Invited guests and panellists on the conference:

• Emilia Gjeroska, Head of the Centre for Development of the Pelagonija region
• Evgenija Bektaš Josifovska, Advisor for Culture in the Municipality of Bitola
• Dragana Kjurčioska, Head of the Sector for Normative-Legal, Administrative and Property Affaires in the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia
• Goran Petrov, Mayor of Veles
• Marjan Risteski, Mayor of Prilep
• Borče Dimitrovski, Director of the Centre for Culture, Bitola
• Toni Chatleski, Director of the Centre for Culture "Marko Cepenkov” Prilep
• Irena Andreeveska, Director of the International Centre for Art and Sustainable Development "Art Point - Gumno", Demir Hisar
• Zoran Ilievski, Director of SEGA – Coalition of youth organizations

The delegation will be led by the organisers (Lokomotiva’s team composed of Biljana Tanurovska-Kjulavkovski, Violeta Kachakova (programme editors) and Radmila Stanojevska). The conference and the official visit will have media coverage by TELMA TV, by the two journalists (Nina Stefanova and Jane Markovski) that travel with the Macedonian delegation.

On 13 and 14 of September the delegation will visits several cultural institutions (Le point de jour - Photography Centre of Cherbourg, Trident Theatre - National Scene of Cherbourg, IMEC - Memorial Institute for contemporary editions, Caen, Museum of Fine Arts, Caen) and the municipal administrations of the cities of Caen and Cherbourg. The goal of these visits is to exchange practical knowledge for the system of management, organisation and programming of the institutions and their role in the creation of the public (cultural) policies. Moreover, these meetings will be used for consideration of the possibility to establish future collaborations between communities, agglomerations and institutions from the Republic of Macedonia and the Region Lower Normandy.

Therefore, after the last year twining of the cities Ohrid and Caen, the positive effects of this collaboration produced another memorandum of cooperation (twining) of the cities of Veles and Cherbourg. The Macedonian delegation will have opportunity to be part of this solemn act of great importance for the further cooperation between these two territories

Conference will be held on 15 of September in the Regional Council of Lower Normandy. The main goal is to emphasize the importance of culture as a factor for social and economic development and to analyse the challenges, opportunities and prospects for strategic development of culture on the regional level.

Conference will joint representatives of central governments (ministers, head of departments), of regions Lower Normandy and Pelagonija, of local governments (mayors, advisors for culture), directors of cultural institutions under state or municipal jurisdiction and representatives of the civil sector.

Conference is organised in two thematic sessions.
The first session, titled: Territorial cultural policies: Possibilities and needs for regional cultural development aims to present and discuss the existing models of cultural policy practiced on both territories and through a comparative analyse (taking in consideration the different socio-cultural context) to investigate the challenges and possible models of cultural development of regional level.
Through case studies, concrete projects, action places, the Second session aims to present and discuss about the existing and new methods of implementation of the cultural policies on a certain territory. Therefore, in this session the panellists will have their exposure in two thematic frames:
1. Implementation of public cultural policies in a certain territory
2. Project and instruments for development of culture in a certain territory

Here you can find the Conference programme

M. Alain Tourret, Vice-President of the Regional Council of Lower Normandy, President of the commission “Europe, cooperation, tourism and reunification of Lower and Higher Normandy, Agriculture and Fishing” and M. Musa Xhafferi, Minister of Local Self-Government of the Republic of Macedonia, will open the conference with introductory speech.

The conference in Caen is continuation to the conference in Skopje, realised on 15 of September 2009 (in Multimedia Centre Mala Stanica) on the subject: Decentralisation in culture in the republic of Macedonia and the Region Lower Normandy/ France.

This conference encloses the first three-year cycle of the project axe for "Cultural policy and cultural exchange" from the project for “Decentralised cooperation between the Region Lower Normandy and the Republic of Macedonia”. The second three-year cycle (2010-2013) starts in October.
Main goal of the project axe for "Cultural policy and cultural exchange" in the new cycle is to apply a tree year project programme, which will result with creation of a strategic document for regional cultural development of the Pelagonija region, as well development of the professional capacities of the local cultural actors that will contribute in further sustainable development of cultural and continual collaboration between municipalities from Macedonia and Region of Lower Normandy.

The project is support by the Region Lower Normandy, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Association of Agencies for Local Democracy.