Exhibition "Tide Mills of Western Europe" at Saint-Malo (Bretagne - France) and Lisbon (Portugal)

 We have the pleasure to announce that the touring exhibition "Tide Mills of Western Europe", supported by the European Commission trough its Culture 2000 Programme, is now visiting the Tour Bidouane (Saint-Malo, Bretagne - France) until 11 October and the Museu do Departamento de Engenharia Civil e Arquitectura do Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisboa, Portugal) until next 13 November.

The exhibition is still available for those interested after February 2010.

More information is available at the website www.moinhosdemare-europa.org .

This site is at your disposal to spread information about other activities related with tide mills.

Cláudia Silveira
Ecomuseu Municipal do Seixal
Praça 1º de Maio
2840-485 Seixal
Portugal
Contacts: 00 351 210 976 112 or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

OBITUARY NOTICE

The association of European Cities and Regions for Culture "Les Rencontres" deeply regrets to announce the recent death of the Slovenian writer Peter Božič at the age of 77.

He was the Vice-President of our network for Slovenia and a faithful and active member for several years. We will miss him and grieve his absence. We express our sincere condolences to his family and to the City of Ljubljana where he was an elected member of the Council for many years.

Roger Tropeano, Chairman, the team and the members of Les Rencontres 

Swedish Presidency and Les Rencontres

Dear members, partners and friends,

As you know, on 1 July 2009, Sweden has taken over the Presidency of the EU !

In this context, the Swedish Ministry of Culture organises an important conference : « Promoting a creative generation - Children and young people in the new culture and media landscape » in Gothenburg, 29-30 July. The theme of this conference is closely linked to some of our main concerns : artistic education for children and young people, creativity and the role of local and regional authorities in these matters which have been analysed and discussed at Les Rencontre de Patras, La Rencontre de Paris or La Rencontre de Vilnius, among other meetings that our Association has organised over the years.

I will attend this conference in Gothenburg and I would be pleased to meet you in case you participate as well. Do not hesitate to contact me in order to schedule an informal meeting on 28 or 29 July.

Furthermore, we are very much looking forward to meeting you at our following conferences of this semester : La Rencontre d'Avignon (17 July), Les Rencontres de Linz - General Assembly (22-25 October) and La Rencontre de Venise (5-8 November).

Les Rencontres wishes all the success to Sweden as the driving force in the EU's legislative and political decision-making process during this semester !

Best regards,

Roger Tropeano
Chairman
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Phone +33 1 56 54 26 30
Mobile +33 6 07 15 65 75


For further information on our meetings, please visit our website or contact us :

La Rencontre d'Avignon (17 July) This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it +33 1 56 54 26 34
Les Rencontres de Linz (22-25 October) This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it +33 1 56 54 26 31
La Rencontre de Venise (5-8 November) This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it +33 1 56 54 26 37

Click here for more precise information on the conference in Gothenburg (Official website). 

PROGRAMME IN INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL COOPERATION AND MANAGEMENT 

The University of Barcelona has opened the registration period for this Post-Graduate Programme that we recommend.

Dr. Antoine LEONETTI, Academic Coordinator and speaker at "La Rencontre de Vilnius" is at your disposal for further information.

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You can also download the  presentation 30/04/2009,15:12 of the programme.

Preparation meeting for La Rencontre de Malte

A one-day preparation meeting was held in Paris on Monday 9th of June in order to discuss about the training seminar for Directors of Culture and Arts from local authorities in Europe (Malta from 2nd to 5th October 2008).
You can download the detailed agenda for this day.

We sent the following questions to the Directors of culture and arts who belong to our network:

- Thinking of your colleagues (Directors of culture and arts), which themes for a training seminar seem very important to you at the european scale (new places/spaces for culture, evaluation of cultural policies, connections between economy and culture, cultural education, creativity, new publics for culture, implementation of a cultural policy, connections between you and the elcted representative, cultural facilities management, etc.) ?

- What about an european cooperation between Directors of culture and arts ? How can this cooperation take place (meetings, seminars, workshops, conferences, publications, etc.) ?

- In your opinion, to which new challenges will be the Directors of culture and arts confronted in the future ?

- Concerning the themes you propose, could you recommand us experts?

Specially for this meeting and the seminar in Malte, we created a new
e-adress: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Best regards,
Rafael Mandujano
Project manager
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01 56 54 26 33

Morgane Batoz
Trainee
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01 56 54 26 32

"European Agenda for Cutlure: involving civil society" - Brussels 19 February

Les Rencontres participated to the Infoday - The European Agenda for Culture: involving civil society
http://culture-agenda.teamwork.fr
This first-ever Agenda for Culture in Europe launches a new era in the way Member States, European institutions and cultural stakeholders work together in order to respond to some of the major challenges faced by the cultural sector. Tuesday, 19 February 2008, Brussels.
José Dielens (Treasurer) and Rafael Mandujano (Project Manager) were there.

