1. What is your main motivation to initiate and run Unicult2020 International Arts & Cultural Management and Cultural Policy Programme? Why in Rijeka?

Cultural producers and workers, young or experienced have fewer opportunities for training and professional exchanges. So it came from a real need. My desire was to provide professional training from various angles of cultural practice and offer a collaborative structure, an applied learning environment and to provide an open, flexible, theoretically grounded platform, combined with practical fieldwork experience.

Rijeka is well-known for the artistic scene and it has wonderful cultural resources that should be nurtured and promoted all over the world. Unicult2020 was initiated as a part or Rijeka’s nomination for the European Capital of Culture in 2020. After one year from its first edition, Unicult2020 takes place in Rijeka the winner of the ECoC title for 2020, promoting the importance of training in the cultural management and cultural policy field in the ECOC context, mediating and facilitating meetings with Rijeka2020 ECOC team or experts in developing European cultural programs and strategies and to developing a network of professionals and practitioners transferring their know-how and skills in the creation and proposal of programs, methods and approaches.

Our motivation now is to develop Unicult2020 product in other countries, becoming more and more known not only in Europe and an example of intensive, professional and dynamic Lifelong Learning Programme. A small step was already made this year. I was invited by the European Commission as a speaker at the plenary session from the first day of the Forum called „Can culture help re-launching economic growth” and it was an honor to be there and present Unicult2020.

2. What is the uniqueness of this program and its innovative elements? How is it different from all other existing programs and summer academies in the field?

Unicult2020 is not a regular summer school. It is about networking, collaboration and partnership. It is aimed to bring together experienced international experts in cultural policies and art management next to practitioners, artists, producers, academics with a great eager to find solutions to the problems of the cultural and arts world.

Furthermore, Unicult2020 is a Lifelong Learning Programme and is in conformity with Bologna Process higher education standards and the European cultural management and cultural policy educational standards. Therefore, the quality of the lecturers, participants and activities is a must. The two weeks spent together are intensive and the combination between lectures, mentoring sessions, behind the scene activities, mapping of the city and workshops makes this program unique and dynamic.

We offer a platform for the target group and lecturers to develop new collaborations and remain in connection even after the summer-school ends.

3. What do you expect from the second edition of the programme in July 2016 with the special topic on Financing the Arts and Culture?

Coherence – because this edition is focused on one main subject of general interest for cultural workers, therefore the objective through the lectures proposed by the invited experts are relevant and clear to those who want to apply. And because it is such an important and debated issue, we expect motivated participants coming from the independent sector as also from public institutions from Europe and beyond.

For this year, we also created two sub-programs related to the topic of Financing Arts and Culture. The first one, Unicult2020 Refugees’ integration through education, art and culture, created by University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in collaboration with the Centre for Peace Studies with NGO Taste of Home, Zagreb will award 3 scholarships for refugees which includes free participation at Unicult2020 second edition. The second one, named ECoCs in Focus, is a wandering site-specific guided tour of Rijeka from the perspective of the Rijeka 2020 Bid Book. Focusing on a few places where Flagships have their “genius loci”, revealing the structure and logic of the strategy for a European Capital of Culture.

4. What are the qualities and competences of the team of lecturers?

First of all, we choose to work with experts and specialists in their field of activity, who are respected and renowned and with a great desire to give from their experience. This year, each one of the lecturers will approach the topic of financing arts and culture through various perspectives that are linked to each other: Fundraising, Ethics and Identity, Innovation, Entrepreneurship in creative industries, Building partnerships, Importance of networking, Cultural and social inclusion, development of audience in the online community, funding opportunities, tools and models for cultural policy.

We will have: Chris Torch (Low budgets, big ambitions), FritzieZie Brown (Fundraising and the committed cultural manager), Lidia Varbanova (Entrepreneurship and Innovations in the Arts and Creative Industries), Milena DragičevićŠešić (The development strategy, city and region: ethics of cultural policy and cultural management), Nina ObuljenKoržinek (Cultural policy: key concepts and current trends), EminaVišnić ( Partnership building and networking), VukĆosić (Architecture of participation), DavorMišković (Art & games – analysis & strategies) and DarkoLukić (Invisible audiences – inclusive cultural production).

 5. Who could apply to join the programme, why and how?

Unicult2020 is designed for academics, researchers, students, cultural operators and professionals, representatives of international organizations, cultural institutes and institutions. We also invite anyone interested in the topic of culture and arts to contact us and if the motivation is relevant, we are more than happy to receive their applications. The application process starts at the beginning of every year; therefore, everyone has enough time to find scholarships if needed, organize their time, think about the relevance of the programme to their study or work experience and goals. All the compulsory documents and information about how to apply can be found on our website: http://unicult.uniri.hr/admission-and-tuition.html.

For any questions people can contact us any time at info@unicult.uniri.hr