KotorArt
International festival
WBCHIL
KotorArt
WBCHIL
WBCHIL project – Western Balkans Cultural Heritage Innovation Lab, a collaborative initiative between KotorArt and the SHARE Foundation, within the joint Cultural Heritage Innovation Lab program.
WBCHIL project is supported by the British Council through Culture and Creativity Learning Lab grant scheme as a part of the project “Culture and Creativity for the Western Balkans” (CC4WBs). CC4WBs is a project funded by the European Union that aims to foster dialogue in the Western Balkans by enhancing the cultural and creative sectors for increased socio-economic impact.
The project is designed to enhance capacities and improve performance of cultural and creative industries in the Western Balkans. The project achieves this by creating opportunities for the development of new skills, gaining professional experience, and acquiring expertise among professionals in the cultural and creative industries. Additionally, it aims to improve the level and quality of cultural production and access within the domain of sustainable cultural heritage management in the Western Balkans.
Thematic projects
WBCHIL
Mentors
WBCHIL
Nana Radenković, Education Manager
Co-founder of Nova Iskra, where she is actively engaged in creating mentoring programs, trainings and workshops for individuals, organizations and companies interested in taking an active role in the processes of transformation, not only of their projects and businesses , but also in a wider sense, through the creation of new ways in which they could learn, live and work in the future. She holds an MA in Management in Culture, Interculturalism and Mediation in Balkans (University of the Arts Belgrade), with great experience working in the private, public and civil sectors. She is supporting teams to innovate and collaborate better through programs like Venture an Idea, Raising Starts, Smart Start, D inkubator, Ninja Accelerator, Playing Narratives, Upgrade, Serbia Innovates, and many more.
Relja Bobić was the author of numerous cultural and artistic projects realized in Serbia, as well as across Europe, in the USA and Canada, since the early 2000s onwards. He was active as an independent curator, arts and events manager and producer, music promoter, radio author, journalist and translator. He initiated and took part in hundreds of cultural events, co-founded four international festivals (including Dis-patch: festival of cutting-edge music and related art from 2002 to 2010), curated exhibitions, conferences, publications and informal education programs. In 2012, he was one of the co-founders of Nova Iskra creative hub, the first creative hub in the Balkans, and later on the European Creative Hubs Network. He is most comfortable in designing programs, processes and frameworks in which young creatives, professionals and innovators can collaborate, develop on both professional and personal level and co-create in brand new ways. He is also member of the Association of Literary Translators of Serbia. Since 2020, he is on the position of the Program Director at the Serbian Games Association (SGA).
Assoc. Prof. Ph.D. Edin Jašarović was born on June 9, 1982. in Podgorica, Montenegro. After completion of his MA studies at UNESCO Chair, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade in 2016. From 2017. to 2020. he was a member of the Council of the Montenegrin National Theatre. From 2020. he is the president of the Council of the Film Center of Montenegro. Beside FDA – Cetinje, he also teaches at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Music Academy and the Faculty of Fine Arts. From 2020. he serves as a Dean of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts – Cetinje.
Vladimir Trkulja is developing digital products that have a positive impact on people’s lives. He is mainly engaged as a consultant in international organizations where he focuses on the early validation of business models and the application of innovative technologies in business transformation.
Jelena Pavićević, Expert in strategic communication
Jelena Pavicevic graduated in Law. She has completed Postgraduate studies of International marketing. From last year she attends EMBA studies of Strategic communications. Most part of her additional education end experience made her an expert in strategic communications. By experience, she is also manager and a leader. By preference, she is en enterpreneur and the owner of the consulting company Benefit Communications, Podgorica. In her professional work, she gained experience in various types of organisations, public institututions and non-government organisations sector, small, medium and large private companies as well as in various social and economic spheres which today succesfull implements in work with her clients throughts business consulting with the accent on strategic communications.
Her current professional focus is on the communications strategies, image consulting and lobbying for different types of clients. In additional to the necessary training and licencing, she is certified Hogan consultant for assesment and coaching, the official EBRD ASB consultant ( advise for small business ) and the first registered lobbyist in Montenegro.
Ana Matić
Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts Cetinje, University of Montenegro. She has 30 years of experience in design education and several design awards. In the last 20 years, she organized and participated in many exhibitions, conferences and workshops in the country and abroad. She is initiator and coordinator of FLUID Design Forum Montenegro (eleven editions since 2013). Founder and President of NGO FLUX (since 2018).
