TEH Newsletter #11 2011: TEH travels the world!

Dear readers,
Welcome to TEH Newsletter #10 2011, featuring the latest news from Trans Europe Halles – a European Network of Independent Cultural Centres. The TEH Newsletter is produced by the TEH Coordination Office in Lund, Sweden.

The end of the year is approaching and we are going through important times of retrospection and planning of further steps for innovation in 2012 – TEH keeps growing! As communication and coordination go hand in hand, the re-building of TEH website has been keeping us busy and excited throughout the whole month. We also had the chance to meet our neighbors in Sweden. TEH Office Manager Marian Söderholm visited Röda Sten Art Centre (Gothenburg, Sweden) in preparation of TEH Meeting 74 and shortly after together with TEH Secretary General Birgitta Persson participated in a conference, dealing with the future of the European project, organised by Intercult in Stockholm, Sweden.

Unfortunately, the last month has also brought us some sad news. Two of the TEH Members, A4 – Zero Space (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Z-Bau (Nürnberg, Germany) had to leave their venues. That is why, it is now important that we, as a network, unite forces and support each other. Sadly, our colleague Edith will not be with us next year – we wish her good luck with writing her MA Thesis! And to all of you, we wish happy new year 2012! We are looking forward to it!

Plamena Slavcheva
Communication assistant at TEH Coordination Office

NETWORK NEWS

Two TEH Members lose their venues

The cultural centres Z-Bau (Nürnberg,Germany) and
A4 – Zero Space (Bratislava, Slovakia), both TEH Members, got recently deprived from their venues. First, Kulturzentrum Z-Bau (Nürnberg,Germany) had to close in October 2011 after the City Council of Nürnberg took over the management of the centre’s building. In less than a month later, we received similar alarming news from A4 – Zero Space (Slovakia, Bratislava). After a selection procedure for a new manager of the venue, A4 was not elected to stay in the building. Thanks to Marek Adamov from Stanica (Žilina, Slovakia) we learned more about the situation.

Sustainable Public Areas for Culture in Eastern Countries (SPACES)
SPACES is a project, financed by the European Commission, in which TEH takes part as an associate partner, represented by TEH Ambassador Annette Wolfsberger. The project assembles artists and cultural workers in four Eastern partner countries, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, who aim at reflecting societal issues in the public realm of their city. It will take place from December 2011 to December 2013. To learn more about the project, TEH invited its project manager Ina Ivanceanu for an interview.

What is the future of the European Project?
The Stockholm conference on the 9th of December was organised by Intercult (Stockholm, Sweden), Riksteatern and the European Commission (Sweden) and presented prominent speakers such as the Swedish Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth and Vladimír Šucha, Director of the Directorate-General for Education and Culture in the European Commission. Photo: José Figueroa

TEH represented in Europe and beyond
During the past month, TEH was represented in Europe and the wider world by TEH Ambassadors and the TEH Coordination Office. All four events were different in their scope and thematic although they all emphasized the importance of culture on both local and global level. To share the experience with you, we gathered the impressions that we received from the TEH representatives that were sent to present the network.

The report of TEH Meeting 72 at TNT (Bordeaux, France)
Let's go back to TEH Meeting 72 (Bordeaux, France) and refresh our memories about what happened during those four intensive and inspiring days! The Meeting Report is now available online.

Download the TEH 72 Meeting Report here…

ENGINE ROOM EUROPE

Latest from Engine Room Europe
TEH:s three-year network programme Engine Room Europe (May 2011–April 2014) is spreading its wings and launching new activities all over the continent. The Staff Exchange Programme has received many applicants and the project activities will continue with full power in 2012! Watch this space…

MEMBER NEWS

A project in partnership with Melkweg
How to Disappear in Europe is a project that brings 27 young European photographers, one from each EU Member State, to portray an illegal person from their country as a hero. The project is organized in partnership with Melkweg (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) which will present the project´s three months long exhibition at the Melkweg Gallery. The project is currently looking for more European partners among other TEH Members.

Latest from Mains d'Œuvres
The indie festival Mo'Fo’12 is celebrating 10 years of life and independence between 27-29 January 2012 in Mains d'Œuvres (Paris, France). It consists of 3 days of pop, folk, rock, experimental and electro, with more than 20 concerts, showcases, merchandising, public youth workshops, a re-broadcasting of the concerts on a giant screen, restaurant and bar. Mains d'Œuvres was also the host of a Latvian video art screening showed the recent tendencies of Latvian video art. It took place on Friday, November 25th, 2011 and was organized by Inga Lace from Latvia who is currently in EVS Volunteer at Mains d'Œuvres.

The life of coal-miners presented by Izolyatsia
On December 11th, 2011, the photographer Aleksander Chekmenev (Kiev, Ukraine) presented at IZOLYATSIA (Donetsk, Ukraine) his recently published monograph Donbass, which depicts the lives of coal-miners who work in illegal mines.

New residency programme set up by Stanica
The International Visegrad Fund in cooperation with Stanica (Žilina, Slovakia) launches a new residency program for performing arts in 4 countries (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary). The registration is already open. The first deadline for application is 30th of December.

SUSTAINABILITY

Top Tip of the Month
Are you planning to host a festival, exposition or any other significant cultural event? Try organizing it with ecological toilets like the ones used for TEH Meeting 72 in October 2011 in Bordeaux, France.