OPENS program in Novi Sad for years selflessly shares and supports youth energy. Whether
it is through the festivals, sport activities, education or activism the strength of the youth is
the centre of everything in the city. OPENS program was grounded upon seven pillars for
which we worked towards since the very beginning. The main goal of OPENS is to develop a
free space where young people can be creative, work on their own ideas and use their energy
to bring the action towards the policy makers.
OPENS PILLARS
I Celebration of youth energy
The most impressive event which the team of OPENS organized was the OPENS Festival of
Colours, developed for the International Youth Day. Almost 3.000 young people attended
this event where the city was coloured in the colours of the youth. We had the opportunity to
introduce ourselves to the residents and tourists of the City of Novi Sad with the Opening
Ceremony of the European Youth Capital 2019 and Handover Ceremony of the
European Youth Capital Title to the next Youth Capital – the city of Amien in France. We
organized free concerts with popular music artists. The citizen association ,,Kosnica’’ with
the support of OPENS developed and realized 39 radio shows under the name of ,,Youth
Radio Show – Reengineering’’ which were emitted on national frequency radio of the City
of Novi Sad. The show gathered almost 40 speakers and about 10.000 listeners of all age
groups. Novo Kulturno Naselje Initiative with the OPENS support developed the project
,,Kurbla – Positive Young People’’ where young people were trained to use different types
of video equipment and production to create and invest in educative and informative content.
Programme included almost 400 young people, and there were 10 video TV shows in
different genres.
II Inovation and creativity encouragement
Through this pillar, we encouraged the innovative and creative approach for almost 27.000
citizens and tourists of the City of Novi Sad. Our events included: StartUp-It, multimedia
quiz for the public; Young People – Big Ideas; OPENS district – International Street
Performers Festival of culture, art and sports; and above all, it accomplished the cooperation
with FISE World Series. The Conference of Youth – Innovations and trends was held
with almost the participation of 100 young people and youth organization colleagues who had
the opportunity to hear and try new innovative methods in working with young people.
Through art and multimedia events OPENS succeeded in gathering more that twenty
thousand citizens and tourists of the City of Novi Sad. Thanks to young people from The
School of Music ,,Isidor Bajic’’ the City of Novi Sad even got into the Book of Guinness
World Record.
III Promotion of Europe and its values
Accomplished activities within this pillar gathered more that 35.000 participants. European
Youth Capital and the City of Novi Sad introduced themselves in Vienna, Paris, London,
Warshaw, Berlin, Prague, Moscow, Brussels and New York where they had the opportunity
to call young people and potential partners to visit Novi Sad and be a part of the OPENS
story. Young people actively participated on several international meetings in European
Counsel, European Union and United Nations. The official network of European Youth
Capitals was formed in the City of Novi Sad. Also, cooperation between the City of Novi Sad
and African city of Asuan (African Youth Capital) was developed.
IV Youth Diversity
More than 2.000 participants took part in developing this pillar. Marking the International
Human Rights Day within our ,,OPENS Free Day’’ event, we raised awareness of youth
rights, personal growth and development. First Pride in the City of Novi Sad was organized
and thus strengthened the promotion of diversity about LGBT population in Vojvodina and
the City of Novi Sad. Also, we worked on prevention of gender discrimination and gender-
based violence. We encouraged Roma’s communities through the realization of different
activist programmes and created a guide for inclusion implementation in education.
V Encouragement of youth participation
Through this pillar OPENS gathered more than 5.000 participants. Through various
programmes, educational workshops and activities awareness was raised for the benefits of
volunteering. We created an innovative platform where you could share your knowledge and
experience ,,The Bank of Time’’. We did the first ,,FIBA 3X3 Challenger’’ and we adapted
OPENS Urban Court for sport, recreational and educational activities for young people in
the City of Novi Sad. We marked both the International Volunteer Day and International
Students’ Day with organizing debates at the University. With the Foundation of ,,Novi Sad
2021 – European Youth Capital’’ OPENS formed the city volunteering service – NVS.
VI Strengthening of Youth Organizations
Through the programs of OPENS FundCon and Youth Budget The Door Opener, OPENS
contributed in developing organizational and individual capacities for the youth programmes.
This pillar influenced more than 75 young people to actively contribute in sharing and
collecting the information about the youth opportunities in the City of Novi Sad – through the
services of InfoPolis and Info4Youth platform.
VII Towards the inclusive policies
More than 30.000 participants gathered and OPENS succeeded to develop long term
collaboration with city management, agencies and institutions both on local, province and
national level. ,,Ms Prime Minister Opens the Doors’’ event was realized through the
dialogue between the youth representatives and Ms Prime Minister of Republic of Serbia
where more than 20 young people had the opportunity to talk to Ms Prime Minister. ,,Mayor
Opens the Door’’ event gathered 20 young people for a dialogue where they had the
opportunity to talk with the city Mayor and representatives of city management. Through the
process of co-management OPENS developed long term cooperation with the Mayor of the
City of Novi Sad, the cabinet of Ms Prime Minister of Republic of Serbia, Ministry of
Culture and Information and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Serbia. OPENS also
contributed to programme: Participative Budget for High School Students – Join us and
find a solution. In this programme high school students got the opportunity to learn about the
mechanisms of participative democracy and to develop their own school communities by
taking a leading role of decision making in the activities.
Youth Budget Programme
Thanks to the title of European Youth Capital our door got opened for the realization of more
than 3.000 activities through 46 programmes, and coordination with 42 youth organizations.
All the above-mentioned projects were developed in association with volunteers and citizens
of Novi Sad without which energy none of the events would not make sense. After three
years of continued support to youth organizations almost 169.796.475 million of dinars was
singled out.
We are surrounded with diverse individuals who are working towards the common goal. And
that diversity is the motivational power of the City of Novi Sad – the city of diverse
international and religious communities and working towards the city of tolerance as a
multicultural society.
