Northern Beauty Steering Group 5 22.8.2014, 17:00 Sámi Center for Contemporary Art, Karasjok, Norway Members present: Tuija Hautala-Hirvioja, University of Lapland, Finland Tomi Aho, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Regional Office of Lapland, Finland Kari Silvennoinen, Kemi Art Museum, Finland Eva Gun Jensen, Konsthall, Luleå, Sweden Olga Kiseleva, Murmansk Art Museum, Russ (vice member of Olga Evtyukova) Kari Laine, expert, Finland Eva Skotnes Vikjord, SKINN - Samorganisasjonen for Kunstformidling i Nord-Norge, Norway Hjordis Kuras, director Sami Center for Contemporary Art (substituted Randi Olstad) Other participants: Andreas Hoffman Art director, Pikene på Broen (company of art curators and producers based in Kirkenes) Tomas Lind, Konsthall, Luleå, Sweden (vice member of Eva Gun Jensen) Tanja Kavasvuo, Kemi Art Museum, Finland Jonna Katajämäki, researcher, University of Lapland Irina Gerashchenko, Project Manager, University of Lapland Excused: Jan-Erik Lundström, Sámi Center for Contemporary Art, No Olga Anisimova, Committee for Culture and Arts of the Murmansk region, Russ 1
AGENDA 1. OPENING THE MEETING The Chairman opened the 5 th Northern Beauty Steering Group meeting and welcomed participants. She then, concluded that the Steering Group meeting has a quorum, as more than half of it its members are present as well as a Chairperson. Tuija suggested that members of the meeting introduce themselves, as there are new participants in the team. After everyone presented himself/herself, Hjordis asked the floor. She introduced the program of the next day s Symposium and explained the technical arrangements (interpretation, filming etc.). Furthermore, she explained the reason why the focus of the Symposium was changed. On the Expert & Coordination Meeting in Luleå it has been agreed that the Symposium in Karasjok will be devoted to the theme of sculpture art works. Hjordis said that Karasjok is Sami village and people here have particular interests. In order to attract audience, the team of Sami Center for contemporary Art decided to change the topic of the Symposium with the focus on the Sami contemporary art. The speakers at the symposium will discuss artists organisations at that time, the role of the Masi group s political involvement in Sami art and society. The will also discuss the most important art trends and themes in Sami culture of 1970s 1980s. What styles dominated? Under what conditions did the artists and the forms of cooperation occurred? How was the relationship between Sami / Norwegian / international art scene in the period? Members of the meeting agreed with the change of the topic and that it was justifiable. They commented that that the theme is definitely a very interesting one. The only challenge, however, is that there are no other experts on Sami art in the partnership. Therefore, they cannot contribute as speakers. On the other hand, meeting participants commented that they are looking forward to listen the artists and experts stipulated in the program. 2
2. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA Further meeting agenda was approved without changes 3. FINAL EXHIBITION AND SYMPOSIUM IN MURMANSK Irina Gerashchenko said that the next big event stipulated in the project plan is Exhibition, Exhibition opening and Symposium in Murmansk Art Museum in Murmansk, Russia. Irina gave floor to Olga Kiseveva from the Murmansk Art Museum. Olga said that the exhibition opening would take place on 12 th of September in the afternoon. The Symposium will take next day on 13 th of September. The program is under preparation. There are some confirmed speakers. However, there is still a possibility to step in. Olga said that the Symposium will not have any specific thematic focus. The event will be devoted to the Northern visual art in 1970s 1980s with the emphasis on the Russian art. Olga said that they expect Russian artists to take part in the program. Moreover, members of the regional administration are invited to attend the opening. During the exhibition, opening there will be organised press conference. Also, local TV and radio companies will be invited to cover the event. Olga reminded that if anyone needs official invitation for the visa, they have to inform Murmansk Art Museum as soon as possible. Partners will stay in Meridian hotel as it the closest to the Museum and makes the logistics easier. 4. FUTURE MASTER PLAN Irina Gerashchenko said that reminded that one of the important project results, which outlines the experiences and best practices, acquired during the project and set the agreement on future joint project, cooperation and research. All partners agree that the network and cooperation practices need to be continued, as there is a need to continue promotion of the Northern arts and culture. Tuija Hautala-Hirvioja added that the idea is that the cooperation will be continued within the created network including all partner countries. Moreover, it would be useful to expand. 3
Irina said that at the moment it is a challenge, as there are not so many suitable funding programs available. Many funding programs just have finished the operational period and the new one may start in a while. Furthermore, the theme of culture (in different forms) was excluded from many funding programs which are about to start their cooperation period. Thus, ENI (successor of the ENPI) will not further fund people-to-people cooperation. Another program which was considered is Baltic Sea Region Programme 2014-2020 (Fostering innovations, Internal and external accessibility; Baltic Sea as a common resource; Attractive & competitive cities and regions) Nevertheless there are several funding possibilities to continue the cooperation within the developed network. One of them is Northern Periphery and Arctic Program 2014 2020. Among four priorities (incl. Using Innovation to Maintain And Develop Robust And Competitive Communities; Promoting Entrepreneurship to Realise the Potential of the Programme Area s Competitive Advantage; Fostering Energy-Secure Communities through Promotion of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency), there is one which fits our intentions - Protecting, Promoting and Developing Cultural and Natural Heritage. Irina said that the first call of the Northern Periphery and Arctic Program 2014 2020 will be opened in the early autumn. Partners agreed that this would be the good option, also because Russian partners can take part. Irina presented another possible platform to continue Northern Beauty cooperation - Creative Europe, Culture subprogram, European cooperation. According to the guidebook, the priorities of the Culture Sub-programme are to reinforce the cultural and creative sectors' capacity to operate transnationally and internationally and to promote transnational circulation and mobility. The Culture Sub-programme provides support in particular for wide range of actions: (a) transnational cooperation projects bringing together cultural and creative organisations from different countries (b) activities by European networks of cultural and creative organisations from different countries; (c) activities by organisations with a European vocation fostering the development of emerging talent and stimulating the transnational mobility of cultural and creative players and circulation of works, with the potential to exert a broad influence on cultural and creative sectors and to provide for lasting effects; (d) literary translation and the further promotion of translated works 4
