Felix Meritis - Europees centrum voor kunst, cultuur en wetenschap

maandag 26 mei 2008

Felix Meritis opens European Centre for Culture & Debate in Belgrade: The City

The City aims at supporting the process of Serbia's European integration by promoting international cultural cooperation and publicly advocating and supporting European values through cultural activities.

Seven years after major democratic changes and several elections later, Serbia is still divided on how to join the European integration process, due to political problems (the status of Kosovo, cooperation with The Hague Tribunal), economic problems (poverty, unequal regional development, emigration of young educated people) and structural problems such as a lack of intersectoral cooperation.

By stepping up through different cultural activities such as festivals, workshops and public debates, the project will point out to citizens in Belgrade, Kragujevac and Zrenjajin that Serbia is perhaps far from Brussels, but that they are not far from Europe and that Serbia as a society belongs there, in a multicultural community of European peoples. As of June 1, 2008 The City will open the discussion on key issues facing Serbia today and contribute to citizens' ability to hold decision-makers accountable for their policies and actions through its cultural programmes.

The City is a multifunctional public venue in Belgrado for a free exchange of  ideas and approaches to the development of future culture and social life, a dialogue of professionals concerned with modernisation of culture, its openness and tolerance, and its impact on democratic values. Promoting cultural diversity, introducing new forms and methods of social dialogue and public events, as well as adapting European experience to the Serbian environment, the centre will become not only an instrument to support independent public culture, but also a resource centre to influence cultural and social policies in the region.

Guikje Roethof (Chief Editor of PM, a Dutch magazine on politics and governance), Dragan Klaiç (Professor, University of Leiden) and Farid Tabarki (Coolpolitics) will support our team of The City with their knowledge and know-how.

By Dejan Ubovic & Joanneke Lootsma

The City is an initiative of Felix Meritis (Amsterdam), Cultural Front (Belgrade), MillenniuM (Kragujevac) and the Cultural Centre (Zrenjanin) and is financially supported by the MATRA programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands.

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