Our main goal is for the congress to not end up as a several day affair, but instead become a basis for cooperation between Polish and European NGOs – claim Katarzyna Wielga and Marta Wójcicka, coordinators of the cultural program of the Polish Presidency of the EU.
Why should nongovernmental organizations come to the European Culture Congress in Wrocław?
Marta Wójcicka: The main goal of the Congress isn’t so much diagnosing culture as writing scenarios for the future. That’s why we cannot imagine it taking place without the presence of cultural activists, seeing as their work drives change and progress. The key slogan of this Congress is “Art For Social Change”. This attitude towards art is mostly the province of nongovernmental organizations, and that is why not only the ECC, but the entire cultural program of the Polish Presidency of the EU, significantly draw upon NGOs and projects submitted by the third sector.
Katarzyna Wielga: Participation in the ECC should be especially important to Polish organizations, because according to surveys, Poland’s third sector is the least “networked” one in Europe. Cooperation between Polish institutions is weak, and international relations are practically nonexistent. We want the Congress to become a catalyst for cooperation; it should make organizations realize the many benefits of acting in concert with other entities; it should encourage people to build networks, even informal ones, which will allow Polish NGOs to reach beyond the local tier and influence European events. Because currently, Polish organizations are completely uninvolved in shaping the role of culture in European policies.
What does the slogan “Art for Social Change” mean to you? Why should be it be the key to Congress debates?
KW: It’s a very broad slogan. Some people interpret it through the lens of social engineering. In our perception, it’s not even so much “art as a tool for social change” as precisely “art for social change”. We want to ask organizations how culture/art can influence society; in what ways art draws upon it and what it gives back in return; in what fields it can act. Art is not an enclave – stimulating freethinking and changing perspectives lie in its nature – and that is why it can influence business, politics, and all other spheres of life without automatically becoming a service. That’s the key thing.
MW: Culture includes various groups into society – groups which are often otherwise being excluded. Europe is currently focusing precisely on such groups – seniors and children – and the third sector is nothing if not civic movement. We want to accentuate the fact that NGOs co-create culture, and that they can become even more involved in it.
You assume that participants of the Congress will not limit themselves to passively listening to the debates…
MW: Indeed, when we were creating the program, we thought about including nongovernmental organizations and cultural activists in a more active capacity; we want to give them a voice and a forum, as well as encourage them to co-create some of the events.
KW: The activities we’re proposing give these organizations a chance to establish international cooperation. We believe that for some of them these contacts could blossom into long-term relationships. But main goal is for the congress to not end up as a several day affair, but instead become a basis for such relationships. All these activities will require establishing personal contacts.
MW: We’ll also try to create a way for the organizations to submit interesting projects to us, which we will then be able to co-finance and present at the Congress (and which will be subsequently – we would hope – continued). We will announce this feature on the ECC website in early March. The main condition for submitting a project will be establishing cooperation with a foreign partner. We want to use this program to make Polish NGOs change their perspective.
As a third sector activist, I know that if we want to survive, we have to learn how to find partners in thought and action. We also have to grow up as a society and stop dealing with our problems alone, we should start thinking of ourselves as parts of a bigger whole – it’s about time to we became members of the European Union not only on paper, but in practice as well. In Poland, there’s still this attitude that such cooperation is beyond reach; that our problems are unique and hermetic – and it simply isn’t true. NGOs in other countries have the same problems, and some have successfully overcome them. We should draw on their expertise.
You have invited to the ECC “A Soul for Europe”, an initiative which began in Berlin as a group of activists, and has since become an international institution, with its own work group in the European Parliament. They seem to best exemplify the benefits of cooperation over barriers between fields of activity, cultural sectors, and nations…
KW: Yes, ASFE is an important player of that scene, thought I’m certain they wouldn’t refer to themselves as such. It’s an informal initiative with members in 21 countries, which has set out to make politicians throughout Europe aware that culture shouldn’t be merely one of the elements of Union budgets and sector debates, since it is in fact the chief agent of integration. Just the fact that Europe can claim to share a common identity is actually the product of culture. ASFE lobbies not for increased spending on culture, but for the awareness of culture’s overriding role to infuse all EU directives and all European debates. ASFE can already claim some very tangible successes, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. They don’t have a partner in Poland yet. It’s one of the most interesting European initiatives, so I think it would really benefit our NGOs to participate in the AFSE debates during the Congress.
MW: These debates group politicians, representatives of local governments and nongovernmental organizations at one table. That’s how ASFE manifests that NGOs can be – and are – active participants in cultural changes on the European level. Debating on seemingly impossible goals often allows you to verify this supposed impossibility.
What do you think are the weakest points of Poland’s third sector?
KW: Its weakest point is that it’s scattered, and engages in mutual competition rather than cooperation – that’s the problem we want to address during the Congress.
MW: I see two more problems. Firstly, our organizations can’t seem think in the long term and build strategies for the future: they live from one project to another, ignorant of their general context. Secondly, many of their conversations and projects start with money. Money is very important, it allows you to implement your programs, but it can’t be your starting point, because it’s merely a tool. If we put other, long-term goals first and build a stable organization, it will be able to survive even when faced with momentary financial problems. Let’s focus on sustained growth, forming strategies and cooperation – if we do that, I’m sure we can build a really strong third sector.
Do you think the Congress can somehow educate Polish nongovernmental organizations?
MW: We’re trying to prepare nongovernmental organizations for participating in the Congress by preparing a series of workshops during which we talk about networking, cooperating with businesses, and forming strategies.. Maybe we’ll be able to publish a small guide for NGOs with our advice on solving these problems. But we don’t want to educate anyone at the Congress itself. We want to treat nongovernmental organizations as mature partners, ready to engage in a serious debate.
KW: The Congress is supposed to present its participants with a variety of opportunities. They will be able to meet potential partners from Poland and abroad, from nongovernmental organizations and institutions. The Congress is supposed to initiate the creation of a cooperation network between various segments of culture: the institutionalized, the non-institutionalized, and others; it’s supposed to serve as inspiration. As for what nongovernmental organizations do with these opportunities – that’s entirely up to them. We hope they take advantage of them.
Interview by Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska
Translated by Wojciech Góralczyk