Violeta Đerković, Master’s degree in Sociology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad
Career Summary: Violeta commenced her career during her student years as a television journalist at TV Novi Sad, where she spent 10 years. She transitioned to the field of marketing and communications, becoming a private entrepreneur and leading her own company for 20 years. Since 2018, she has been the coordinator of the cultural station “Svilara,” and from 2020 to the present, she holds the position of coordinator of the Network of Cultural Stations in Novi Sad.
Since 2007, she has been an activist for the cultural heritage protection organization “Almašani,” whose mission is the preservation and interpretation of the cultural heritage of the oldest part of Novi Sad. Within this organization, she has been involved in projects aimed at raising awareness about the importance of cultural heritage. She is a member of the working group for the urban renewal of the Almaški district – the most complex and extensive project of this kind in Serbia, based on the valorization and interpretation of cultural heritage, the implementation of which began in 2021. She actively advocates for and develops models of collaboration between the public and civil sectors in the field of culture and cultural heritage.
She is the coordinator of the Faro Network of the Council of Europe for Serbia. Since 2019, she has coordinated the accession process of “Almašani” to the Faro Network of the Council of Europe, which brings together active local communities dedicated to preserving and interpreting their own cultural heritage. In this process, observing examples of numerous active communities across Europe, she has learned a lot about the possibilities that cultural heritage offers for the overall development of local environments, especially through the development of cultural tourism based on the authenticity that each community carries within itself.
She is also an organizer and participant in numerous domestic and international conferences in the field of cultural heritage.
She is a member of the Creative Industries Section of the Chamber of Commerce of Vojvodina.
She is a member of the Coordination Team of the City of Novi Sad for the implementation of the city’s membership project in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, to which Novi Sad was admitted in 2023 in the field of Media Arts.
Prof. Dr. Ljiljana Gavrilović (1953- ), ethnologist-anthropologist, and has worked in all institutions where an ethnologist-anthropologist can be professionally engaged in Serbia: in the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade (1981-1999), in the Ethnographic Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences (2002-2019) and at Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, Department of Ethnology and Anthropology (2013-2017). She has the highest professional (museum advisor, 1996), scientific (Principal Research Fellow, 2012), and academic title (full professor, 2017). She has been retired since the beginning of 2020.
Ljiljana Gavrilović was engaged in various research fields: customary law, material culture, ethnographic museology, and heritology, with an emphasis on intangible cultural heritage, balancing between European/metanational and national, as well as global, regional, and local aspects of the topics she dealt with. Her efforts to open completely new fields in domestic anthropological production are particularly significant, such as the examination of science fiction (she published her first work from this subfield back in 1986) or – in recent years – the examination of virtual/digital games, worlds and digital culture as a whole.
Her work resulted in the publication of eight (8) independent and three (3) co-authored books, more than 120 scientific papers, participation in many domestic and international conferences, editing of large publications and anthologies, and work in the editorial offices of scientific journals.
Prof. Dr. Đorđe Krivokapić LL.M. is an associate professor of information and communication technology law at the Department of Business Systems Organization, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. He is recognized for his professional and activist engagement in the field of digital rights and as a co-founder of the Share Foundation. He is active in researching, creating, and advocating public policies in the intersection of law and technology at the national, regional, and European levels. He is the author of numerous books, guides, and articles in areas such as personal data protection, information security, internet regulation, and artificial intelligence.
Andrea Radonjanin is an attorney at law and partner at Schoenherr law firm. As the head of the IP team, Andrea advises various foreign clients on their IP-related work in the region. She aslo acts as an IP consultant for the Serbian R&D and Innovation sector. She also acts as a Domain Name Dispute arbitrator before the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
Andrea holds an LL.M. in International Commercial Law from the University of Nottingham, UK and a PhD in Intellectual Property Law from the University of Nottingham, UK.
Andrija Kovač – Cinematographer and director. An audio-visual adventurer and a technology enthusiast.
In pursuit of pioneering topics and avant-garde content across the globe, over the years he has directed and produced numerous short films, documentaries, video essays, exhibitions, as well as curated content for brands, NGO’s, startups, artists and activists.
Founding partner at Panorama Films – a creative studio based in Belgrade, Serbia. His most recent work includes productions for the Museum of the Future and Ministry of Artificial Intelligence in the United Arab Emirates.
Katarina Ejdus is the co-founder of the Cultural Diversity in Sustainable Fashion initiative and the Festival of Different Fashion as a part of it. This groundbreaking project united extraordinary women in sustainable fashion and their initiatives from across Serbia. Katarina’s leadership as a co-founder was instrumental in shaping the initiative’s success, fostering a platform that celebrated diverse and sustainable fashion practices. The initiative combines cultural diversity with environmental consciousness in the fashion industry. Additionally, Katarina is also the founder of “Women on the Way,” a social enterprise and fashion brand based in Serbia, dedicated to employing female refugees and promoting intercultural fashion design.
