The Creative Producers programme in the Western Balkans is entering a new phase, with successfully selected participants and their exciting projects which will be taking place this spring and summer in Bosnia and Herzegovina!

Creative Producers is a professional development and funding opportunity for emerging producers in the Western Balkans aiming to enhance their skills and capacity, build new networks, and contribute to co-production. It is envisioned to help create a sustainable creative sector community rooted locally but connected internationally who understand everything from creative vision and technical challenges to budgets, logistics and audiences.

The programme was launched as an open call for applications in November 2021, after which 14 successful candidates from the region were selected to take part in what came next: two weeks of online development workshops facilitated by Curated Place, a Manchester-based arts-led creative production company, which led the participants through the process of designing their creative projects. Among other valuable knowhow, the participants were given guidance on how to clearly communicate their ideas, make practical delivery considerations around where, when and how those ideas would happen and – crucially – how to determine their target audiences. 

Having successfully completed this phase in February 2022, the producers all gave their final pitch to the programme team and were given the green light and funds to begin the project inception stage – with dates and logistics firmly in place. 

A total of 14 projects will be kicking off in late spring and running throughout the summer period in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Our up-and-coming creative producers have it all – inspiring and fresh ideas coupled with the energetic drive to execute them, all of which is sure to appeal to diverse audiences hungry for memorable and engaging experiences this season!

Creative Ecologies. Bihać is the New Green

Format: Open-air visual arts exhibition

Organisation / Producer: KRAK / Mehmed Mahmutović

Date(s): June – July 2022 (TBC)

Location: Bihać

Creative Ecologies involves installing permanent sculptures, i.e. art objects on the streets, squares, facades and shores of the city of Bihać, with the intention of initiating a critical discussion on climate change and tendencies of environmental destruction by politicising the city’s public spaces. The idea is to reduce the distance between artistic image and real life in the context of the European periphery and marginalised locations such as Bihać. The accompanying public engagement programme would feature an artist talk titled Panel Discussion. Creative Ecologies which would elaborate on these topics and the project’s additional goal of declaring Bihać as a ‘Green City’. The project will also feature a special art installation called Bihać is the New Green that will interact with locals and tourists to provide answers regarding the possibilities of making a city ‘green’ and what that really means – the city is green if we think and strive for it.

FASADA (Fresh Air Sarajevo Displays Art)

Format: Street art festival

Organisation / Producer: Obojena Klapa / Benjamin Čengić

Date(s): 20 August – 5 September 2022

Location: Sarajevo

The FASADA Festival aims to reduce air pollution levels in Sarajevo through murals created using special paint with photocatalytic technology that neutralises noxious particles in the air. Drawing on the success of the 2021 iteration of the festival, FASADA 2022 will feature 5 murals painted by international artists, 1 mural done by a local artist, 2 graffiti jams, as well as a one-day conference on the topic of the relationship between ecology and art. The primary aim of the conference will be to promote the concept of air-purifying murals around the world, as well as to establish a stronger international network of street art festivals and organisations.

How to be a pioneer: Feminism, Art and Future

Format: Visual arts exhibition & exchange between BiH and Kosovo

Organisation / Producer: Obojena Klapa / Adna Muslija

Date(s): 17 June – 1 July 2022

Location: Sarajevo

How to be a pioneer: Feminism, Art and Future is a joint project by Sarajevo’s Manifesto Gallery and Prishtina’s Mini Studio. The project aims to foster cultural cooperation between BiH and Kosovo by bringing forward powerful female artists dealing with feminist counter-narratives, future, revolution, and ideology. There will be two exhibitions: one in Sarajevo showcasing artworks by Kosovo artists, and one in Prishtina showcasing works by Bosnian artists. Both of the exhibitions will be followed by panel discussions and lectures in public spaces. The main goal is to initiate cultural cooperation, but also kick-start a very much needed dialogue on Bosnia-Kosovo relations, in which non-exclusive and diverse audiences can participate. This project is for artists, intellectuals, scholars, and citizens who believe that art can be an important and powerful tool in creating a better future for everyone. Furthermore, the project aims to involve local politicians in the discussion, since in the end, the political power lies in their hands.

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