We want to foster cooperation between cultural institutions and NGOs working with local communities, targeting mainly young Roma in the city of Košice through workshops, meetings, participatory projects of cultural exchange and with active citizenship in the center of the cooperation. The aim is to create space for new encounters and critical discussions. The sustainability of the project is secured by CINEFIL and ETP Slovensko working in the field of culture and community development.

Košice, Lunik IX, Eastern Slovakia (Košice and Prešov Region)

Košice as the second largest city in Slovakia has one of the biggest urban ghettos in Central Europe - Lunik IX. It is located on the outskirts of the center, physically and mentally separated from the rest of the urban community. Lunik IX counts with around 3500 inhabitants. Urban paths of residents of Lunik IX (up to 100% of Roma population) are rarely crossing the ones of the majority, looking for “safe” places, avoiding unwelcoming and strange experiences. The segregation of this community is evident, but at the same time, the city of Košice has been unable to implement meaningful strategy and sustainable measures to cope with this situation. We believe that art, culture and networking could bridge the gaps between disconnected communities and the city.

In the center of the project is the community of young Roma, who often feel segregated and unwelcomed. At the same time, we want to include other communities - majority, policy makers and other stakeholders such as employers, teachers, neighbors, to be part of the project and overcome the prejudice and form networks across communities. Only around 21% of Roma population is employed. Roma jobseekers have approximately 50% less chance that potential employers would reply to their application compared to the majority population. A very often phenomenon is also “brain drain” to England, Belgium and Germany. Around ⅓ of Roma population at Lunik IX are young people between 16 and 30 many of them having experience living abroad at some point in their lives.

We identified key activities based on the needs of the communities 1) “Community breakfasts” aimed at networking of policy makers, key actors in the community and cultural institutions 2) Language cafe - Roma language lessons in Kino Usmev 3) Film workshops in Lunik IX as continuation of “inclusive film school project” - to be more present in the community, and prepare young people to participate in workshops in the city center 4) Free screenings especially curated by and for the community, with the aim to involve “the majority” and attract filmmakers. 5) Summer Academy at Lunik IX (Main topic: film) - continuation of a format run by ETP (5th year). The activities should contribute to networking and communication between stakeholders, with Kino Usmev, in the center as a mediator of change.

We believe that through this project we will encourage especially young Roma, but also their relatives to visit the city center and cultural institutions more often. Starting with project activities and free community screenings, continuing to reaching out, inspiring and visiting other cultural institutions and businesses. Through film workshops at Lunik IX, we want to show the creativity, potential and expression of the community through arts. Through “Community breakfasts” and “Language cafes” we aim to build new networks, cooperations and strategies. Break the invisible barrier and foster civic self-confidence. Through Summer Academy at Lunik IX we want to provide kids and young people with a complex experience of film-making resulting with a movie to be screened in Kino Usmev.

We believe that inclusion of the communities through our specific activities (meetings, film workshops, networking events, film screenings, summer academy) can empower the target group of young Roma and foster the active citizenship and sense of democracy. The idea is to enhance their participation in project activities and subsequently enhance their participation in shaping the future of their community.

The motivation lays in the outcomes of previous cooperation in the events between ETP, CINEFIL and Keď môžem pomôžem initiatives. Mainly film premieres involving the documentaries about Roma community, inclusive film school, networking events (IntegRare!) and the common aim to bring awareness of the challenges of communication between stakeholders connecting young Roma and “the majority”. Another shared goal between organizations involved is to visualize this community in the everyday life of Slovaks through different activities - discussion, art and meetings, not to be avoided and missed by the public and policy makers.

1) “Community breakfasts” (10x) - 2000€
2) Language cafe (10x200) - 2000€
3) Film workshops in Lunik IX (10x300) - 3000€
4) Free screenings - (6x) - 13 000€
5) Summer Academy at Lunik IX - 6000€
Project coordination 12x 1340€ = 16 080€
Production (local assistant) 12x 670€ = 8040€
Adminstration costs (12x 400) = 4800€
PR (12x200) = 2400€
Premises = 5000€

We hope to get sincere and constructive feedback as we have a very strong motivation to realize the project and find ways to implement the project activities in future. This way, we could improve and make it even better and more sustainable!