Lea Stanković, Executive Director Communis
Lea has 14 years of experience in advertising with a focus on digital channels. She has worked on campaigns for global and local clients, many of which have been recognized at festivals such as UEPS, Balcannes, SomoBorac, Sempl, Effie.
She has authored articles for Forbes.com, The Huffington Post and Media Marketing. Between 2013-2020 she was a regular columnist of the Slovenian Marketing Magazine. She was a mentor in AmCham’s Women in Tech programme.
Lea has a B.A. in History from University College London, an M.A. in European Business from ESCP-EAP. She gained a scholarship from IAA to complete an MBA at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership.
Marko Radojković is a subcultural worker from Belgrade who has been creating content through Kišobran NGO since 2008.
His most notable activities and projects include organizing signature indie/alternative “Kišobran parties”, “Hali Gali” music and arts movement and festival, open air summer events “Piknik”, gallery and art hub “Kula”, as well as “Zaokret”, “Sprat”, and “Ruke”, bars based in Belgrade.
Hosting a weekly radio program since 2012, currently on “RadioAparat” online platform.
A lifelong collaborator at “Pop Depression” record label and concert agency, he hopes that one day his band “Benjd” will be featured in the catalog with their debut album.
Milutin Marinović is the co-founder and CEO of the software company Codery, where he leads engineering teams mostly on Business Intelligence (BI) projects, but also projects in other domains.
He occasionally works on projects for the Share Foundation and other organizations he believes have a positive impact on society.
He is involved with the (Serbian) Digital Community, an organization which advocates for transparent and fair digital transformation in Serbia.
Milutin is a member of Horkestar (a self-organized choir and orchestra), with which he has performed in Serbia and at several European festivals, and released an album in Japan.
He has a Mathematics and Computer Science degree from the University of Belgrade
During his studies from 1997 to 2005, Viktor Kiš conducted ceramic classes. Approximately 150 students completed his ceramics school that period. From 1998 to 2008, he managed a studio for the creating special elements with various designs in construction, gaining extensive experience in working with iron. Concurrently, he began collaborations with many major companies in Serbia in the field of marketing, including Coca-Cola, Philip Morris, Red Bull, Telenor, and Vip. He also collaborated with Ball Packaging on enviromental conservation through the creation of interactive sculptures for recycling.
Starting in 2010, he initiated a networking project for artists in Belgrade at Pero Art Center in Dubljanska Street. In 2013, he began an independent project called “Ciglana”, aimed at promoting personal and colleagues’ art. In 2015, along with colleagues, he launched the DEV9T project, bringing together numerous artists from Serbia and abroad in Belgrade each year. The project, supported by various embassies, attracts around 35,000 visitors annually and takes place in June.
In 2014, collaborated with the Prodigy group on the visual identity of their festival.
Since 2008, he has been an active collaborator of the EXIT festival in Novi Sad. He collaborates with the embassies of Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Israel, and the Netherlands to strengthen international cooperation in the field of arts.
He has participated in numerous international art colonies and festivals, notably the Burning Man festival in Nevada, USA, where he created the sculpture “Changes” as part of the Serbian team.
Vladan Joler is an academic, researcher and artist whose work blends data investigations, counter-cartography, investigative journalism, writing, data visualisation, critical design and numerous other disciplines. He explores and visualises different technical and social aspects of algorithmic transparency, digital labour exploitation, invisible infrastructures and many other contemporary phenomena in the intersection between technology and society.
Dubravka Vrgoč
She graduated in Dramaturgy from the Academy of Dramatic Arts and obtained a master’s degree in Comparative Literature from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. She worked as a theater critic and culture editor at “Vjesnik” and contributed to cultural magazines both nationally and internationally. She was a Fulbright scholar at the City University of New York and New York University, as well as a British government scholar in the “Theater of the 21st Century” project. Since 2003, she has been the founder and artistic director of the World Theatre Festival. From 2004 to 2014, she served as the director of the Zagreb Youth Theater, and from 2014 to 2022, she was the intendant of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb. In three terms, she was the president of the European Theatre Convention and a member of the board of the European Theatre Convention and Opera Europe. She initiated numerous Croatian projects such as “Open Square Day,” “Open City Day,” “Croatian National Theater in Your Neighborhood,” “Open House Zagreb Festival,” “They’re Coming,” as well as European projects like “Spring Tour ETC,” “European Theatre Lab,” “Prospero,” and “Stage.” She was awarded the Order of Danica Hrvatska with the likeness of Marko Marulić for outstanding contributions to culture and its promotion in Croatia and worldwide, and the City of Zagreb Award for exceptionally international presentation of Croatian theater. She has also been honored with the Order of the Star of Italy, which the Republic of Italy awards for exceptional contributions to promoting friendship and cooperation, and persistent efforts for the development and expansion of theatrical cultural exchange between the two countries.