Partners agreed that this is a good option. Tomi Aho commented that the Creative Europe program is very competitive one and it is not easy to get the funding. Also, in practice, we won t be able to focus only on the Barents region partners and will have to expand the network further. Tuija commented that it probably will be benefitting for the network. Moreover, it may be too challenging to connect to partners in other European regions, as we all have broad networks. Andreas Hoffman joined discussion stated that probably the consortium hhas to pay attention to smaller national fundings, such as Nordic Council of Ministers, Norwegian Barents Secretariat, etc. Tomi Aho pointed out that the main disadvantage of the small national programs is that they provide limited financing for the limited amount of partners in terms of geographical diversity. Nevertheless, it is worth to consider them, especially in the case of Russian partners. Meeting participants agreed to follow the possibilities of the Northern Periphery and Arctic Program 2014 2020 and the Creative Europe, Culture subprogram. In the meantime, the attention has to be paid to the smaller national programs to ensure funding for all partners. 5. ADDITIONAL TRIPS As it was agreed at the previous Steering group meeting in Luleå, Irina asked if partners have suggestions for the additional benchmarking/dissemination visits outside the program period. Tomi Aho said that Art Promotion Center of Lapland Project partners plan visit Amsterdam to benchmark the structure of transnational cooperation between cultural and creative organizations. The participants of the trip will visit the DutchCulture - centre for international cooperation, (Creative Europe Desk NL/Culture Sub-program and TransArtists Desk), European Cultural Foundation (ECF) and Amsterdam School of Arts. During the trip, they will present the concept of the project Northern Beauty, Barents Visual Arts in the 1970s and the 1980s and Kolarctic ENPI CBC Programme as well as to identify ideas that could boost the creative cooperation between Barents region and other part of Europe. Participants will be asked to share their views on various aspects of cross-border cooperation between cultural and creative organizations 5
within the EU and beyond. The group will take note of the factors that improve access to European culture and creative works and promote innovation and creativity. Travel plan: 2-4 days including travel days during summer-autumn 2014. Tomi Aho said that this trip offer the Northern Beauty partnership good opportunity to strengthen and expand contact network for future cooperation and promote the Northern Beauty project. Participants agreed that the meeting would be useful for the project dissemination. 6. ADDITIONAL EVENT IN ROVANIEMI Irina suggested (on behalf of the team of the University of Lapland) to organize additional project event in Rovaniemi in October-November 2014. The purpose of the event to promote Northern Beauty results and particularly the publication to the artists, stakeholders and all interested people. This event will be another reason for the Northern Beauty partners to get together before the end of the project. Meeting members approved the suggestion. 7. ACTIVITIES TILL THE END OF THE PROJECT Irina said that besides Final event in Murmansk and Future Master Plan (which has been discussed already), there is a continuous dissemination of the project results and final project report. Irina reminded to inform the lead partners if any information on the project is published in the national mass media. The Final report has a very similar structure as the Interim reports, which partners have filled twice already. Nothing will be new for the partners there. Important thing t remember is that all partners will have to make the auditing. Those partners who did not do the auditing of the previous financial report has to audit longer period. Irina said that the detailed instructions and schedule for the Final report will be sent to partners in October. 8. OTHER ISSUES Irina Gerashchenko said that the project is officially ends in December 2014. There is a possibility to extend project duration several months, if there are activities to 6
complete and adequate budget. Thus, Irina asked project partners whether they are interested to consider the continuation of the Northern Beauty. The extended activities will be. Future Master Plan and dissemination of the project results to the wider geographical area. Tomas Lind said that depend on the budget. Konsthallen Luleå has used it project budget and can participate in the project only if its expenses will be covered. Olga Kiseleva commented that Murmansk Art Museum planned to finalize the project by the end of the year. Museum is a state organisation, and further continuation would be challenging due to the regulatory issues. In general, most of the partners were positive towards the extension. However, most of the partners almost fully utilized initially allocated budget and therefore cannot continue active participation. It was agreed that the Lead Partner will estimate how much money is expected to be left, whether it is enough to cover the planned activities and whether it is enough to cover partners participation. The decision shall be made based on the budget estimation. 9. CLOSING THE MEETING The meeting was closed at 18:30 CONCLUSIONS and ACHIEVED AGREEMENTS: Practicalities for the event in Murmansk agreed Next Expert Group meeting will take place in Murmansk in conjunction with the symposium In terms of the Future Master Plan the consortium will elaborate possibilities of the Northern Periphery and Arctic Program 2014 2020 and the Creative Europe, Culture subprogram. National programs have to be taken into consideration. Additional trip to Amsterdam by the members of the Art Promotion Center of Lapland is agreed Additional event in Rovaniemi is agreed Project budget shall be reviewed in order to find out whether it is fesible to ask for the extension. 7
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