the tree of life Connecting With Our Neighbors
CWON 02 - International Cultural Connection

CWON02 - Description

A journey will be organized to connect most neighboring countries in East Europe. In every town meetings will be organized. These meetings have the aim to establish long term cooperation between all organizations involved. Suggestions for future possibilities will be discussed and information material handed over.
During these meetings (mostly taking place for two or three days) also a public presentation will be given. Besides that a workshop for the set up of the CWON webside, controled by all participants, will take place.

There are many very interesting groups in East Europe. There is good interest for the culture of slavic people in East Europe and we can show ourselves (and others) that we are not only working for 'western glamour' but also for the soul.
This trip will be made with artists (musicians and poets) from Sarajevo and with artists and promoters from other former Yugoslav republics. 6 people all together.
We want to be able to take 2 people from every town we visit, to the next town we will visit and then send them back by bus.

All together more than 10 organizations will participate and about 35 participants will join meetings outside of their own town and country.

Aims

Aim is to set up plans for more intensive future contacts between East European independent cultural organizations. These contacts should result in the realisation of a big quantity of independent, small scale projects between the members of the connection. Finally creating an open network for future young people to find the contacts, possibilities and experience to meet each other. The aim is to reach up to 100 spinn off projects in the three years after the program.
It is in the philosophy of CWON that traveling offers the most pure form of information about the world around us.

Possible Participants

· Peace Office Outpost (Sarajevo, Bosnia Hercegovina) [international cooperation organization]
· Post Pessimists (Subotica, Yugoslavia) [youth organisation, community building]
· URK (Zagreb, Croatia) [management office and music label]
· Society of Friends of Slow Progress (Koper, Slovenia) [social and cultural youth network]
· Next Stop New Live (Minsk, Belorus) [social cultural youth organization]
· Cesta (Tabor, Czech Rep) [intenational art club and organization]
· Inter Music (Novi Sad, Yugoslavia) [music management]
· Radio 7 (Vilnius, Lithuania) [music radio and cultural management]
· Markbell (Tallinn, Estonia) [Music club and management]
· Tam Tam or others (St. Petersburg, Russia) [Musicians initiative]
· Durman (Bratislava, Slovakia) [independent supporter of ex-yugoslav activities]
· Zesde Kolonne (Eindhoven, Holland) [multi cultural organization and distribution]

Coordination: Set up by Peace Office Outpost. Spin off projects by the independent organizations.

Program

- Information session with participants. These sessions will contain discussions about commen projects in the future, commen fundraising, suggestions to involve a broad spectrum of organizations in every community, like ecological issues, media and artists, set up of festival tour with all participants and more.
- Poetry and music performances.
- Media output.
- Workshops on web design and common use of webpage.

Timetable

- Untill October 1999 preparations through email.
- Preparation meeting will be held in Sarajevo in the autumn of 1999 or Spring 2000.
- Intense preparation on international level in winter 1999 / 2000.
- We expect to make this trip in March of 2000. It will take about three weeks.
- Untill the end of 2002 many small activities will be organized and published on a commen website.