The Creative Producers programme in the Western Balkans is entering a new phase, with successfully selected participants and their exciting projects which will be taking place this spring and summer in Albania!

Creative Producers is a professional development and funding opportunity for emerging producers in the Western Balkans aiming to enhance their skills and capacity, build new networks, and contribute to co-production. It is envisioned to help create a sustainable creative sector community rooted locally but connected internationally who understand everything from creative vision and technical challenges to budgets, logistics and audiences.

The programme was launched as an open call for applications in November 2021, after which 14 successful candidates from the region were selected to take part in what came next: two weeks of online development workshops facilitated by Curated Place, a Manchester-based arts-led creative production company, which led the participants through the process of designing their creative projects. Among other valuable knowhow, the participants were given guidance on how to clearly communicate their ideas, make practical delivery considerations around where, when and how those ideas would happen and – crucially – how to determine their target audiences. 

Having successfully completed this phase in February 2022, the producers all gave their final pitch to the programme team and were given the green light and funds to begin the project inception stage – with dates and logistics firmly in place. 

A total of 14 projects will be kicking off in late spring and running throughout the summer period in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Our up-and-coming creative producers have it all – inspiring and fresh ideas coupled with the energetic drive to execute them, all of which is sure to appeal to diverse audiences hungry for memorable and engaging experiences this season!

Annex

Format: Art and education programme for accessibility

Organisation / Producer: United Nations Association Albania / Donika Çina

Date(s): September – November 2022

Location: Tirana

Annex is an art space and programme inspired by the usage of annex premises as kitchens. It will take the shape of an open kitchen where the process of preparing and sharing is equally displayed to the public. Two very different communities will be mixed in the programme: visual art professionals and the visually impaired. Their dialogue, exchange, and challenges in co-creating artworks will be the topic of the programme. The organisation team will go through capacity building ahead of the public programme which will start in September and run until November.

Art Magnifier

Format: Series of short video-documentaries and art exhibition

Organisation / Producer: Gallery 70 / Lauresha Basha

Date(s): May – June 2022

Location: Tirana

Art Magnifier stands for a series of short video-documentaries which Gallery 70 will produce during April and May of 2022. They will feature four Albanian visual artists and one visual artist from the UK. These artists are currently exhibiting at Gallery 70, whereas the production team for the video-documentary includes British filmmaker Richard Lipman and a local team of professionals. The UK artist was selected for a solo show at Gallery 70 in 2021. The Art Magnifier project will be launched between 20 and 25 June during a public event at the Millennium Cinema in Tirana. The event will feature a presentation of all video-documentaries produced as part of the project.

Performative Exhibition #3 – Collective Contours

Format: Visual arts exhibition and art residency

Organisation / Producer: Tirana Art Lab, Galeria e Bregdetit, Ecumene Project / Eni Derhemi

Date(s): 7 – 17 July 2022 (Residency + Public Program + Exhibition Opening)

16 July 2022 (Public Program + Exhibition Opening)

17 July – 15 August 2022 (Exhibition Duration)

Location: Vlora

Collective Contours is the third project within the Performative Exhibition format by Tirana Art Lab, focusing on collaborative artistic practices and challenging the self-centred method of creating. Nine women artists from diverse backgrounds and nationalities, brought together by Ecumene Project, will focus on blurring the boundaries between mediums, art and life by disclosing the creative practice to the public. Intuitively, their performance deals with themes such as the conscious relationship between beings, the connection between bodies and nature and the body as a form of communication. They will live and create together for 10 days in Vlora hosted by ‘Seaside Gallery’. Two invited UK artists – Elischa Kaminer and Sivan Rubinstein – will hold workshops for the group of women artists and will also contribute to the public programme of the exhibition. The public programme will consist of the opening of Performative Exhibition #3 – Collective Contours with works and performances from the group of women artists, as well as two public performances/interventions by the invited UK artists.