Unacceptable Targeting of Biljana Srbljanović and Heartefact

News

The texts published today on the portal nova.rs, titled “Biljana Srbljanović Foundation Received 4,325,138 dinars from the State Last Year” and “Who all has Maja Gojković given money to: Another 22,000 euros to the foundation where Biljana Srbljanović works,” represent a tendentious interpretation of facts and an unacceptable targeting of Biljana Srbljanović, Heartefact, and the people associated with it.

Within a few hours, the aforementioned two texts appeared on the nova.rs portal, authored anonymously, initially misleading readers by claiming that money was awarded to the “Biljana Srbljanović Foundation.” Such a foundation does not exist. Several hours later, nova.rs corrected the titles, leaving the crucial information that the money was awarded to the “foundation where Biljana Srbljanović works.” It is important to note that both texts rely on reports about the allocation of funds from two completely different competitions—one from April last year, while the other was published yesterday. The text about the funds allocated last year through the Ministry of Justice competition “Opportunity” insinuates that Heartefact was given the space where Heartefact House is located. No one gave us that space; we created it through dedicated work in a time when there are very few opportunities for establishing new cultural spaces. The money awarded in this competition was invested in equipping Heartefact House, a new Belgrade space for engaged art, which celebrates its one-year anniversary this month. In the previous year, the House collaborated with numerous artists who were given the opportunity to create and explore topics that they often cannot engage with in other cultural institutions. While our work is recognized by domestic and international critics, the nova.rs portal fabricates malicious and very dangerous headlines for the sake of its profit and daily political needs.

Biljana Srbljanović is a tenured professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, a renowned playwright, and an activist. In addition, she is the program editor at our Foundation. The shameful texts on the Nova S portal, accompanied by sensationalist data publication and equally problematic content, including photographs, serve exclusively to target Biljana Srbljanović and represent an unequivocal violation of professional and ethical standards prescribed by the Code of Journalists of Serbia. These texts aim to discredit the achievements and authority that Biljana Srbljanović holds in the Serbian public and her contribution to initiating dialogue on important social and political issues, as well as our collective contribution to the affirmation of hundreds of young artists who are part of Heartefact.

Since its founding in 2009, Heartefact has been an organization that publicly publishes activity reports, as well as financial reports. These reports demonstrate that, like all other organizations, Heartefact regularly applies for funding through domestic and international competitions, including various sources of funding from the Government of the Republic of Serbia and other institutions. In addition to the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Justice, Heartefact is funded by the European Commission, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the National Endowment for Democracy, various embassies and funds, as well as our audience.

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The Festivity of Otherness was held in the Heartefact House in Belgrade

From December 5 to 7, 2024, the Festivity of Otherness was held in Belgrade. After the Zagreb version of the festivity in November, when three performances created as part of the Eclectic of Otherness project co-financed by the European Union were shown on the theater stage of the Arterarij organization, Heartefact House hosted the Belgrade version of the festival.

Final partners’ meeting and poetry performance in Ljubljana as part of the POT-VOT project

From November 25 to 27, 2024, in Ljubljana, in Pionirski dom, the last partners’ meeting was held as part of the Poets of Today, Voices of Tomorrow project. After more than two years of various activities dedicated to the promotion of contemporary poetry among young people and the general population, the last meeting of 5 partners from Slovenia, Serbia, Finland, Hungary and Poland was used to recapitulate and evaluate the project.

Sofija Dimitrijević at the Playground residency in Rome

At the beginning of November, playwright Sofija Dimitrijević participated in the first of 12 residencies within the Playground project, which Heartefact implements with partners from Italy, France and Romania. The innovativeness of the project lies in the fact that it was designed with the idea of establishing a more complex and comprehensive cooperation between the various professions involved in the theater process – playwrights, directors, translators and performers.

Billboard campaign “Poets of today, voices of tomorrow” in Belgrade

From November 11 to 17, Heartefact ran a billboard campaign in the main pedestrian street in Belgrade, in Knez Mihailova, with the aim of promoting the poetry of our young contemporary poets. The verses of Jelena Marinkov, Aleksa Krstić, Tihana Smiljanić, Milica Milosavljević and Marija Dragnić, in the design of Miroslav Živanov, were found in several locations along the entire street.

Second Slavic Soundwalk Through Belgrade

Starting at 12 PM, we gathered at the Main Post Office, the first location, and then continued walking while listening to the stories at different locations, including the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, the Hall of the Cultural Center of Belgrade, and finally concluded the walk at Atelje 212.

The first Festivity of Otherness as part of the Eclectic of Otherness project ended in Zagreb

From November 7 to 9, 2024, the first Festivity of Otherness was held in the theater venue of the Arterarij organization in Zagreb. As part of the festival, three performances from Serbia, France and Croatia premiered, and the festival is moving to Belgrade in December. The third location is Paris in January 2025.

