Navigating bureaucratic mazes, writing lengthy applications and translating creative ideas into formal tables can be a major obstacle for many artists and creative professionals. Many brilliant concepts never come to life simply because artists do not speak the “language of administration”.
A joint programme by the Creative Europe Desk Serbia, OPENS and Europe House Novi Sad offered a solution through the two-day practical training “Culture Moves Europe: Have an Idea? Make It Happen!”, held in mid-August at the OPENS Youth Centre in Novi Sad.
Following the training, 15 young artists and cultural professionals had a ready-made “framework” for their project ideas and were prepared to apply independently for European funding under the Creative Europe programme, with a new call opening in October.
Milica Rašković from the Creative Europe Desk Serbia points out that artists from this part of Europe often remain within the borders of the former Yugoslavia, missing out on opportunities offered by the wider European space. This is why the training was designed to encourage participants to “broaden their horizons and think not regionally, but European-wide.”
Rašković also stresses that the Culture Moves Europe programme is not intended exclusively for organisations.
“Culture Moves Europe is intended for artists and cultural professionals who can apply as individuals. So this is not a call for organisations, but for individuals who can either go alone or in a group of up to five people to another country and carry out their own small-scale project,” she explains.
The seminar was held to mark International Youth Day at the OPENS Youth Centre, and the training culminated on 13 August with an open-air screening of the film *The Summer I Learned to Fly*.
This domestic hit, developed with the support of the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe, tells a story about growing up and overcoming barriers, perfectly reflecting the essence of the training: building connections and broadening horizons.