in Informatics on Creative use of new technologies.

1996 Co-established the Multimedia Centre KiberSRCeLab – KIBLA (MMC KIBLA), Maribor.
1998 Co-established Association for Culture and Education KIBLA (ACE KIBLA) and became the President of ACE KIBLA.
1996–2004 Managing the MMC KIBLA and ACE KIBLA, involved in different projects.
2001 Member of the General Jury Europrix, the leading European championship in e-content and became a fellow member of European Academy for Digital Media (EADIM).
2002 Participating on the European Multimedia Associations Convention (EMMAC) on Milia 2002 in Cannes, and on the World Summit on Internet and Multimedia in Montreux.
2003 KIBLA become partner for the 1st World Summit on the Information Society Awards (December 2003 – Geneva, 2005 – Tunisia). Attend the WSIS in Geneva.
2004–2008 Invited by the People's Network initiative participated on the 1st conference A Soul for Europe in november in Berlin, which is the European summit on culture and after in Pecs, Hungary and Skopje, Macedonia.
2005, 2007 Invited to become an adviser of the Ars electronica festival. After the invitation contributes at the UNESCO conference about Information Society in St. Petersburg. Actively participated in EVA (Electronic Imaging, the Visual Arts & Beyond) and Echolot Conference in Moscow.
2005 In November attends 2nd World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis.
2005–2008 Lectures on Days of Slovene Informatics in Portorož, Slovenia.
2006 In spring becomes a member of the Expert Commission for Intermedia Arts at the Ministry of Culture and in autumn a member of the Working group of the Ministry of Culture for inclusion of culture to the information society.
2006 In November invited to the 2nd Dresdner Future Forum in Germany.
2006–2007 In October KIBLA got a public order from Municipality of Maribor to make a candidature application for the European Capital of Culture 2012 and in parallel to constitute the Local programme for culture 2007-2011. In 2007 KIBLA’s candidacy got acclaimed as the best among 4 cities in Slovenia and was confirmed by the Ministry of Culture and the Government as official for the nomination.
2007 Becomes a member ot the Committee for the preparation of the National programme for culture.
2008 Participates on World Summit for Information Society meetings in Geneva, Switzerland

X-OP – eXchange of art operators and producers
X-OP – eXchange of art operators and producers is gradually growing network of artists, researchers, operators, produces and centers with the aim to establish European platform for creation of art and exchange. With its places, spaces and user-accustomed technological infrastructure it fosters mobility of artists, theoreticians and executives. It is built to strengthen the pan-European collaboration, common production and interdisciplinary approach to art.
Therefore the art realisation will be outlined by various segments of creators, from practical to theoretical, each of them contouring his/hers professional skills and preferences. So the production will result in a complex artistic procedure to build the art-work that will consider all aspects of approaches and will consist of all necessary elements and needed parts and facts to be ready for touring around and showing on all spaces.
Art-work will be a set-up of fluidly assembled sources and will be structured for environment transformation to accommodate new surrounding circumstances and existing conditions. Beside interdisciplinary art creation and production the X-OP network will focus its activities in the sustainable mobility around art centers and other spaces and places in Europe. The mobility will embrace at the wide levels of the rural territory, where most of the residential centers for art creation and presentation are, to urban landscapes with their institutions’ constellation and open territories between both.
By long-term cooperation the partner centers wish to establish and further develop infrastructural and information supportive environment in relation to information technology, digital culture and art creation in wide aspect from art production and presentation to research and education.
Aims of the partnership are the following:

1973. born, Strumica, Macedonia.
2008:
- independent cultural consultant, art and culture critic
- Oracle network president
- Pedagogic team Marcel Hicter Diploma in European Cultural management

EDUCATION, TRAINNINGS
1997. Graduated at the Faculty of philology in Skopje, Comparative literature and English language.
2002. Masters of Arts from the Department of Comparative literature at the Faculty of philology in Skopje.
2005-2006. Got the European diploma in Cultural project management organized by Brussels based Marcel Hicter Foundation.
2003-2006. attended several trainings by NGO Kontrapunkt, IYHF, EUFED, CCP Macedonia, on teamwork, strategic planning, leadership, sale strategies and marketing, lobbying and contactmaking, Culture and Youth EU programs...

JOURNALISTIC WORK
1995-1997. Worked for the Macedonian National Television, film and youth program.
1997-1999. Editor of culture program for Sitel television.
1999-2001. Editor for culture in official Student newspaper "Studentski zbor".
2000-2002. Took part in the project "Culture radio" of Bagi music organization.
2002-2006. Editor in Margina, magazine for integration and differencies.
2001-2004. Macedonian correspondent for Transitions Online (Prague).