World Congress of UCLG in Jeju

From 28th October to 1st November the Second World Congress of UCLG took place in Jeju. Angela Spizig, Vice-Chairman of les rencontres and Councillor of the City of Cologne in charge of culture represented les rencontres at this event.

Please download the report of the working session she attended

Report - UCLG's World Congress.

Sub-network of Directors of Culture and Arts

During the course of our activities, the importance of the role and function of the Director (or Officer) of Culture and Arts as a key figure in cultural administration at a local level has been obvious. The idea of setting-up a sub-network of Directors of Culture and Arts (DCAs) in Europe within the les rencontres network, was born from the DCAs that are members of the network, the association and Jean-Pierre Heintz, Director of Cultural Affairs of La Rochelle. The first meeting took place in Patras, on 31st May 2006 followed by a meeting in Avignon on 20th July 2007 and again on 13th October last in Luxembourg, in order to lay the foundations for an active working group. It became clear that a training course specifically geared towards the needs of these administrators would be the best way of helping them to acquire the legal, financial and cultural knowledge necessary to establish cooperation at a European level.
The first training session will take place in Malta from 25th to 28th September 2008.

You can download the reports of the meetings in Avignon and Luxembourg hereafter.

report Avignon 20/07/2007

summary Avignon 20/07/2007

report Luxembourg 13/10/2007

Newsletter - September 2007

Dear colleagues,

Since the general information we sent you in March, you have received emails and documents by post concerning the meetings organised by les rencontres. We would like to keep you updated with more general information on our activities.


A brief overview on financial and administrative matters

Community Funding for 2006 & 2007
Our application for subsidies on Culture 2007 « networks » line, was accepted. For the first time we were informed of the overall points received (86,93/100) as well as a breakdown of these points in terms of the representativity of the network (30,28/35), of its European impact (27/30), of the quality of the application (18,2/20), and of the visibility of the programme (11,45/15). The experts also commented on the need to clearly define the aims of the network and to elaborate a more sophisticated communication plan. The sum alloted is 53 430 euros.

After a series of negociations with the Executive Agency for Education and Culture concerning the mis-interpretation of our financial report (cf. Report of Board meeting in Paris), we are now awaiting the bank transfer of the outstanding balance for the 2006 funding for the amount of 27 000€. The payment procedure for the 2007 subsidies was also negociated and we now hope to receive the first installment very soon.

Membership fees 2007
On the basis of the financial results of 2006, the Committee drew up and approved a preliminary budget for 2007 indicating revenue of membership fees for the amount of 175 000€. On 31st August we had received 104 834€. We therefore decided to send out reminders. Please check that your administration has paid the membership fees for 2007. Concerning expenditure, these are conform to our provisions. Furthermore we are awaiting payment of a few subsidies from Ministries.

Perspectives for 2008
Within the negociations with the European Commission, we have been asked to reach a financial equilibrium by the end of 2008 which we have accepted to do. We must therefore increase the membership fees for 2008. This exceptional increase is of 10%. The new amounts are on the membership form for 2008 which you can download from our website, members section.

Membership Form 2008

During November the request for subsidies for next year will commence. Perhaps we could ask you to check with your Ministry of Culture in your country, that they respond favorably to our request.

During October we will most likely candidate for a call for proposals from the European Commission : Culture 2007 (strand to be confirmed).

The Forthcoming meetings
Les rencontres de Luxembourg will take place in three weeks (12th & 13th October 2007). To date 60 delegates are registered from 15 European countries. We hope to meet you there and invite you to fill in the registration form as soon as possible.

les rencontres de luxembourg

In the framework of the Portuguese presidency of the EU we are organising the rencontre de Covilha from 8th to 11th November next to group together Portuguese elected leaders and members of the network. The theme of the debates will focus on Cultural heritage, particularly industrial heritage. A special session will be held on ECOC 2012. You will shortly be able to download all the necessary documents on our website.

The preliminary programme of la rencontre de Malmö/Lund (22nd to 25th November) as well as the registration form and practical information guide are now available on our website and will shortly be sent by post. This meeting will present the management of archives in local and regional governing bodies and present European programmes and initiatives in this sector, particularly the question of digital libraries.

la rencontre de Malmö/Lund

Les rencontres will be present during the Cultural Forum for Europe in Lisbon from 26th to 28th September. This meeting is organised by the Portuguese presidency of the EU in order to collect reactions and suggestions on the recent publication by the European Commission of the Communication on the European Agenda for Culture in a Globalising world.

Cultural Forum for Europe

The calendar of events for 2008 of les rencontres can be downloaded from our website. We look forward to receiving your comments, suggestions and proposals so that we can prepare these meetings in the best possible way and trust that you will be present.

