Time Perspectives:
Long-term Benefits from the Culture – Audience Relationship
An Intercultura Consult project realised with the support of the National "Culture" Fund, Bulgaria, in partnership with eight organizations and a team of local and international experts.
"Time Perspectives" was the second micro-incubation project of ICC directed at improving the audience interaction for a selected group of cultural organisations. It involved two museums and two cultural community centres, working in smaller settlements in Bulgaria. These organisations are an important driver of local development in their communities and eager to explore creative collaborations beyond current practices in order to establish a lasting connection with their audience - on site and online.
Partners and experts share their experience in the project: the goals they set and the activities developed to achieve them. You can now watch the interviews with English subtitles.
The project results were presented in the internal conference "Craft Work, Design, Creativity: Between Tradition and Contemporaneity"
In early June, the ICC team presented the achievements of the project partners to specialists from France, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. The event was held in Gabrovo and Plovdiv and was organized by the Regional Ethnographic Open Air Museum “Etar”, Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski”, Universite Sorbonne Paris Nord, LabSIC, PREFics EA 4246, Foundation „Stoina Krastanova“, Creative Shift Studies Industries, Culturelle Creation Artistique. Read the presentation in English here.
Guidelines for cultural organizations in their work with audiences - an output from the project.
In the period 2021 – 2022, the partnering organizations developed new mechanisms for assessment of the impact of their cultural activities on the public. This was achieved through group work, exchange of experience and with the support of mentors and experts. In order to improve communication with the audience, new creative services and products were prototyped and their results were assessed in view of the added value for the public.
March - June 2022 - New cultural offers and novel approaches connecting with the audiences
The four cultural organizations created new offers for their target audiences and developed tailored approaches to promote new activities.
Improved communication strategy – Natural Science Museum in the village of Cherni Osam
Photo: Ranger's Day event on June 1, 2022 in the Museum of Natural History in the village of Cherni Osam
The museum recognized the need to improve its digital communication channels. The team developed a strategy for communicating the series of events celebrating Ranger’s Days. Within the project, the museum engaged a communications professional and later decided to hire this specialist as part of its permanent team. It continues to improve the strategy for communication in the digital environment.
Intangible heritage, slow tourism and design – Chitalishte „Prosveta – 1881“ in the village of Kostenets
Photo: Branded products created as part of the organisation’s activities in the project
The chitalishte (community center) worked in partnership with a designer and a travel agency. They created a modern interpretation of the traditional graphic elements of Kostenets decorated eggs. Residents, tourists and visitors of the village were acquainted with the Easter tradition of the village of Kostenets in a rich offer including: a workshop on decorating eggs, an exhibition, a bazaar and a concert.
Volunteering: a value-added cultural experience for local youth – Museum of humor and satire, Gabrovo
Photo: a workshop for volunteers conducted in March 2022
The museum started a volunteering program for young people aged 14 - 29. A core of 15 young people are already active participants in the program. They assist the museum in diverse activities: logistics, coverage of events, welcoming guests and visitors, etc. Over 30 young people took part in volunteer training workshops: on photography, video content creation and environmental awareness. The program is a precious opportunity to improve the museum’s connection with young people and bring youth a chance to become a cultural institution insider.
Renewing interest in traditional textile – Chitalishte „Elin Pelin – 1896“, Elin Pelin
Photo: workshop for processing textile that took place on June 6, 2022.
The chitalishte (community center) recognized the need of increasing the interest in its museum collection, which includes objects related to traditional textile processing. To promote the collection, the community center created promotional videos and organised a workshop for children and youth who could learn a traditional craft of decorative wool objects used by designers today.
In February 2022, our partners began active creation of new cultural proposals. As part of the process, they met with curator Victoria Draganova, who offered suitable artistic and creative collaborations to meet the needs of each organization.
In the months from November 2021 to February 2022, partners and experts worked hard to define the new cultural proposals for clearly defined target audiences. In our work so far, we have analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each partner, as well as the conditions and challenges that their environment offers. One of the results of this analysis can be seen in the organizational presentations created by Lidiya Peycheva (in Bulgarian).
