PROJECT NAME:

Reconnection 2.0

SECTOR:

Civil Society

PROJECT VALUE:

Total cost of the project 467,174,40

DURATION:

Start Date: March 10, 2020 End Date: March 10, 2024

IMPLEMENTING PARTNER:

Qendra Multimedia

DIRECT BENEFICIARY:

Qendra Multimedia [Kosovo], Heartefact Fund [Serbia]

PARTNERS:

Heartefact Fund

COVERAGE/IMPACT:

Cooperation, communication and normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia through literary and cultural exchanges.

OVERALL OBJECTIVE:

To reach understanding, promote and instigate cooperation between Serbia and Kosovo, intercultural dialogue, people to people connections through translating plays, cultural exchange and engaged approach, in order to build a universal communication language

PROJECT PURPOSES:

• Foster better communication and inter-cultural exchange between Kosovo and Serbia • Support individual and group artistic and cultural initiatives in Serbia and Kosovo • Elevate the support to the information of citizens and key target groups on the intercultural cooperation and cultural diversity in multitude of ways. • Create a lasting change in government transparency overall, through a combination of approaches that will ensure long term development of cooperation methods between opinions makers in Pristina and Belgrade, through networking and cross-promotion. • To use long lasting partnership between two strong CSO actors on regional scene to launch Reconnection 2.0 as a platform that is enabling exchange and cooperation between Serbia and Kosovo in cultural sector, including theatre performances, translations, stage readings, but also events such are debates, panel discussions and round tables that will build connection between 2 societies. • •

PROJECT STRATEGY:

The main applicant, Qendra Multimedia, is one of the rare organisations in Kosovo that has invited Serbian writers and artists to present their work in Prishtina. As a result of EU’s support to the project, especially in 2016-2017, Polip has evolved from a festival where Serbian guest artists were guarded by the Kosovo police, to a major literature event in the region. Sasa Ilic from Belgrade and Alida Bremer from Croatia are now the co-curators of the festival. The majority of main applicant activities in the 2019 will deal with and support youth participation, social development, reconciliation, through theatre and literature activities that will promote exchange of artists from different ethnic backgrounds and their work, residencies by artists of different nationalities and ethnic background, as well as engagement of youth in organisation of local social theatre groups all over Kosovo. This is perfect platform to further promote cooperation between Prishtina and Belgrade, and expand informing citizens of both countries on real life on the ground in both countries, as well as promote sharing of these experiences. Taking into account rich experiences of both organisations in collaboration and exchange on relation Kosovo – Serbia, the Reconnection 2.0 platform leans on those experiences but also largely expands its goals and ambitions to using culture as a "soft" instrument that can enable people understand each other and identify with one another, in the same time involving general public and theatre audience, as well as public institutions and public office holders into the discussion, has a great potential in deconstructing the inherited patterns of thinking, interpreting and producing the "truth" behind the conflict and its actors, and supporting the reconciliation process. This approach and methodology is chosen out of belief that the question of Kosovo-Serbia relations, and more generally speaking, the issue of Serb-Albanian relations needs to be "translated" from the high politics into the "ordinary" life, that it needs to include various new stakeholders, to be addressed with the help of new methods and approaches, and to expand the network of actors who are willing to take ownership over the process of reconciliation, thus contributing to the normalization process and establishment of trust between the two communities. By promoting joint cultural productions, publishing of books, as well as events where cultural operators, academia, citizens and civil society can freely discuss their views on the Dialogue, as well as invite experts to inform key groups on this process, the project will expand the limited narrative on the Dialogue from the political realm to relations between humans and shared experience, as well as day to day benefits from present agreements that are a part of the dialogue.

ACTIVITIES:

• Residency programs • Theatre performances and artist exchange. • Literature exchange, discussions and debates • Book translations and publishing • Promotional & awareness raising campaign • Two new theatre plays produced;

RESULTS:

• 12 high level stakeholders benefit from the programme. Up to 20.000 people exposed by the work of the artists in both countries. • Up to 100.000 people exposed to the theme of the plays, from direct viewing to exposure trough online methods. • Up to 6,000 people are directly exposed from events content. • Up to 20.000 people are exposed to works directly or indirectly, through the festival, online and library promotions, and through distributors over a longer period. • Up to 60 000 people exposed to campaign on social and traditional media and introduced with events and activities during the project. • Around 1500 people have seen the premiere performances in Prishtina and Belgrade and more planned as the performances will play for a longer period of time with planned local touring of the performances in Kosovo and Serbia as well as international guest performances.