FOKUS INTERNATIONAL – KOSOVO

FOKUS INTERNATIONAL – KOSOVO
a new format of international co-operation of the BMKOES in the cultural sector

Thu 12.09.2024, 19h l MQ Summer Stage l Free Entry

FOKUS INTERNATIONAL is a new programme of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport. In this programme, the focus of bilateral cultural cooperation is placed on a specific country. The programme aims to promote institutional exchange, but above all young cultural workers and artists. The first BMKOES FOKUS INTERNATIONAL programme started in the second half of 2023 with the Republic of Kosovo as a partner country. In cooperation with the MuseumsQuartier, the central element of the programme is to give young cultural workers the opportunity to gain two months of work experience at leading Austrian cultural institutions. The young cultural manager Lira Gjikolli is currently working for two months at the Kunsthalle Wien, where she is strengthening the curatorial team. She is already the second BMKOES scholarship holder at this institution.

A top-class panel will discuss which other institutions are involved in the project and accept scholarship holders, what other aspects this new programme covers and why this initiative is important both for the partner country Kosovo and for Vienna and Austria as a cultural location, as well as what perspectives this programme can and should have in the future.

Guests:
Lira Gjikolli (Scholarship holder of the Trainee Program for Cultural Workers Kosovo - Austria)
Kathrin Kneissel (Group Head of Funding and International Affairs, BMKÖS)
Bettina Leidl (Director MuseumsQuartier)
Astrid Peterle (Head of curatorial programme design at Kunsthalle Wien)

Moderation:
Michaela Geboltsberger (IG Architektur), Simon Mraz (Curator MQ)