In December 2021, we introduced the partners to opportunities for cooperation in the tourism sector. The partners met with Ekaterina Terzieva from Slow Tours, who showcases to tourists different regions in Bulgaria with their cultural and natural heritage. Together they discussed the resources at the local level that can be activated in cooperation with the tourism sector.
In November 2021 we are holding two workshops:
1. "Effective connectivity between organisations and audiences on site and in the digital environment" -in the Museum of Natural Science in the village of Cherni Osam - in it the creative partners met the organizations from the project "Reconnect: Audiences and Cultural Content in the Digital Environment” and were introduced to their experience in the project. They also developed their ideas for connecting with the public and discussed the strategic needs for developing these ideas into successful cultural proposals. Volunteers from the museum in Cherni Osam, as well as representatives of the performing arts sector also took part in the workshop.
2. "International Perspectives" – online workshop. In this workshop the creative partners learned about the experience of two organizations from Russia and Germany / Switzerland in developing new creative services and value-added products and their distribution online. Yulia Bardun and Elisa Calosi presented their experience in developing proposals for connecting the local and digital community with cultural activities and products. You can learn more about the experiences in the article here. In this workshop, the partners also worked on finding potential partners in their experiments and developing a strategy for connecting with them.
PARTNERS:
The Natural Science Museum in the village of Cherni Osam is situated in the Biosphere Reserve Central Balkan. Established in 1970, today the museum works actively in the field of environmental education. It provides diverse educational programmes for visitors and extracurricular activities for partner schools in the region. It attracts international volunteers who support the scientific work as well as relations with the public.
Chitalishte (community center) "Prosveta-1881" is located in the village of Kostenets and is the first one established in the Municipality of Kostenets. It provides library services, art education and space for amateur art groups known for their authentic folklore tradition. The center is involved in cultural heritage preservation and is the initiator of the inclusion of the “Wax Drawing on Eggs” tradition from the village of Kostenets in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Bulgaria. Younger audiences are involved through creative training with topics such as interconnectivity of natural and cultural heritage.
Chitalishte (community center) “Elin Pelin 1896” is known for its cultural and educational activities in the fields of theatre, dance, folk music and folk dance for children and adults.
The Community center has a rich ethnographic fund. Besides its focus on Bulgarian traditions the chitalishte hosts cultural events and organises festivals.
The House of Humor and Satire in Gabrovo was founded in 1972 true to its motto "The world lasts because it laughs". The museum has a rich collection of artworks and a diverse educational programmes for children and teenagers, and it holds many creative competitions. The mission of supporting and promoting humor-based creativity is embodied in different exhibitions, forums and many cultural events, including international ones.
Associated Partners:
Meeting Points is a not-for-profit organisation that creates opportunities for transformative meetings between people, who often do not see many commonalities among each other. The organisation uses art, culture and non-formal education as a means to work with communities whose access to art and culture in Bulgaria is limited.
Established in 2007, 36 Monkeys is the creator of numerous theater and performance art productions for stage and for non-theatre spaces. 36 Monkeys are an established name in contemporary drama and theatrical experiments. The organization has been recognised with numerous theater awards and nominations, and their performances are selected in national and international festivals.
Malle-Malle Puppet Theater opened in 2013 as a street puppet theater. The troupe has toured and participated in а multitude of tours and festivals. The team has created numerous performances (with and without puppets), including their emblematic soap bubbles show. In March 2020, the theater started their online television channel "Malle-malleTV".
Experts:
Elisa Calosi, project manager and cultural mediator
Yulia Bardun, културен мениджър, куратор и обучител
Lidiya Peycheva, is an expert in project management in the field of culture and arts with experience in development and execution of productions for cultural products and events since 2013. For five years held a position as Chief Expert Programs and Projects at the National Culture Fund under the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture. Today Lidiya consults national and private cultural organisations on digital communication, visual representation, digital transformation of activities and projects for audience development, monitoring, and sustainability and development strategies.
