Abstract
This paper presents results of a scientific project titled EPICA - Empowering Participation in Culture and Architecture: activating public resources for and with local community, conducted by 5 scientific institutions in Serbia between 2021 and 2024. Inspired by ideas of empowered participatory governance in culture, the project used participatory action research (EPICA living lab) as the main research method. It implied the gathering of various stakeholders from the local community, concretely biggest municipality in Belgrade, Serbia’s capital: residents, politicians, civil society representatives, vulnerable groups, including researchers, artists and cultural professionals, on an equal common platform within which actions are agreed upon and implemented together, with the purpose to win public resources that will be used by the local community in future. Using the case study of EPICA research, the paper answers the question how can artists and cultural policy researchers participate in efforts of people, social groups and communities to become bearers of bottom-up cultural policy and develop various models of participation in culture, and therefore exercise their right to public resources. Furthermore, key notions such as collaboration, action, empowerment, transidisciplinary approach to culture are defined and analyzed and in this way, the paper presents a framework for a new theory of participation.
Presenters
Nina MihaljinacChairholder and Associate Professor, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Management at the University of Arts Belgrade, University of Arts Belgrade, Serbia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Art in the local community, Participation in culture, Bottom-up policies
