As the activity report advanced to this point already suggests, all that commitment is hardly conceivable if the associated activists do not also receive a little motivation. Thanks to the program “Wir für Sachsen” (“We for Saxony”) of the Bürgerstiftung Sachsen (“Civic Foundation of Saxony”), we were able to pay ten cultural activists a small expense allowance in 2007. Against the background of the total commitment made in 2007, this is almost rather symbolic, but we are very grateful for this excellent instrument for promoting voluntary commitment in Saxony! At the same time, Kultur Aktiv turns “We for Saxony” into an equally heartfelt “We for Europe”!
From March 05 to April 01, 2007, Mariam Sahakyan worked in our office. She was followed by Karine Grigoryan as a guest student from March 24 to April 22. Both live in the city of Gjumri in Armenia and are involved in Meghvik, an association that mainly carries out projects for disadvantaged children and young people. Mariam and Karine worked actively on the projects ‘Out of (B)Order’ and ‘Rock4Peace’ and took over translation activities. The program was funded by The Academy for Educational Development (AED) as part of a FORECAST/HICD program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
In May 2007 we could welcome in our association the first European volunteer: Areg Avetisyan from Yerevan/Armenia. As the first volunteer from Armenia in the history of the program Youth for Europe/Youth in Action, Arge supported us until December 2007 especially in the planning and implementation of projects and tasks related to our partners in Armenia and the Caucasus. The highlight was certainly his indispensable contribution to the tour of the Hover Chamber Choir from Armenia, where he took over the Kultur Aktiv co-production (in cooperation with Marcus Oertel) and the tour management and mastered more than one seemingly hopeless situation. Areg has also been able to get to know and certainly appreciate our association and our environment. We hope that our first European volunteer will be able to take significant impulses for his further life with him during his stay. Areg’s commitment has also motivated us: For 2008 we are planning to employ 3 European volunteers.
Falk Pinkert was the first cultural activist ever to spend a long time abroad.
In preparation of the activities for the 40th anniversary of the twinning of Dresden and Skopje as well as the Rock4Peace project, he worked for two weeks at our partner Lithium Records in Macedonia. In addition to the factual work for both projects, he managed to establish new contacts and find permanent partners in Kosovo. Falk’s activities ensured that the cooperation between Dresden and Skopje would not become a one-way street.
In July, with the support of the Central & Eastern Europe Initiative, Ulyana Minich from Minsk completed a six-week internship at our association. Ulyana prepared the conference “Storm of Change” and actively supported
Ulyana helped to prepare the conference “Storm of Change” and actively supported the implementation of our project Belaplus 2007. We are especially pleased that we could motivate Ulyana for a permanent cooperation with us and our partners!
Within the framework of the support program of the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, we were able to welcome our Macedonian colleague Sonja Djuricic as a guest student in our association in August 2007. The goals of know-how transfer, networking and project development were fully achieved. Sonja supported with her activities especially the preparation of the conference “Storm of Change” and the foundation of the new association “Eastern European Music Association” (EastEMA).
Belarusian photographer and journalist Andrei Liankevich completed a one-day internship with his colleagues at the Sächsische Zeitung in August.
A compulsory internship as part of their respective training was completed by 11 people from Dresden and Cristina Gutu from Moldova.
Cooperation in the Central and Eastern Europe Initiative
- Further training “Press & Public Relations” Participation of our trainee David Schneider May, Karlov (CZ)
- “Network meeting” Participation of the managing director and a project manager June, Wermsdorf (SAX/GER)
- “Netzwerkertreffen” Participation of our networker Markus Oertel, December, Potsdam (GER).