The Ritual Gatherings music and contemporary art festival conducted a survey among local artists to find out more about approaches to promoting, selling and developing creative products. Based on the results, a programme on artistic entrepreneurship will be presented with guest speakers from Norway.

The results of a survey conducted in the months of January to April with a focus on people working in the cultural sphere in Shumen speak to the need to increase the capacity and knowledge of local artists to preserve their craft and develop it through digital technologies and modern practices. Thirty-six artists participated in the survey, and only three of them said that they supported themselves entirely through art and artistic events. 35% rely on teaching, and 17% also work in tourism and hospitality, with a third in permanent, salaried employment. The survey also showed that a large proportion of them, almost 50%, do not have a social media page, which is one of the proven channels for successfully promoting and selling art.

The Ritual Gatherings Contemporary Art Festival team is coming to the city on Friday, May 27, at the Panayot Volov House Museum, where from 10 am to 5 pm several lectures and examples of successful cultural entrepreneurship will be presented, which artists can apply in the development of their creative products, so as to increase their knowledge through their application. Special guests of the one-day seminar are representatives of the Norwegian artist collective Pikene på Broen and contemporary artist Tine Surreal Lange, who has a great experience in working with traditional rituals combined with innovative practices and contemporary media. Eleonora Dervenska, lecturer in cultural management at New Bulgarian University, will talk about approaches to presenting art, digital media and different business models artists can work with and give practical advice. The initiative of the Museum of Folk Crafts and Applied Arts in Troyan will also be presented. "Museum in a suitcase". The educational program, developed by the Museum of Special Education in Scotland, provides an opportunity to touch the cultural heritage through the immediate visual and sensory perception of the content.

The workshop is open and free to all artists who wish to update their approach to presenting their art and there is no limit to the format in which they work.

The artist community survey was initiated by Ritual Gatherings and aims to identify the current state of the cultural sphere in the city, the needs and potential of local artists. It involved 36 people, aged between 18 and 55+, permanently living and working in the city. In parallel, the local cultural and folklore heritage, in particular the specific rituals and traditions in the municipality of Shumen, their preservation, development and promotion through interactive methods were explored. On the basis of this information, the organizers will prepare a cultural profile of the municipality to support it in the strategic development of the local cultural scene.
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Ritual Gatherings: Traditional Rituals and Interactive Contemporary Art - Mechanisms for Building Communities and Achieving Sustainable Cultural Ecosystems” (Project BGCULTURE-2.001-0117-C01) is implemented with the financial support provided by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Financial Mechanism to the amount of EUR 199,984. The project is part of the OP “Cultural Entrepreneurship, Heritage and Cooperation” Result 2 “Improved access to arts and culture”.
www.eeagrants.bg