Culture of Participation Conference, which will start in Bovember this year is a practical platform for artists, architects, cultural managers, educators, social and human rights activists, and local government leaders who use their talents, passion and experience to create conditions for a positive change.
Culture of Participation is a practical platform for artists, architects, cultural managers, educators, social and human rights activists, and local government leaders who use their talents, passion and experience to create conditions for a positive change. The idea of the Conference emerged after 12 years of Transkaukazja, the only international program and festival inspired by the unique cultural space of contemporary Caucasus. While one of the main goals of the Conference is to sum up and share this experience, we would like to go beyond this. Namely, we seek to show how local bottom-up initiatives with little resources can indeed make a positive change in an innovative manner in most 'unexpected places' on Earth. We also want to demonstrate that such projects can and should become a source of knowledge and inspiration for others in Poland and Western countries thus challenging the common assumption that all good ideas originate in the West.
Program:
17 November, Thursday - Do-It-Yourself Bazaar
The participatory spirit of our Conference means that it will not be organized in a regular format with presentations and panel debates. Instead, it will take form of a Do-It-Yourself Bazaar, a fair of initiatives and ideas. Participants will get to use the ready-made elements to construct their stands however they like to present the activities conducted by them and/or by their organizations. This shared activity can help integrating participants and enable them to exchange ideas and working methods already at the first stage of the Conference. In the evening there will be a guided tour through the Bazaar for the public.
18-19 November, Friday-Saturday, Working groups and a sum up session
During these two days thematic working groups of 5-15 persons will work in a unique atmosphere benefiting from each others’ ideas as well as adapted-to-the-needs-of-pa
Practical info:
The final list of groups’ topics will be adjusted to the profiles and interests of the selected participants. Pre-selected group topics include: social / participatory architecture, education, contemporary art, participatory budgets / processes, work with migrants, human rights / advocacy, music-creating and more. Each group will have a Facilitator who will provide support for the group before the Conference and during the event as well as help collect the most important results of the group’s work. At the end of the second day we will gather at a wrap-up session with for 10-minute presentations of the working groups.
The Conference will be preceded by the workshops and working meetings focusing on participatory budgeting and planning organized for the leaders of participatory budgets in Georgia, Moldavia and Ukraine (organized on 15-16 November).
Venue(s):
The main venue of the Conference will be the Multicultural Center of Warsaw – a place designed for the use of the representatives of the different cultures, local organizations and public institutions: a great example of cross-sector cooperation and participatory planning involving dozen NGOs and City Hall. The other venues, such as a local library or kluboteatr 'Dzika Strona Wisly' [theatre-o-club 'Wild Side of Wisła'], are neighbor institutions of the Multicutlural Center. All the venues are located around Haller square in Nowa Praga [New Praga], one of the most intriguing and unusual districts of Warsaw.
Participants:
The Conference will bring together experts and practitioners from at least 14 countries of the European Union, Eastern Partnership, North Africa, and Americas.
Guests:
Clive Brown (United Kingdom / Jamaica) – choir director, composer, vocalist, music arranger, educator and social activist, one of the most talented British musicians, charismatic educator, called 'James Brown' of Gospel/Funk music.
Carol Daniel (Trinidad and Tobago) – social and human rights activist, the founder of a cross-region bottom-up-organized NGO Caribbean Development Foundation, initiator of advocacy campaigns across the region related to civic society and women’s rights.
Joanna Erbel (Poland) – sociologist, social activist, urban researcher and policy-maker, a former candidate for Mayor of Warsaw.
Tarlan Gorchu (Azerbaijan) – theatre director, visual artist, designer and publisher, the founder of Baku Marionette Theatre and Tutu Children’s Culture Center.
Urszula Majewska (Poland) – former deputy director of Warsaw Social Communication Center (responsible for participatory processes in the city), coordinator and expert in international projects related to participatory processes and projects.
Lado Mekhtiev (Georgia) – NGO activist, co-founder of the One Caucasus (international, borderland program and festival).
Irina Pravylo (Ukraine) – film director, an animator in the Ukrainian Culture Activists’ Congress responisble for participatory projects.
Mohamed Refai (Tunisia) – architect, designer, filmmaker and social activist, former prisoner-of-conscience.
Lude Reno (Martinique) – film-maker and educator, initiator of education-through-filmmaki
Rick Roth (USA) – human rights activist, the founder of the legendary Amnesty International USA Group 133 (Cambridge, MA), initiator of the Get On The Bus campaign.
Tom Russotti (USA) – artist and educator. He explores the aesthetic and performative nature of large cultural phenomena such as sports, signs, and organizations.
Pako Sarr (Senegal) – composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, author of many international, interdisciplinary based-on-music initiatives.
Merab Topchishvili (Georgia) – the leader of Marneuli municipality - a region in Georgia at the borer with Armenia and Azerbaijan), home of One Caucasus Festival and the first full-scale participatory budget in Caucasus.
Accompanying events - the book:
The Conference will be accompanied by the publication of the book 'Everyday Utopias' (working title). The format of the book will combine high profile, interdisciplinary art book with a practical guide for activists, educators and local decision-makers. The book will be partly based on the content created specially for the Conference. It will be divided into the three main parts. One is oollection texts and stories in the various format: reportages, art works, photo-reportages, comic book stories, scientific articles of interdisciplinary approach – highlighting the topics and specific cases related to the Conference and Academy profile. Second: illustrated interviews with the Conference participants – presenting some of the most inspiring local initiatives across the globe. And thirdly - pactical ready-to-implement, step-by-step scenarios for the activists, educators and local government leaders. The Book will be published in 2000 copies in English both for international sale and for free-of-charge distribution among various institutions across the region.
The project is co-funded by Warsaw City Hall and 'Support for Democracy' Program of Solidarity Fund PL financed within the framework of the Polish Development Cooperation Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.
Free admission!
Centrum Wielokulturowe w Warszawie / Multicultural Centre in Warsaw
ul. Jagiellońska 54 / Jagiellonska 54 st.
www.cw.org.pl
