The Context Studies project was officially launched on December 1, 2013. The Council of the Context Studies was assembled for the first time on December 10. The members of the Council were invited based on their experience in the variety of educational programs, their participation in education politics and cultural education.

The initial list of the members is the following:

prof. Milena Dragićević Šešić, Dejan Ilić (Fabrika knjiga, časopis Reč), Srbijanka Turajlić, Saša Ilić (Links; “Criticize This!”), Atila Širbik  (Symposion), Branislav Dimitrijević (Škola za istoriju i teoriju umetnosti u CSU, Beogradu),  Predrag Brebanović (Centar za istoriju i teoriju književnosti), Snežana Skoko (predavač na kursevima Centra za stvaralaštvo mladih), Ružica Marjanović (Festival “Na pola puta”, Užice), Ana Vujanović (TKH – projekat “Raškolovano znanje”), Vesna Milosavljević, Mladen Đorđević, Nikola Dedić, Ivana Aleksić i Borka Pavićević.

The Council will be open to new members who can contribute to the development and the program of the Studies.

Aleksandra Sekulić, the project manager, presented the plan of the project and the creative team of the project staff: Ana Isaković coordinator of the project in Belgrade, Sanja Nikolić, PR and Ivica Đorđevic, media editor. Borka Pavićević will take over the dramaturgy of the final public presentation of the project initial year’s results in Belgrade.

The coordinators of the program in Niš (Osman Balić, YUROM Centar), Subotica (Branislav Filipović, and the team of Active Region: Daniela Mamuzić, Ana Patarčić; also the Symposion magazine editor Attila Sirbik) and Novi Pazar (Enes Halilović, Sent magazine) further developed an insight into specificities of their communities and local situations this project could intervene in.

The members of the Council of the Context Studies (Milena Šešić, Srbijanka Turajlić, Ružica Marjanovič, Mladen Đorđević, Dejan Ilić, Snežana Skoko) contributed to the clarification of the project’s methodology and advised in dissemination of its public invitation and results.

The mentors for the three themes of the project were introduced:

1. Translation as a cultural form – polemics and translation: Saša Ćirić, editor and critic (Beton magazine)

2. Diversity of the youth cultures – Self-organized production: Ognjen Glavonić, film director

3. Brecht as a method – secularity safeguarding the diversity: Zlatko Paković, theater director

The next meeting took place on December 23, when the public rehearsal of the theater didactic piece “Enemy of the people as a didactic play (Ibsen with Brecht, a partiture for a composer, two actors and a director)”* was performed for the members of the Council and the project teams from all cities. Further steps were discussed, and the timetable of project was adopted. Four initial public events were set to present the areas of work for future participants.

* “Enemy of the people as a didactic play (Ibsen with Brecht, a partiture for a composer, two actors and a director)”

Director: Zlatko Paković; Actors: Igor Filipović, Bojan Dimitrijević, Zlatko Paković; Musician:  Božidar Obradinović.