The monitoring covers 30 European countries
A workshop of cultural operators and representatives of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission was held in the space of the Sofia Youth Innovation Lab at the invitation of the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova. The participants presented the new tool for monitoring creative European cities. The monitoring is performed in 30 European countries. Sofia is one of the 168 cities where the economy in support of the creative industries, cultural activities and the establishment of an environment favourable to cooperation with the civil sector are measured. The aim is to encourage experience exchange and to assess the role of culture and creativity in improving the social and economic situation of the cities.
A key indicator for Sofia is the number of jobs in the field of arts, culture and entertainment, as well as new media and communication. The capital is also growing in terms of other artistic and creative sectors and in the potential for accessibility of the constructed infrastructure related to culture.
An application was presented designed to map the cultural life of the cities and expand their potential in terms of audiences and visibility of processes.
On the part of Sofia Municipality, the monitoring of the events, which participate annually in the city cultural calendar was presented, as well as the evaluation criteria and the data that it collects and summarizes. The cultural operators participating in the meeting expressed great interest in the various sources of information and their relevance related to the dynamics, which is essential for the sector. The exchange of experience was a good prerequisite for dialogue and evaluation of the processes and of the achieved outcomes. Among the highlights of the meeting was improving the environment for development of the independent sector in cultural life and the necessity of its public registration on the map of cultural values. Discussed was the possibility of using alternative practices, like the presented application, which makes possible to mark all participants in the cultural life of a city.
This meeting is the beginning of long-term cooperation for collecting and summarizing data with the active participation of all involved in the cultural life.