Dragan Ćalović was born in 1976. He obtained his PhD in Theory of art at the University of Arts in Belgrade. He is a full professor at the Faculty of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade.
He is a member of the Aesthetic Society of Serbia, the Croatian Philosophical Society, the International Aesthetic Association and Matica Srpska. He is the author and co-author of four monographs and more than a dozen edited editions, as well as over ninety scientific papers. His main research interest remains in the field of theory of art, theory and philosophy of media, and oriental art.
Maja Vuković Biserko graduated in History of Art at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. She gained rich experience in the cultural and creative industries sector as a cultural worker, art historian, curator and project manager in both the civil and public sectors. As an art historian, she researched the legacy of the Yugoslav Dadaist-Zenitist group Travelers, as well as the museological treatment of the group’s artworks. As the editor of the visual arts and literature program, she successfully organised and edited many exhibitions, literary programs and debates. In October 2021, she joined the KROKODIL Association as a project manager, implementing numerous projects and programs, and the KROKODIL festival.
Expert in Business Strategies and Communication Psychology
Radoje Cerović, Master of Clinical Psychology from La Sapienza University in Rome. A business consultant, specializing in communication psychology and digital transformation strategies. Author of the book “La Nuova cultura aziendale” (Milan, 2007), TEDx speaker. Executive director of the consulting firm CS&C, based in Rome and Podgorica, and the founder of several technological startup initiatives.
Vučić Ćetković is advisor to the Prime Minister for culture and youth. He was director of Museums and Galleries in Podgorica for a four-year term. He previously worked as a consultant in the field of European integration. He also worked as a project manager in the civil sector. At the same time, he is engaged in artistic work, i.e. painting and drawing. In cultural and artistic scene he participates also in strategic development and cultural policies.
Dragana Jovanović is a conductor and associate professor of choral singing and conducting, as well as the vice dean for international cooperation and projects at the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade. She began her conducting career during her studies as a professor and conductor of the Mixed Choir and Symphony Orchestra at the Kosta Manojlović Music School in Zemun. She continued as an assistant conductor and conductor of the Academic Choir Obilić of the Academic Cultural-Artistic Society Branko Krsmanović, Mixed Choir and Symphony Orchestra of the Faculty of Music Arts in Belgrade, Mixed Choir of Radio Television of Serbia, and chief conductor of the Orchestra of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia.
Her artistic work is directly associated with the Academic Choir Collegium musicum, with which she actively performs in the region and worldwide. The specificity of her artistic research lies in authorial projects that explore choral performance in interaction with the broader community, through establishing relationships between choral sound and movement, mise-en-scène, space, light, electronics, dramaturgy, visuals, etc. (Sirens, Mokranjac 1914 – 2014, Document: WATER, Snake Bride, African Sanctus, Three Sounds of Mokranjac, Shklovsky, Inter nos… and The Stolen Prince and the Lost Princess).
Dragana Jovanović is the author of books, professional papers, seminars, and workshops in the field of conducting and choral interpretation. She is also a participant in several strategic projects in the field of higher music education, aiming to enhance the competencies and entrepreneurial skills of academic musicians in Serbia for a more culturally engaged society.
Milica Nikolić is an expert in the fields of culture and gender equality, a doctoral candidate in ethnology and anthropology. She is the author of several scientific and expert papers published in domestic and international journals in the humanities. She participates in conferences in Montenegro and abroad, focusing her research on topics such as identity, the relationship between the individual and the community, heritage interpretation, feminism, etc.
She has been involved in and coordinated various projects and policies in the field of culture, including the national cultural development program, preparation of nomination dossiers for the inclusion of cultural heritage on the UNESCO list, overall coordination of the process of inscribing the Boka Navy on the UNESCO Representative List, as well as many other processes.
She is also a teaching assistant at the University of Donja Gorica within the Anthropology curriculum.
Sara Mandić
Sara completed undergraduate and master’s studies in piano at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, and a master’s in cultural policy and management at the University of Arts in Belgrade. Currently, she pursues a doctoral degree in Transdisciplinary Studies of Contemporary Arts and Media at the Faculty of Media and Communication, Belgrade.
In 2002, as part of the official state delegation and representative of the European group of countries, she participated in the Special Session of the United Nations on Children’s Rights in New York. As a representative of Serbia and Montenegro and Southeastern Europe, she addressed the topic of education before UN Security Council.
