International Laboratory in Moldova: Rethinking the Institutional Design of Project-based Public Funding for Culture in the Eastern Neighbourhood Region
The Cultural Relations Platform in collaboration with the EU Delegation in Moldova, organised the International Laboratory ”Rethinking the Institutional Design of Project-based Public Funding for Culture in the Eastern Neighbourhood Region”, that took place between 30 November – 2 December 2022 in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova, with the possibility of online attendance from interested audiences.
The event was organized in partnership with the Coalition of the Independent Cultural Sector of the Republic of Moldova, the Belarusian Council for Culture and the Culture and Management Lab from Georgia. The Ministry of Culture from the Republic of Moldova is a strategic partner.
The International Laboratory is an answer to the need for up-to-date, adaptive solutions for a public interest distribution of financial resources to achieve strategic societal goals and to enhance the role of civil society organisations. It has a two-tier approach, with interlinked debates and workshops that match inspirations and resourceful exchanges of ideas and examples with workshops that develop a concrete proposal for a Law on the Cultural Fund in the Republic of Moldova.
Around 30 cultural professionals from Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Estonia, Ukraine, Poland, Croatia and Romania attended on-site and exchanged best practices in the area of project-based public funding for culture institutional mechanism and regulatory frameworks. The agenda of the event can be found here.
Taking place each day in the morning, the Debates brought together a panel of experienced professionals that shared their ideas and discussed with the audience how some of the key dilemmas that concern the functioning of project-based public cultural funding are tackled in different countries, at national and regional level.
International and local professionals worked with participants to integrate the conclusions derived from the extensive research done in the past 10+years by keynote policy researchers and practitioners in the the Republic of Moldova.
The International Laboratory is seen as a part of a long-term engagement process of the organising coalition that will continue working on the above-mentioned issues in the upcoming months and will result in an advanced form of the above-mentioned Law on the Cultural Fund, that would focus on the improvement of the cultural ecosystem, synergies between public institutions x independent cultural professionals and international cooperation opportunities.
In mid-December, a public presentation of the main conclusions of the event was organised, addressed to Moldovan cultural practitioners and policy-makers, with online transmission for international guests. A summary of the discussions of the International Laboratory will be published in Romanian and English, to be shared widely.