CULTUR-EXPPLATFORM DISTRICT GOVERNMENT BURGAS Final project meeting Kavala

The CULTURe EXchange Platform project is implemented under the European Union’s Black Sea Basin Joint Operational Programme. The project started on 1 July It involves organizations from five countries: Georgia, Greece, Republic of Bulgaria, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Moldova. The project duration is 24 months; the EU funding is 295 KEUR.

The overall objective of the project is to enable the cross-border exchange of culture by providing an innovative, multi-lingual IT platform, based on available open source social platform solutions and adapted for culture producers (artists), culture operators (museums, festivals, etc.) and other actors of the culture market. The platform will be an online tool, where all entities related to the culture will be able to advertise, discuss and organize cultural assets and events in the region.

District government Burgas Implemented project activities for the period July 2013 – June 2015

GA1 Platform requirements definition (1-4 Months) GA1 included detailed analysis of the functional and non- functional requirements of the platform, which were taken into account for the upcoming activities. The team from Burgas together with the partners from AMAP extracted and formalized the relevant requirements.

Having in mind the importance of the activity, the project team from BURGAS discussed carefully the strategy for the realization of the proposed task and took the following steps:  Research and testing of different platforms with open source software – 5 different open source platforms were tested by our IT expert;  Communication with IT experts regarding the characteristics of the culture platform – communication with more than 10 different IT experts;  Drawing of the main requirements and including them in a power point presentation – it was introduced to the project partners during the kick-off meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia on  Elaboration of two reports for the functional and non- functional characteristics of the platform – they were presented to all project partners, revised after their comments and uploaded to the project web site.

GA4 Preparation and migration of cultural content to the platform (1-24 Months) For this activity BURGAS and AMAP, with the support of external IT consultants and with assistance of the Lead partner, work on selection, process and upload of the relevant content to the platform. The process was simultaneously executed with a number of partners working on their own content.

Content selection Examine the existing data base Gathering information about the culture sector in the region of Burgas Burgas team has gathered detailed information and contacts of cultre providers and culture operators from the region of Burgas. With the progress of the project Burgas team has also contacted some national organizations. By this moment we have contacts of more than 2000 culture providers from Bulgaria – from other regions and on national level -libraries, community centers, publishing houses and bookstores, press, museums, galleries, culture centers and institutes, associations, foundations in the fields of culture, cinemas, theaters, opera halls, orchestras, individual artists and unions.

21 individuals have sent signed letters of support: Vasil Borisov (painter), Kalina Vergieva (poet), Vili Koleva, Rada Chomakova (pianist), Krasimira Chervenkova, Nenko Chanev (painter), Mariana Pramatarova (poet, publicist), Donka Vladimirova (art manager), Aneta Manasieva (art manager), Ludmila Kutieva (manager Culture center “Sea Casino” Burgas), Galina Usheva (photographer), Kiril Arnaudski (Sozopol Foundation), architect Yavor Dichev (chairman of Association “In the memory of the ancestors”), Daniela Yotova, Kostadin Statev, Emanuil Arnaudov (manager art center “Compass”), Milen Nikolov, Donka Bruseva, Stanka Buhtieva, Veselin Mitkov Romanov, Vesko Ivanov Paunov.

20 organizations have sent signed letters of support: History museum Malko Turnovo, Association “Social center Burgas”, Gallery “Bogoridi” Burgas, Regional library “P. Yavorov” Burgas, Regional History Museum Blagoevgrad, Community center “Svetlina” – 1939 Pomorie, Community center “Bratstvo” Kustendil, Community center “Probuda”-1961 Kustendil, Regional Library “Stiliyan Chilingirov” Shumen, Community center “Razvitie” Dryanovo, Regional Library “Sava Dobroplodni” Sliven, Culture center- museum “Trakart”-Plovdiv, Russian culture-informational center Sofia, Community center “Napreduk”-1895 Radomir, Community center “Drujba”-1898 Durankulak, British culture center Burgas, Gallery “Palitra” Sofia, Foundation “Golden Fish”, Community Center Obedinenie Kurdjali, Drama Theater “Sava Ognqnov” Ruse.

