On the 4th in the morning I had to catch the National Express at 5.45am to Heathrow airport where Sally Sheiman and myself flow to Zagreb to the ECA (European Council of Artist) yearly conference called Art Funding – Artistic freedom.
The event started at 19.30 on the 5th with an opening reception at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, which is an incredible new building.
The conference opened on the 6th with an address by Silvije Petranovic the president of the Croatian Freelance Artist Association.
First speaker Zarko Paic, a philosopher from Croatia, spoke about ‘The Post Liberal Conditions – mapping the arts as freedom in unfinished European cultural space’. Second speaker was Louise Walsh, a sculptor from Ireland, she spoke about her experiences in public art, ‘Expectation| Imagination’. Third speaker, Sibila Petlevski an author and president of PEN. Her topic was ‘Free-Expression Policies’ with the subtitle: Cultural Policies, Cultural Branding & Cultural Jamming. Fourth speaker was Marta Smolikova, director of Pro Culture from the Czech Republic. Marta spoke about ‘What is the Role of the Sponsor?’ and the relationship of partnerships and funding in an open society. The fifth speaker was Christian Brandt, an author from Finland, great sense of humour, needed to break the atmosphere at the time…. His topic was ‘Funding Principles & Criteria and their affects on art’. The sixth speaker was Patricia Fernandez-Mazarabbroz, working at the Ministry of Culture in Spain. She spoke regarding ‘Intellectual Property Rights’, about the arts protection at an international level – Europe’s legal framework.
We had a pleasant surprise and the final speaker was the President of the Republic of Croatia Mr Ivo Josipovic. He is a composer recently elected President. He spoke eloquently about the importance of Art, Culture and Society.
The morning of the 8th Sally and me when to the Airport in Zagreb and Sally when back to London and I continued my trip to Skopje, where I had to create new work for an exhibition that opened on the 18th of November 2010. I was collected and met by my sister and we drove back to my parents. The same afternoon with the help of my family we started to plan the next few days, which were long and hard work.
