Preliminary meeting: Ljubljana 17.- 19. April 2007

Schedule

17th April

17th April, afternoon: Arrival and accommodation.

17th April, evening: Introductory meeting, social evening

Dinner (18:00 – 20:30)

18th April

18th April, forenoon (10:00 – 13:00): Questions about organizational and logistic plans, and time schedule of the project realization.

Lunch (13:30 – 14:30)

18th April, afternoon (15:00 – 18:00): Contents of the project:

• Presentation of the web page in general
• Presentation of web page and the interactive capacities and functions of the forum as a tool for communication, archiving, evaluation and presentation of project content and results.
• Video research and filming
• Discussions, lectures and excursions in specific countries during the exchange
• Technical requirements of the project realization and the discussion about technical organizational and logistic support

18th April, evening: Free time.

Dinner in the city (20:00 – …)

19th April

19th April, forenoon (10:00 – 13:00): Theoretical part of the project and manners of evaluation:

• Connections and linking the theoretical and practical part of the project.
• Ways of communication.
• Discussions during the exchange.
• Symposium in Berlin – November 2007
• Further promoting and linking of the project conclusions and productions – plans and options for further promotion in Ljubljana – spring 2008
• Editing and publishing the publication.

 Lunch (13:30 – 14:30)

19th April, afternoon (15:00 – 19:00): Visit of the Festival of Volunteers or climb to Šmarna Gora or visit of the city of Ljubljana ...

Dinner (19:00 – 20:00)

19th April, evening (20:30): Cultural event:

Dance theatre performance of Pozitiv Theatre, On the Other Side of the Shoe Sole.

Detailed  Info

17th April

17th April, afternoon: Arrival and accommodation.

17th April, evening: Introductory meeting, social evening

In more detail:

-       Presentation of the Introductory Meeting schedule / Drago Pintarič.

-       Presentation of the representatives and their organizations followed by a short briefing about their role and the current status report about the work progress on the Divided God project.       

18th April

18th April, forenoon: Questions about organizational and logistic plans, and time schedule of the project realization.

-       Organizational, logistic and financial aspects of the project and their realization according to a time schedule.

-       Youth exchange – conceptual and organizational aspects of the exchange.

-       In more detail: The project will be executed virtually through the means of the internet and in physical reality through socialising while attending preparation meetings, youth exchanges, discussions and symposiums, whether they be a part of the exchanges or individual events, and while presenting the conclusions of the project.

Current update:
a) The web page is operational, the first texts are ready for publishing, and there has also been some initial communication via the web page forum. The utility of the web page and communication via the forum need to be intensified. Forum can be used to attract other potential participants – groups and individuals. 

b) Informational preliminary meetings that were already executed were in Istanbul /January 07/ and in Berlin /February 07/. Yet to come are the informational preliminary meetings in Novi Sad and Mostar /April and May 07/. The preliminary meetings were attended by the members of the top coordination group of the project– Drago Pintarič, Želimir Žilnik and Bojan Matjašič meeting the representatives of the partner-groups from the cities where the meeting were held. The official preparation meetings that are to be attended by the representatives of the partners from all afore mentioned cities are expected to take place in Ljubljana /18th and 19th April 2007/, in Istanbul /16th and 17th June 2007/ and in Berlin /October 2007/   

c) Planned schedule of the exchanges: Istanbul 1st July – 7th July /application process is still underway/; Mostar 8th – 15th July; Novi sad 15th – 22nd July; Ljubljana: 23rd July – 3rd August 2007 and Berlin: 27th October – 3rd November 2007. A part of the exchanges will be executed in the form of a mobile project. Proposition /for the discussion/: The participants in the exchange would travel to Mostar by bus that would also take them to Novi Sad and from there to Ljubljana. The expenses of the trip from Istanbul to Ljubljana and the return of the groups to their countries would be discussed by the organizers of the exchanges /DIC – Pozitiv Ljubljana and Bilgi University Istanbul/ with their national agencies.

d) The discussions would take place within the framework of individual exchanges. Young participants, mentors and individual experts from the social environments where the exchanges will be taking place will participate in the discussions. Larger symposiums will presumably take place in Berlin /November 2007/ and in Ljubljana /spring 2008/. They would be attended by the expert leaders – theoreticians actively involved in the project (through internet communication, by participating in panel discussions during the exchanges etc.), mentors, group coordinators, youth leaders etc.   

Financial framework:
The project received the initial dotation from the European Cultural Foundation /25.000€/, it also received two donations for the exchange in Ljubljana /23.000€/ and the mobile exchange in Mostar – Novi Sad /24.000€/. Applications for the exchanges in Istanbul and Berlin have also been submitted. The partners were instructed that they should attain additional funds from state and local co-financiers for the exchanges taking place in their countries. That would be their contribution to the quality of the project.

The funds attained from the ECF would cover the expenses connected to the preparations for the project  that are not included into the expenses connected to the preparation meetings financed by the EU – Programme Youth. A part of the funds for the expenses connected to the execution of the final productions /material expenses, wages etc./ will be co-financed as well .

The funds allotted for individual exchanges will cover the expenses of the exchanges /accomodation, food/, 70 percent of the travelling expenses, a part of the programming expenses of the exchanges /wages of the head mentor of the exchange, expenses connected to the execution of the discussion, excursion, material expenses of the exchange etc./.

The missing part of the funds for the exchange is to be compensated for from other funds acquired by the partners in the project where the exchange is being held.  

