The Forum of Slavic Cultures successfully hosted the 7th international conference and ŽIVA awards ceremony live from Belgrade. The diverse three-day programme in the Serbian capital brought together 70 participants from 14 countries. They shared good practices, made contacts and forged new partnerships, and to top it all they attended the opening ceremony of the European Capital of Culture in Novi Sad.
The international conference Živa 2020 kicked off with a presentation of two large-scale projects taking place in the host country. Sara Vuletić presented the Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture 2022, while Miroslav Petković, Deputy Mayor of Čačak, shed light on the programmes that won Čačak the title of the Capital of Culture in Serbia 2023.
The “Open Forum” section traditionally presented the museums nominated for the Živa Award. Excellent turnout with 15 out of 20 nominees present was a good start for forging new ties and getting to know one another. Together, the participants visited museums of Belgrade. Starting with the Museum of Yugoslavia, the conference venue, the participants also visited the National Museum in Belgrade and the Museum of Contemporary Art. They were greeted by directors and representatives of the host museums and of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, namely Daniela Vanušić, Assistant to the Minister of Culture and Information for cultural heritage, and Radovan Jokić, Assistant to the Minister of Culture and Information for contemporary creativity and creative industry.
The last day of the conference featured two lectures by non-Slavic museum professionals. Kate Bailey, curator at the V&A Museum (UK) gave a virtual lecture on the exhibition Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser, and Brice Weinert and Ali Ciuffini from New York-based Museum Hack (USA) talked about their approaches to working with different audiences.
Živa conference’s trademark event, the “marketplace”, was yet another opportunity for museum professionals to show off their publications and promotional products, while forging new ties and future partnerships through informal conversations.
The conference culminated with the Živa Award ceremony 2020, which was followed by a full-day excursion to Novi Sad, where the participants attended the official opening of Novi Sad – European Capital of Culture 2022.