Calendar 2008

Past meetings
1) la rencontre de Séville (from 8th to 11th March) grouped together 120 representatives from 23 European countries on the theme « Funding Culture in Europe : public and private partnerships». The significant support provided by the City of Seville ensured the success of this conference. The debates underlined the need for examples of best practices and focused on the many succcessful partnerships that exist. The report will be available by the end of the year.
The participants were very grateful for this opportunity to discuss this important topic and suggested that a further meeting be organised.

la rencontre de Séville

2) la rencontre de Görlitz (from 11th to 13th April) grouped together fifty German elected leadrs and cultural workers as well as representatives from Belgium, France, Poland and the UK in the framework of the German Presidency of the EU. A report is available on our website in German. We were able to visit the cities of Görlitz & Zgorzelec, situated on either side of the border and evaluate the cultural life of this region.

Report of la rencontre de Görlitz

3) The Board meeting extended to the members of les rencontres, on 27th & 28th April grouped together 47 members from 12 countries. The minutes are available in the members’ section of the website. Please refer to the final paragraph of this letter where we explain how to successfully complete your first visit to this section of our website.


4) ...and, les rencontres d’Avignon on 19th & 20th July that grouped together on the one hand, regional officials and on the other, directors of Culture and Arts in local and regional authorities. Two separate debates that developed proposals and suggestions for the future of les rencontres. On the 19th July we discussed the setting up of a European agency of regions for Culture and focused on the need to clarify the function and parameters of this agency. les rencontres must respond to the needs of regional actors on the priorities of cultural policymaking, on the role of Euroregions and on the regional strategies that must be set up in order to build a « Cultural Europe ». On the 20th July we grouped together 23 Directors or Arts Officers from local councils in Croatia, Belgium, France, Sweden, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Finland, Albania, Rumania, Spain, Hungary, Czech Republic, as well as a few regional, provincial or county officers. Participants agreed on the necessity of establishing such a sub-network within les rencontres particularly in order to share and compare tools and strategies for Culture. The presentations made of the various types of management of culture underlined the diversity of approaches as well as the different relationships between an elected leader and his or her administrative staff in the various levels of local and regional government.

les rencontres d’Avignon 19 07 2007

les rencontres d'Avignon 20 07 2007

The White Paper
As a follow up to the Green Paper on the cultural policies of local and regional authorities in Europe published in the Autumn of 2004, we will be drafting a White paper that aims to provide ideas and concrete proposals for action that stem from the analyses and descriptions produced in the Green paper.

This drafting process has commenced since February when presentation documents were submitted to the Committee that meet in Sibiu. The Board meeting was another occasion to receive comments and suggestions on this project. The members underlined the importance of publishing such a document as a way of contextualising the ideas and suggestions made during our European meetings over the last ten years.

Of course, we will base our approach on the recommendations and perspectives of the Agenda 21 for Culture and the Convention of Unesco on the protection and the promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. The White Paper will be divided into two sections : the first one will formulate the proposals of our network in three sub-sections : Culture and cultural policymaking, Culture and Development, National Culture and Local Culture. The second section will give examples of best practices, maintaining as far as possible a geographical balance. We will endeavour to provide proposals for a legal basis for Culture in Europe, for adapted funding mechanisms and strategies for evaluating culture and its impact.

The methodology that will be adopted will consist in auditions and interviews with artists, politicians and intellectuals who have taken part in our meetings. We will also collaborate with some partner networks and selected experts.
The aim is to publish the document in the Spring of 2009 just before the elections to the European Parliament.
Preparatory and editorial meetings will take place during the events in Luxembourg and Malmö, ....and at each meeting in 2008 (Liverpool, Rome, Mons...). Your suggestions and proposals are most welcome.

Livre Blanc

The website of les rencontres

As you may have already noticed, les rencontres has updated its website since April last. Please take the time to visit our site at: www.lesrencontres.eu.

You will of course find information on our meetings and reports of past events. We also have a section on news in Europe concerning the cultural sector and local and regional governments in particular. We will also present some of the speeches made during our events and examples of best practices. Please feel free to send us information that you, as members, wish to communicate.

A members’ section is also available providing, in a democratic and transparent fashion, the reports on the administration of the network. You will find the reports on our Board, Committee or General meetings as well as the financial reports. The list of members will also provide you with the contact details that you can select according to the country or the name of the city.
In order to access this section on your first visit you must click on the « members’ login » and fill in the boxes with your user name and password. Please take note of these as you will be required to use them every time you visit the members’ section. We will then confirm your access to this section.

Please keep us updated with all the changes in your local authority in order to correct our database. Also keep us informed of your projects, search for partners and any other information you wish to communicate to the members. We remain at your disposal. Finally, please do not forget to send your membership fees if not already done so. Thank-you in advance.

All the best,
The les rencontres team