LJUBLJANA (SEEcult.org) - Cultural Contact Point Slovenia / SCCA, Center for Contemporary Arts-Ljubljana will organise on June 12 in Slovenian capital an international conference on networking in the cultural sector Re-network!, as a public part of the Informal meeting of European Cultural Contact Points (CCP Meeting) taking place in Ljubljana and Maribor from 11 to 14 June 2008 as one of the official events within the Slovene EU Presidency cultural programme.

Related links: www.ccp.si/re-network, http://www.scca-ljubljana.si, http://inseecp.blogspot.com, http://inseecp.wordpress.com

Networking in arts and culture has had a long tradition in Europe and there is hardly any professional organisation that is not a member of at least one international network. However, networks as well are facing radical changes affecting cultural industries: new technologies enabling free flow of works and information, audience being transformed into active users…

With the special emphasis put on the intercultural dialogue between the EU and SEE the conference's aim is to find out how ''old'' and ''new'' cultural networks respond to these circumstances and how they manage the problem of free flow of information especially if relevant to transnational cooperation.

The conference will be opened with the introductory speeches by Barbara Kozelj, director-general of the Directorate for Art, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and Marko Peljhan, ambassador of Intercultural Dialogue. Alenka Pirman, artist and founding member of the Domestic Research Society, will moderate discussion with the representatives of EU & SEE cultural networks: Daphne Tepper (Culture Action Europe - EFAH), Pal Steigan (TEH), Vesna Milosavljevic (inSEEcp), Juan Carlos De Martin (COMMUNIA), Dragana Alfirevic (Balkan Dance Network).

Moreover, two keynote speakers will present their views on and experience in networking and free flow of information: Peter Inkei (Budapest Observatory) and Vuk Cosic (net artist).

As a parallel event, the inSEEcp Meeting will take place, gathering editors of on-line cultural portals from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosna and Hercegovina.

The Informal Network of South-East European Cultural Portals (inSEEcp) was founded in 2006 by SEEcult.org (Serbia); Culturenet, Kulturpunkt, Culturelink, Knjiga.hr (Croatia), Artservis, Evrokultura, Radio Student (Slovenia); Culture.mk (Macedonia); Bosniaexpress (Bosnia and Hercegovina).

The inSEEcp was formed as the result of two regional workshops in Belgrade in 2006 and 2007, organised by the Belgrade based SEEcult.org portal for South-East culture and the Goethe-Institut Belgrade, with support of the Pact for stability in South-East Europe.

The conference Re-network! is organized with a support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the European Commission (DG EAC) and Executive Agency (EACEA), Government Communication Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Slovenian EU Presidency Secretariat, CCP Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and other partners.

This conference reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

SCCA-Ljubljana program is supported by Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and City of Ljubljana. SCCA-Ljubljana is a member of Asociacija, the association of non-government organisations and independent creators in the field of culture and art in Slovenia.