ABOUT ARS BALTICA
ARS BALTICA is a network which since 1991 has been connecting the Baltic Sea states in a cultural collaboration. Its power and uniqueness lie in combining cultural policy development and close co-operation with cultural operators. Created on the initiative of the Ministries of Culture of the Baltic Sea Region, the network maintains tight links with the Council of the Baltic Sea States (the CBSS).
OBJECTIVES / GOALS
ARS BALTICA has been actively working on realising its main objectives such as:
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shaping a common Baltic Sea cultural policy,
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advocating culture at the meetings of other organisations of the Region in order to increase the significance of the cultural sector,
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supporting Project Leaders in finding grants and expanding the Baltic scope of their events,
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developing contacts and collaboration with other regional networks,
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promoting the Baltic Sea cultural life outside the Region,
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co-operating with other leading European cultural organisations,
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developing the idea of regional co-operation in Europe.
POSSIBILITIES / BENEFITS
Cultural projects realized by at least three partners from the Baltic Sea Region are welcomed to join ARS BALTICA.
Projects granted with the AB logo are provided with:
STRUCTURE
To a great extent the success of AB’s work lies in the way it is structured: in all the member countries (Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation and Sweden) there are active ARS BALTICA National Desks (which together constitute AB Organising Committee ). They are placed in institutions which have both cultural and political functions in their respective countries (e.g. ministries of culture, arts councils, cultural institutes etc.). Owing to this structure AB Committee Members stay in a close relation to both policy makers and cultural operators.
All the important decisions are made and crucial issues discussed by the Organising Committee Members during the ARS BALTICA Meetings that are organised each year in spring and autumn in one of the Baltic Sea States.
ARS BALTICA reports on its work and development to the Conferences of Ministers of Culture of the Baltic Sea States. In the Declaration adopted during the last Conference held in Bergen (26-27 September 2005) “The Ministers noted with satisfaction the progress in activity of ARS BALTICA (…). The Ministers agreed that ARS BALTICA should continue its work within the framework of the Council of the Baltic Sea States with the goal to promote and deepen mutual cultural understanding and requested ARS BALTICA to discuss its future development.”
The next Ministerial Conference takes place in Riga (Latvia) in autumn 2008.
SECRETARIAT
ARS BALTICA’s activities are co-ordinated by ARS BALTICA Secretariat with the following responsibilities:
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acting as the main contact point for the network,
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creating a communicational platform between cultural operators and policy makers
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running the ARS BALTICA portal and preparing a monthly e-newsletter,
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preparing the ARS BALTICA Organising Committee Meetings and Forums,
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providing materials for external information about the ARS BALTICA activities and principles.
Until 2009 the Secretariat will be hosted by the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre in Gdansk (Poland). The Secretariat is co-ordinated by Ms Lidia Makowska, with the assistance of Ms Magdalena Zakrzewska-Duda and Ms Aleksandra Halicka.
CHAIRMANSHIP
The Chairperson who is elected for one-year tenure (which can be prolonged) from among the AB Organising Committee Members represents ARS BALTICA as a voice of the Baltic Sea cultural sector at the major meetings of regional and European decision makers. The Chairman also moderates the ARS BALTICA Organising Committee Meetings.
Mr Gert Haack, head of section in the State Chancellery of the Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein, was unanimously elected to be ARS BALTICA Chairman in the year 2008.
HISTORY
Until October 1999 the Secretariat was based in Kiel, Germany and chaired by Mr. Rainer Haarmann.
At the 19th ARS BALTICA Organising Committee Meeting in Stockholm, a new ARS BALTICA structure was adopted according to a joint Estonian-Finnish proposal, whereby the Secretariat will be moved by rotation from one ARS BALTICA member country to another for extendible three-year periods. The Chairman will be elected for an extendible one-year period. At the above-mentioned Organising Committee meeting in Stockholm, Mr. Risto Ruohonen (Finland) was elected as the new Chairman for 2000 and Estonia (Ministry of Culture) was to host the Secretariat from 2000 to 2002 (the period has been extended until the end of 2003), whereas Ms Eike Eller, Civil Servant of the Ministry, was appointed as a part-time Assistant coordinator for the same period.
In December 2001 Mr. Ruohonen's chairmanship came to the end and Ms Gudrun Vahlquist (Sweden) was elected as the Chairperson for 2002. At the 25th Committee Meeting her mandate was extended for the year 2003.
The following year a representative of Lithuania, Mr. Rolandas Kvietkauskas (Under-secretary of State in the Ministry of Culture) was elected for the position of AB Chairman. His mandate was prolonged till the end of 2006.
In 2004 the Secretariat moved from Tallinn to Gdansk where it will be hosted by the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre till 2009 (by the decision of the 33rd AB Organising Committee Meeting).
In 2007 Mr. Krzysztof Olendzki (Under-secretary of State in the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage) became ARS BALTICA Chairman.