In late Septemner 2023 Philea hosted their KoneKtor 2023 Annual Forum, and Alliance asked its readers what session they would like to hear about most in a poll. The winner was ‘Embracing Vulnerability Through the Arts’ – take a look at our conference report below.

This session at Konektor gave the audience an eye-opening look at how funding the arts is essential before, and after, conflict. The panel convened at a time when major funders have pulled out of the region, particularly long-time donors of democratic values and the arts.  

Boro Kontic. Director of Medis Center Sarajevo, used to be a radio journalist when the war started. By 1992, public broadcast radio in Bosnia had only one programme, losing the array of diverse programming available before the war.  

“Culture is enormously important. I ask why cultural programmes are important; the answer was given half a century before by Winston Churchill when it proposed that money could be cut from culture and given to the army: what are we going to defend if we take money from the ministry of culture?” said Kontic. 

The panel discussed the success of the Sarajevo Film Festival which started during the war, in 1993. Its success continues today, and holds lessons on why philanthropists, if they care about democratic values and community cohesion, should care about maintaining the arts. 

“It was vulnerable times, but art – a pillar of democracy – meant so much for Bosnians. Similar things happened in Croatia and Kosovo. It gives intimacy when culture is present; it gives a safe space for people to escape for a second their reality. The arts meant a great deal to this city and region,” said Beka Vuco, founder and president of My Balkans.  

Philea’s Konektor conference in Sarajevo. Embracing vulnerability through the arts panel. Photo by Shafi Musaddique

Fifteen organisations have retired globally from giving to cultural exchanges this year, to date. Corina Suteu, an international cultural consultant, warned the audience of the dangers of pulling away from the arts.  

“There was a period after the fall of communism where grant giving was active in Western Balkans and Central Europe. What you fund in the 1990s only becomes effective between 2000-2010. What do we see in 2020? Look in the Balkans, you see the values are regressing. If you stop funding cultural orgs, you stop creating biodiversity. The values of democracy are then decreasing,” said Suteu. 

“It’s much easier to get money if you’re nourishing poor communities than you are if you say you’re organising a film festival. Yet giving to Sarajevo Film Festival is nourishing aspiration who will see ‘hey I can do this’,” she added.  

One of the main positive of well funded arts in the Balkans was seeing people on the margins couldn’t express themselves in ‘elite terms’. That participation in the arts eventually gets people from the margins to participate in politics.  

That is in danger today, particularly with the reported retreat of the Open Society Foundation from European programmes.  

“Foundations have a tendency to give grants and then retire brutally from grant keeping. When you retire brutally, you leave those organisations vulnerable,” warned Vuco. 

The importance of philanthropic organisations for the arts cannot be underestimated. The bureaucracy of funding from the European Union means that “foundations are really bringing a gap where government no longer acts,” said Suteu.  

Kontić and Vučo authored a book in 2021, marking the 30th anniversary of the presence and work of the Open Society Foundations in the Balkans. 

Both remain alarmed that cuts to the arts in the Balkans will curtail democratic progress. Bosnia, in particular, still is yet to be an EU member state, too. 

Closing remarks left food for thought. 

“Culture and democracy are linked. We must understand how linked they are intertwined. How much does it count when you give money to the arts that you address social issues?” said Suteu. 

“In my opinion, we can’t counteract the influence of influencers, or Netflix. Let’s use them instead. But really transmit the values that we are keen to transmit. How do we make influencers understand better what democracy is about?”.  

Shafi Musaddique is a news editor at Alliance magazine.