SEMINARS
2001. Took part on the international conference "Religion, identity and politics" in Sarajevo, organized by Transeuropeennes, Paris and Atellier for Philosophy, Social sciences and psychoanalysys from Sarajevo, with the study" The use of cross in architecture and painting on three recent examples from Macedonia".
2002. Lecture on the summer school in Ohrid, "Cultural identity in multicultural societies: 'Gas atack' by Kenny Glennan".
2002. Lecture on the summer camp in Mavrovo "Cultural differencies and contemporary theories of identity" organised by the Center for multhiethnic tollerance and refugees from Skopje.

BOOKS
2002. Published his first book, Florilegium, in Macedonian and English, in e-format, by Blesok, Skopje.
2003. His second book Accused for postmodernism: Theoretical-poetical aspects of the Macedonian postmodernist prose published by Magor.
1993-2003. Over 200 texts published in several magazines and newspapers from the country and abroad: Knizeven kontekst, Kinopis, Nashe Pismo, Margina, Blesok, Scena, Teatarski glasnik, Kritika etc. (Belgrade), Time com. Europe (London), Balcanis (Ljubljana).
2006. Third book, Gros plan, film studies and essays, Templum.

NGO WORK
1999. Founder of the NGO Transeuropeennes-Macedonia, active until 2004.
2001. As the armed inter-ethnic conflict in Macedonia emerged he was one of the initiators of the peace movement of several open letters and debates For the sake of Macedonia. Later with NGO Kontrapunkt organized several debates in the towns affected by the ethnic conflict.
2002-2006. As part of the steering board of PAC Multimedia organizes series of 11 debates on Macedonian national and local cultural policy resulting in book from the debates, multilevel partnership (civil, state, local, private) over strategic documents and public awareness over the issue.
2003-2007. Works as project coordinator in NGO Kontrapunkt on a project for cultural decentralization in Macedonia which aim is to ease the interethnic tension in the post-conflict period and to offer cultural cooperation and exchange in ethnically homogeneous and ethnically mixed areas.
2003-2005. Works with SCCA-Ljubljana on a research project "What is to be done with Balkan Art?"
2005. Elected president of ORACLE, Brussels-based European network of Cultural managers.
2006. Appointed president of the Managing board of Youth Cultural Center, public institution under Council of Skopje.

Oracle – Network of European Cultural managers
ORACLE is a network of European Cultural managers, having their focus on projects of European dimension and who are of the opinion that intercultural co-operations are of big importance in the modern Europe, especially within the context of the European Union as a political construct.
PROFILE: The crucial difference to other European Cultural Networks is that Oracle’s members are not associations but individuals. ORACLE is a dynamic network being shaped by the impulses and contributions of its members. Many different motivations signify the special esprit of this network. The two most mentioned reasons for a participation are „communication“ and „information“.
As diverse as its members, as diverse are the benefits that the ORACLE-network offers:

W: www.oracle-cultural-network.com
E: julia@juliatauber.com

VOJKO STOPAR, AMATEO - European Network for Active Participation in Cultural Actitivities

Mr. Vojko Stopar, Slovenia, Head of the International Department of the Republic of Slovenia Fund for Cultural Activities

Ljubljana, Slovenia, cultural sociologist (University of Ljubljana 1981)
1981-1997 Union of Cultural Societies of Slovenia, adviser and secretary general
1994-1998 Governing Board of Slovenian Public Broadcaster RTVS, chairman
1998-2002 Republic of Slovenia Public Fund for Cultural Activities, director
2002-2004 Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, State Secretary.
2005- Republic of Slovenia Public Fund for Cultural Activities.
Main areas of work: strengthening network of cultural societies, promoting socio cultural activities and intercultural dialog, organizing cultural events and training, providing access of cultural goods and conditions for creativity in communities and regions, cultural education, cooperation among governmental and non-governmental organisations.

AMATEO – European Network for Active Participation in Cultural Actitivities
AMATEO's the future activities are defined as promote intercultural dialogue, to enhance the information flow, especially in the domain of socio-cultural activities among participating organizations, to promote political acknowledgement of the importance of active participation in cultural activities, to exchange information and practical demonstration among participants, e.g. preservation of cultural heritage, to enhance the realisation of mutual cultural projects such as festivals, exhibitions, exchanges, touring, to enhance mobility of artists, to gather initiatives for cultural projects, exchanges, and touring as well as offer help in finding relevant partners in participating countries, to promote joint research in the field of active participation in cultural activities etc.

W: www.amateo.info
E: akks@pc.dk