City wards are also parts of the Košice – ECOC 2013 project

The City of Košice is one of the seven founding Coalition 2013+ members. The new management of the non-profit organization Košice – European Capital of Culture 2013 has realized the fact that the city is made ​​up of 22 city wards, and it organized a meeting with the leaders of Košice city wards at the beginning of October. They were – according to their words – pleasantly surprised by the invitation to the negotiating table. Twelve leaders of Košice city wards finally accepted this invitation, who discussed with the Executive Director of Košice – ECOC 2013 Ján Sudzina, the Art Director Vladimir Beskid and the SPOT-s project manager for community development Blanka Berkyová.

“We are not a super agency that will provide all the cultural events and projects in the City of Košice in framework of the project Košice – ECOC 2013. We see our position in their coordination and this also applies to Kosice city wards. We can help methodically to ensure cultural venues, organized by city wards, for example in the process of seeking funds from grant programs. We have experts ready to cooperate in projects creating and preparing applications for their funding from the grant scheme, ” J. Sudzina said at the meeting.

V. Beskid asked the leaders of city wards to promote events within the project Košice – ECOC 2013 in city wards periodicals. Several leaders responded immediately. They will gladly publish articles about Košice – ECOC 2013 in the city wards periodicals. “We are interested in what will happen in the city wards in 2012 and 2013 and what events would be appropriate to include in Košice – ECOC 2013,” said V. Beskid. The Leader of City Ward Košice – Šaca Rudolf Reštei responded by quoting his experience with the former management of the non-profit organization Košice – ECOC 2013. He said, although it requested documents on cultural events in city wards two or three years ago, “up to now I haven´t felt the relationship between Košice – ECOC 2013 project team and Košice city wards. We will appreciate it if the new management decides to move closer to people through the city wards.”

Both sides agreed that the first meeting was the beginning of dialogue. If it is constructive, it will become an important part of Košice – European Capital of Culture 2013 future success.

Source: www.kosice2013.eu