69 users form Bulgaria are registered and use the platform (indicators of achievement 50 culture producers and 5 culture operators registered and using the platform)

Contacting new culture producers and culture operators The platform is enriched regularly, we try to attract more users and create a snowball effect. This is the reason why we started an active campaign for attracting cultural producers and operators in the region in providing their presence and content to the platform.

Signing of Memorandum for partnership in the fields of culture On 17 th of January 2014 was held an official meeting between the Governor of District Burgas and the mayors of all 13 municipalities from district Burgas. An official Memorandum for cooperation in the fields of culture and art, culture and art industries, preservation of cultural heritage was signed. The purpose of this Memorandum is to establish long-lasting cooperation in the fields of culture and art between the Governor of district Burgas and state and municipal culture institutions, municipalities, creative organizations and non- governmental organizations. The present Memorandum is open for adherence for all state institutions and non-governmental organizations that share the above mentioned purposes.

Signing of Memorandum for partnership in the fields of culture A press conference was held in Burgas on The Governor of district Burgas, both depute governors, experts from the administration and wide audience presented at the event. The press conferences ended with an official signing of the Memorandum from more than 50 different organizations – Municipal Children Center Burgas, State Opera Burgas, Municipal Enterprise “Summer theatre and festivals”, Association of the painters Burgas, Culture center “Sea Casino”, Museum “Petya Dubarova”, Museum Ancient Nessebar, Gallery Bogoridi, Historical Museum Pomorie, Foundation Green Burgas, Association of the architects, Regional Library Burgas, State Puppet Theatre Burgas, Art Gallery Nik Nessebar, Salt Museum Pomorie and many others.

Organized meetings with the users Active campaign for attracting cultural producers and operators in the region in providing their presence and content to the platform. Meetings with experts in the fields of culture from the municipalities in district Burgas; Meeting with the organizations signed the Memorandum of Understanding in the fields of culture; On spot meetings with new culture organizations and individuals from district Burgas that still do not have profile on the platform for culture exchange.

Content preparation workshop Taking into account that migration is one of the most important parts from the successful implementation of the project, content workshop was organized in Burgas. The workshop was attended by representatives of all partners’ organizations. The workshop had two parts: In the first one IT expert from GRENA explained the platform functionalities to the partners and train them how to use the platform (“train the trainers”) in order to be educated and able to support the culture producers and operators in the delivery of culture content. In the second part of the workshop IT specialist from BURGAS trained the representatives of different culture organization from the region, as well as individual artists how to use the platform.

Content preparation workshop Burgas I part

Content preparation workshop Burgas II part

International events Work seminar in Gelsenkirchen, Germany in the frames of the project “SMART-PA” – Work meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece in the frames of the project “Tourism paths in the Black Sea Region” – Work seminar in Yalova, Turkey in the frames of the project “Tourism paths in the Black Sea Region” – Learning conference in Burgas, Bulgaria in the frames of the project “SMART-PA” –

Communication with the users of the platform Constant contact with the users of the platform (letters, press-releases, project newsletters, etc.); All visibility materials were translated in Bulgarian. Project tutorial (PDF file translated in Bulgarian language and video file with recorded Bulgarian voice) sent to all users of the platform from Bulgaria. The Culture coordinator assistant 2 examined the ways for arranging of the video file, the necessary software and recorded a Bulgarian voice of the video file. In this way all users from Bulgaria will be able to use in full value the possibilities of the culture platform; Questionnaire for feedback – the users answered how they have learned about the platform for culture exchange, what is their overall rate for it, what information they would like to find on the platform, do they encounter any difficulties using the platform, etc. By now we have received information only from 8 users.

Regular update of the information about the project on the official web page of District government Burgas Regular update of the profile of District government Burgas on the platform – upload of new information, events, pictures and videos (for example Longest horo, Flora center Burgas, Tourism in Burgas, Short presentation of the city of Burgas). Creation of a Facebook page about the project in Bulgarian

Facebook page

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE ATTENTION!

District government Burgas 1 “Tsar Petar” str. Telephone: /