As a pianist, she has performed extensively, including as a soloist, in chamber ensembles, and as an accompanist. She currently teaches piano and accompanies at the “Josif Marinković” music school in Belgrade.
As a cultural manager, she has been involved in the planning, production, and development of several festivals and numerous cultural initiatives and events. She currently works as the Production and Development Manager of the KotorArt International Festival, freelances as a Project Manager for the Association KROKODIL. She participated in the establishment of the Vasilije Mokranjac Foundation, where she was actively involved as secretary until 2022.
She is the author of several scientific articles published in domestic journals in the field of humanities.
Ratimir Martinović, pianist, university professor, founder, and artistic director of the International Festival KotorArt. According to critics, with “high intellect, brilliant technique, and original expression, while simultaneously possessing delicate lyrical and powerful dramatic sound with numerous alchemical tonal nuances,” he secures a special place and status among the artists of his generation. He has performed over 700 concerts and played with around 60 orchestras in
Europe, Asia, South and North America, in the most prestigious concert halls.
Martinović is the founder and artistic director of the International Festival KotorArt. The festival often programmatically addresses a range of current social issues that intertwine with culture and art, creating new sound testimonies of our time.
In addition to KotorArt, Martinović is the founder and director of the Wild Beauty Art Festival, held every summer in the Durmitor National Park, as well as a co-founder and president of the ME&US Foundation (Montenegro and the United States), based in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
He is also active in the field of education. He is one of the youngest regular professors in the history of the University of Novi Sad, who, from the age of 24, independently shapes generations of young pianists.
Together with the Mokranjac family, he is the founder of the “Vasilije Mokranjac” Foundation, whose mission is to preserve the legacy of the great Serbian music creator and promote his achievements in regional and global contexts.
He released a double CD with the complete piano opus of Vasilije Mokranjac in November 2019 for the publishing house “Naxos/Grand Piano Production.”
Nikola Radonjić
Designer and producer. Born in 1988 in Cetinje, where he specialized in visual communications at the Faculty of Fine Arts. He holds a Master’s degree at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje, in the production program, with a focus on creative production. His work and practice in the fields of advertising, creative industries, and branding have been part of numerous workshops, exhibitions, institutional analyses, and conferences at both local and international levels, such as the Goethe Institute, Paris Digital Summit, the “European Capital of Culture” project, EU innovations in cultural heritage, Creative Montenegro, etc. He was a member of a team which received the prestigious “German Design Award 2021” and the winner of the “Brand Awards 2022” in Frankfurt. Currently, he is the creative director at the interdisciplinary studio in Podgorica – DAA Montenegro.
Samit Heritage & Creativity
WBCHIL
Heritage & Creativity Summit 1 - 4 february 2024
Heritage & Creativity Summit is part of the WBCHIL project – Western Balkans Cultural Heritage Innovation Lab, a joint initiative of the International Festival KotorArt and the SHARE Foundation dedicated to enhancing capacities in the field of cultural heritage and creative industries in the Western Balkans. WBCHIL focuses on improving entrepreneurial skills and approaches to technological knowledge to empower organizations and teams in the process of building sustainable business models in the cultural and creative industries based on cultural heritage.
Heritage & Creativity Summit will take place in Kotor from February 1 to 4, 2024, bringing together professionals active in the field of cultural heritage, cultural tourism, and creative industries. Participants will include representatives from the academic community, the public sector, and the business sector, as well as other stakeholders dedicated to researching and creating synergies between cultural heritage and cultural and creative industries in the Western Balkans. Additionally, the Summit will gather selected semi-finalists from the open call for thematic projects that connect cultural heritage with cultural and creative industries.
Summit’s program will include lectures, panels, panel discussions, workshops, mentoring sessions, and public presentations of ideas from the finalists of the open call for thematic projects. Key Summit topics will cover areas such as business planning, product design in the field of cultural heritage in the digital age, the impact of artificial intelligence on creative industries and production, as well as the application of advanced technologies in the field of cultural heritage..
During the last day of the Heritage & Creativity Summit, the finalists will present their projects, after which a panel of experts will select the winners of the competition. The chosen winners will then participate in the Heritage Innovation & Collaboration Incubator from March to October 2024.
Tickets
Tickets are available through the GigsTix network, online at www.gigstix.me and throughout Montenegro, at selected Tobacco S Press locations.
Support the festival
As a festival of special importance for the culture of Montenegro, KotorArt enjoys the patronage of the Municipality of Kotor and the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro. A large number of successful companies in Montenegro and the region supported the festival – JOIN US AND YOU