The exhibition UKRAINE: LOVE + WAR (2014-2024) will be held in Belgrade from November 15 to 23

The Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans invites you to the opening of the exhibition UKRAINE: LOVE + WAR (2014-2024) which will take place on Friday, November 15, 2024 at 6 p.m. at the Europe House in Belgrade (Zmaj Jovina 8). The exhibition is inspired by the book of the same name published by FotoEvidence, which is a testimony of the devastating impact of Russian aggression on Ukrainian society, captured through the lenses of 95 international photojournalists.

We’ve developed toolkits for non-formal teaching about sound and light design and video operations in theatre!

During this year, we held three masterclasses for theatrical technicians in light and sound design and video operations within the Beyond Stage Mastery project. The masterclasses were led by experts Luigi Biondi, Alessandro Olla, Lazar Nikolić and Ivan Đurović. As a result of the masterclasses we’ve developed manuals as toolkits for non-formal teaching about sound and light design and video operations.

A three-day conference of the European network Fabulamundi – New Voices was held in the Heartefact House

From October 5 to 7, 2024, a three-day conference of the European network of playwrights Fabulamundi-New Voces was held in Heartefact House in Belgrade. After the meetings in Rome, Venice and Paris, Belgrade had the opportunity to host 19 playwrights from a dozen European countries and representatives of theaters and art organizations that are part of the network.

Heartefact’s Visit to DokuFest in Prizren for 13 young students and activists

From August 7 to 11, 2024, Heartefact organized a visit to DokuFest for 13 young film directing and production students, cultural workers, artists, and activists from Serbia. The documentary and short film festival is held annually in Prizren, and this year’s 23rd edition brought together numerous directors from the region, Europe, and around the world. In addition to the film program, participants attended masterclasses, exhibitions, concerts, performances, and met with cultural workers from Prizren, such as Vatra Abrashi from Autostrada, Linda Lulla Gashi, Alba Cakalli and Samir Karahoda from DokuFest, and Bengi Muzbeg from the Lumbardhi Foundation.

Aleksa Krstić from Heartefact Institute on the Oko Balkana radio show at Radio Belgrade

Why does Heartefact translate contemporary literature from Kosovo into Serbian? This was one of the key questions our Aleksa Krstić discussed on the “Oko Balkana” show on Radio Belgrade’s Second Program.

Exchange of Researchers from Serbia and Kosovo as part of Research Visiting Program

In June, Heartefact organized an exchange for 10 young researchers from Serbia and Kosovo as part of our Research Visiting Program. The group from Serbia visited Pristina and Gracanica, while the group from Kosovo visited Belgrade. During these visits, they met with representatives from over 20 organizations from Kosovo and Serbia, as well as university professors, activists, and artists.

Introducing the Second Cohort: Six Kosovo-Serbia Research Fellows Selected

As part of the second cycle of the Kosovo-Serbia Fellowship Program, Heartefact has chosen six researchers who will explore new and constructive narratives regarding the relations between Kosovo and Serbia, ranging from language and translation issues to education, EU-facilitated dialogue, normalization process and other relevant political and social areas. During the three-month research period, participants will spend one month in either Belgrade or Prishtina. Throughout the program, they will have the opportunity to influence dominant narratives and offer new perspectives to the public on the topic of their research.

Culture for Democracy Project: Supported Projects for On-the-Job Training and Capacity Building for Organizations and Professionals in the Field of Culture / Job Shadowing

The Heartefact Fund announces the selected organizations and individuals in the field of culture and the arts who will receive grants under the Culture for Democracy (CfD) project for on-the-job training and capacity building of organizations (Job Shadowing).

A five-day seminar was held as part of the Human Rights Leadership Program

In partnership with the Slovenian Institute 8th of March, Heartefact organized a seminar as part of the Human Rights Leadership Program. The seminar aimed to empower 23 activists from various parts of Serbia, selected through a public call for participation in this one-year program.

Workshop for youth “Transforming a personal story into a theatre play” held in the Heartefact House

Two weeks ago, a six-day workshop “Transforming a personal story into a theatre play ” was held in the Heartefact House, led by the author and director Patrik Lazić, who was joined by the playwright and professor of dramaturgy from Romania, Elise Wilk.

Poetry performance “Poets of Today, Voices of Tomorrow” in Poland

At the end of March, in the Polish city of Gliwice, a poetry performance “Poets of Today, Voices of Tomorrow” was held as part of the project of the same name in which Heartefact participates with partners from Slovenia, Finland, Hungary, and Poland.

Open Call for theatrical technicians from Albania, Kosovo and Serbia to participate in five-day masterclass in Video Operation in theatre

Heartefact Fund in partnership with Centar of Visual Arts Multimedia is pleased to announce an open call within the Beyond Stage Mastery project, supported by the British Council through Culture and Creativity Learning Lab grant scheme as a part of the project Culture and Creativity for the Western Balkans (CC4WBs). CC4WBs is a project funded by the European Union that aims to foster dialogue in the Western Balkans by enhancing the cultural and creative sectors for increased socio-economic impact.