This post is meant to document the achievements of a decade of constant and quality engagement in cultural projects, which lead to the marvelous fact, that the non-government sector is from now on, formally acknowledged in Slovenj Gradec. A list of contributions for the local cultural program for the upcoming 4 years, which did the job in this case, was by far not the only constructive contribution as our activities and consultancies very well documented, it was on the other hand the first result we could obtain within the 2021 launched project of our Koroška demokratična postaja,
In essence, while discussing the proposal for the local cultural program with our project partners, we recognized missing elements of our cultural every day, which we could not leave to go by, without trying to constructively contribute. A normal process, one would believe, which in probably many post-socialist realities is plastered with many hurdles that are primarily set by a political culture still nurtured by clientelistic thinking, which often makes things a little bit more difficult and demands almost constantly a good portion of additional patience.
A potentially long post, entire stories could and maybe should be written around on how civic cohesion can lead to felt prosperity, at the end however, it can be summarized by persistence and constant focus on the quality of your work. Good work is appreciated, – on the long term without exception.
The newly, by the city council ratified local cultural program of the city of Slovenj Gradec for the period of 2021 to 2024 contains now firstly the NGO’s, which by certification of our ministry of culture fulfill public duties, are therefore named “in public interest”. They had never been officially named in any official document of our town. Our demand on reserving funds for the three different players, governmental, non-governmental and amateur, on the other hand reached to far, it was though talked about the preparation of an open call for a two-years program period, which is a compromise, that other Slovenian cities do already practice, it cannot though be a satisfying solution.
It may be mentioned, that we could achieve that the terminus ‘creative industries’ did get its rightful dimension, naming now all different players of that sector, not solely the local, traditional candle maker. Another achievement was the proper narrative allocation of the HABitat Slovenj Gradec, which did become in 2019 part of the public cultural infrastructure of the city of Slovenj Gradec.
Many minor additions, corrections, which were more or less of formal character, were implemented in the final document.
A wonderful description, prepared by Urška Čerče, of the mission, the strategies and targets of raum AU, generally and concretely for the upcoming 4 years did not find its place in the document. We hope, that it may have found a stakeholding reader, that may consider even more so, our work and vital contribution to foster civic cohesion and cultural development.