The use of the funds acquired individually by the partners is at their discretion while there is a basic rule they have to consider: information about the funds and their investment into the project have to be available to the other partners in a transparent manner. It is desired that a part of the mentioned funds is allotted for the execution of the final productions that will be available to all partners after the project is completed. The specifics of having the material copyrights over the final productions at their disposal will be discussed by the partners on the basis of actual investments into specific productions and into the project in general. A consensus about the copyrights should be reached before the end of the project.

Activities:
The main activity of the exchange are research oriented video-workshops. In the workshop led by the head mentor Želimir Žilnik with the help of his assistants /members of the exchange with experience in working with video/ knowledge about video and documentary film will be passed to the participants in the exchange. Groups will be formed and sent to investigate individual themes from the social environments where the exchanges will be taking place.  

Apart from the video-workshop the integral parts of the exchanges will be the social and the educational parts. 

The educational part will encompass a lecture prepared for the young participants that will inform them about cultural history and current “inter-cultural state” of the social environment where the exchange will be taking place.  Educational part will also entail an organised excursion in the city of the exchange connected to the main theme. The educational part will be completed with a panel-discussion.

Free time will entail socialising and having fun.

 Other Organisational Questions:

-       The progress of each individual partner has to be assessed so as to establish what remains to be done and prepared for the execution of the exchange (especially the logistics, transport issues, accommodation, food, communication, operational space, equipment etc.).

-       The question of insurance for the participants in the exchange. The participants must be insured during the time of the exchanges in accordance with the contract with the EU – Programme Youth. For the exchanges applied for in the year 2006 and in compliance with the previous programme the participants must be insured with the French insurance company AXA – European Benefits Administrators (EBA). For the exchanges in Istanbul and Berlin the insurance can be arranged thorough home insurance companies. The insurance policies are drafted for each individual participant and that is why the partners must submit accurate data about the participants in the exchange. 15th June is suggested as the due date for the submission of the lists.

18th April, afternoon: Contents of the project:

-          Presentation of the web page in general

-          Presentation of web page and the interactive capacities and functions of the forum as a tool for communication, archiving, evaluation and presentation of project content and results.

-          Video research and filming

-          Discussions, lectures and excursions in specific countries during the exchange

-          Technical requirements of the project realization and the discussion about technical organizational and logistic support

In more detail:

1. The introductory presentation of the internet page – basic contents (About the project, Partners, Cooperatives, Contacts), the initiative for contributing to the content (CVs, logos, descriptions etc.) The functions of the internet page are informing, communication, archiving, evaluation. Discussion about the question of the language(-s) used on the webpage and forum.

2. Presentation of the interactive abilities of the internet page (forum, bulletin board, theoretical texts). Discussion about the themes of the forum – the participants entering the discussions on the forum. Once the next stage is reached – video research and filming – the open internet page will form a basis that could provide themes for films thus displaying the practical functionality of the page and the forum which is meant to entice the discussion about the themes and for organizational purposes.   

3. a) Individual themes of the possible video-research already exist, there are also the concrete synopses. Individual coordinators and other participants in the exchange present their suggestions, discus them with others and maybe even form individual interest groups/teams. 

b) The scope of needed technical equipment for the execution of the project is established / cameras, lighting equipment, editing stations etc./. The representatives of the groups explain which technical equipment is at their disposal and what they can contribute during the time of individual exchanges. Based on these information there can be an informed assessment of the accessible technological equipment and an assessment of how much equipment needs to be borrowed and where can it be borrowed from.     

4.  As a part of the exchanges at least two lectures for young participants should be held. They are to be connected to the cultural or religious history of the country or the area where the exchange will be taking place and the second topic should be intercultural interaction (cooperation and conflict) between different cultures in the past and today. The lectures would present an introduction to the panel discussion to be organized as a part of each exchange where mentors, youth workers and experts would participate as well.

5.  During each exchange there should be an excursion in the course of which the young participates would be presented with the history of the land connected to the theme of the exchange. The free time will entail the sightseeing tours of the city, organised fun activities for the young participants etc.

18th April, evening: Free time.

19th April, forenoon: Theoretical part of the project and manners of evaluation:

- Establishing connections between the theoretical and the practical part of the project.

- Ways of communication.

- Discussions during the exchange.

- Symposium in Berlin – November 2007

- Further promoting and linking of the project conclusions and productions – plans and options of further promotion in Ljubljana – spring 2008

- Editing and publishing the publication.

In more detail:
The themes and modes of communication that were already presented when the internet page was introduced will be reiterated in a concise form for the purposes of the introduction to the preparation of the theoretical part of the project. The themes suggested for the lecture and for discussions during the exchanges will be revisited as well.

These themes could also be connected to the themes to be tackled at the prospective symposium in Berlin. The proposed symposium in Berlin will be presented by Aleksander Perovic.

We are also planning a concluding symposium where the project and its productions will be presented in whole. This should coincide with the time of the Slovenian presidency of the EU, in the spring of 2008.

At the time of the symposium a release of the publication about the project is envisaged. The publication will contain selected texts from the internet page and summarised discussions taking place throughout the duration of the project.

19th April, afternoon: Visit of the Festival of Volunteers or climb to Šmarna Gora or visit of the city of Ljubljana ...

19th April, evening: Cultural event:

Dance theatre performance of Pozitiv Theatre, On the Other Side of the Shoe Sole.