The Villa Decius Visegrad Heritage Lab is a long-term discussion on the operation and cooperation in a reality full of limitations and the need to adapt educational and cultural activities, organized via the Zoom platform on 09/21-26/10/2020. By organizing the Laboratory, the Villa Decius Association in cooperation with the Villa Decius Institute for Culture aims to implement a format that will allow participants and experts to meet and seek solutions to common problems and challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project has invited graduates of elite programs such as Visegrad Summer School, Visegrad Academy of Cultural Management and Write the Game V4, the flagship programs of the Villa Decius Association for years educating future leaders in Europe.
The pandemic reality has influenced many areas of social life – including culture and creative industries, which modus operandi has always been based on the mass participation of the audience and free access to its offer. These changes forced us to go off the beaten path and brought up countless questions about new offers, programmes and new mode of action for creative industries. Can the technical progress in culture and education under such dynamic circumstances ever succeed? Can „digital” and „online” replace „first hand”? And is „digital” just for a while or is it a real future for the culture? Is there enough solidarity? What are the alternatives to finance the activities and events?
We would like to invite 12 best experts – graduates of Visegrad programmes which took place at the Villa Decius – creative and culture industries’ managers and mentors. The goal is to facilitate and support the exchange and better cooperation of V4 countries in the process of dealing with the current pandemic situation as well as creation of brand new projects and plans. We are hoping that the solutions we will work on during the project will help not only the participants and their respective institutions but will reach far beyond and inspire the creative industries sector in the V4 countries.
Participation in workshop sessions via the Zoom platform will enable a valuable exchange of experiences and reflections, as well as allow to look at the cultural sector from a different, multidimensional perspective. We believe that joint work under the supervision of experts and practitioners from the Region will contribute to the integration of the cultural and educational environment.
