W Wigrach odbywało się seminarium "Nowy kształt ośrodków kultury". Było zorganizowane przez "Pogranicze" we współpracy z Remarque Institute i Uniwersytetem Nowy Jork. Tematem spotkania były nowatorskie formy pracy na polu kultury w Europie Śrokowowschodniej i Stanach Zjednoczonych. Towarzyszyły mu dyskusje i prezentacje, także pracy "Pogranicza" (projekt "Kroniki Sejneńskie", spektakl "Wijuny", koncert Kapeli Klezmerskiej). W seminarium uczestniczyli goście z Holandii, Szwecji, Bułgarii, Litwy, Stanów Zjednoczonych.

Artykuły prasowe: 
Jak zarządzać kulturą? "Kurier Poranny" 2.12.1999 

Borderland Cultural Retreat 

"Managing Changes and Challenges in the Organisation of Culture" 

December 2-5, 1999, Sejny, Poland 

The changing landscape of culture calls for a concrete redefinition of cultural organisations in Europe. Such organisations, after all, are the moderators of cultural policies as well as the animators and "programmers" of cultural innovation. Traditional cultural institutions are currently faced with a reflexive legitimacy: a constant challenge to define and justify their existence in an increasingly diverse environment. But new cultural developments also give rise to new forms of cultural organisations, transgressing borders between highbrow and lowbrow, profit and nonprofit, autonomous art and commercial culture, the virtual and the real, tradition and experiment, the global and the local, professional and amateur. Creativity is a social phenomenon. Innovation in artistic forms gives rise to new forms of collaboration and organisational structure. What new forms of organisation emerge? How do existing organisations deal with these challenges? Are potential new models internationally exchangeable? The Borderland Cultural Retreat in Poland sets out to find answers to such questions. Among other things, the Retreat plans to present and discuss some 'best practices' from the European perspective. The cultural presentations will show examples of the innovative artistic content that such organisations can produce. 

This Retreat is initiated and organised by the Borderland Foundation in Poland, in association with Tilburg University, the Netherlands, and the University of National and World Economy, Bulgaria. Participation is by invitation only.  

Organising committee 

Krzysztof Czyżewski 

Erik Hitters 

Lidia Varbanova 

Objectives 

– Re-evaluation of the role of cultural institutions in a changing European environment 

– Transgressing boundaries in artistic disciplines and cultural traditions 

– Stimulating the linkage of theory and practice in a multicultural context 

– Distributing practical knowledge on organisation of culture, resulting in concrete proposals for further collaboration 

Program 

Thursday, December 2, 1999 

Arrival in Warsaw, transport to Sejny, 

22.00 – welcome reception at Borderland Foundation  

Friday, December 3, 1999 

9:30-12:30 – "A decade of change: challenges for cultural institutions" 

Opening Words by Krzysztof Czyżewski, director of Borderland Foundation 

moderators: Dr Erik Hitters, Tilburg University, Netherlands; Prof. Dr Lidia Varbanova, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria 

14:00-17:00 – "New ideas of cultural meeting spaces" 

moderators: Chris Keulemans, writer, former director of the Cultural Center "De Balie" in Amsterdam; Dariusz Jachimowicz, cultural manager, director of the Center of Eight's Day Theatre in Poznań 

20:00-22:00 – Cultural presentations 

Peter Jukes, London, UK, "virtual cultural spaces and organisations" 

Saturday, December 4, 1999 

9:30-12:30 – "Transgressing traditional dichotomies: high-low, amateur-professional, classical-modern, central-marginal" 

moderators: Michael Cichy, editor Gazeta Wyborcza, Warsaw, Poland; Peter Jukes, writer, London, UK 

14:00-17:00 – "To be an arts manager or a managing artist?" 

moderators: Mikael Schultz, UNESCO, Stockholm, Sweden; Krzysztof Czyżewski, director, Borderland Foundation 

20:00-22:00 – Cultural presentations 

Borderland Foundation  

Sunday, December 5,1999 

9:30-12:30 – "Closing Session: evaluation and follow up" 

Departures