NEW DRIVING FORCE

Upon the proposal of Foundation 2021, the meeting with the representatives of the culture institutions of Novi Sad was recently held at the OPENS premises. On the occasion, OPENS and previous activities of Novi Sad European Youth Capital 2019 were presented, as well as the future plans.

“Culture institutions are very important for opens for many reasons, and one of them is – co-management. Namely, co-management is intertwined through our application because it is seen in the practical examples of Europe that young people are an excellent driving force, that they bring freshness to the contents, but are not good in expressing that idea without help. The support and wind in the back for young people is actually the institution which can help them, support them, provide space and some resources they have for the content for young people to be implemented. So, when talking about the inclusion of young people in decision-making, co-management is actually the key”, Aleksandra Ilijin, OPENS Programme Coordinator explains.

Co-management is also important when it comes to the programme held by the two capitals. It is natural that between these two processes, there is overlapping, but also cooperation points. And the projects in which the capitals cooperate are the ones where the need and the following natural partner in the process have occurred.

“What we have concluded by reviewing the projects in which our programme overlaps and where we can cooperate is that it would be amazing for OPENS to connect with the culture institutions, and we have already supported them through the “Audience in the Focus” competition, where the idea was to set them in motion a bit in the development of the new audience for their programmes. Institutions which propose projects where young audience is in focus responded to the invitation to the programme and we have decided to call them, and others who work on the projects for young people and to make this kind of a meeting, to connect and to ensure that OPENS has better insight in what culture institutions do with young people and for everyone to connect”, Milica Rašković, Foundation 2021 Development Project Coordinator says.

One of maybe the most important points of the cooperation of the Foundation and OPENS is opening next year – OPENS Culture Station. Since it is an infrastructure and programme, long-term project, it is the legacy of the cooperation of the two capitals. Also, there are the projects we have talked about, Novi Sad Volunteering Service which will also be one of the legacies, with Youth Personal Development Fund and Youth Mobility Fund.