The Creative Producers programme in the Western Balkans is entering a new phase, with successfully selected participants and their exciting projects which will be taking place this spring and summer in North Macedonia!

Creative Producers is a professional development and funding opportunity for emerging producers in the Western Balkans aiming to enhance their skills and capacity, build new networks, and contribute to co-production. It is envisioned to help create a sustainable creative sector community rooted locally but connected internationally who understand everything from creative vision and technical challenges to budgets, logistics and audiences.

The programme was launched as an open call for applications in November 2021, after which 14 successful candidates from the region were selected to take part in what came next: two weeks of online development workshops facilitated by Curated Place, a Manchester-based arts-led creative production company, which led the participants through the process of designing their creative projects. Among other valuable knowhow, the participants were given guidance on how to clearly communicate their ideas, make practical delivery considerations around where, when and how those ideas would happen and – crucially – how to determine their target audiences. 

Having successfully completed this phase in February 2022, the producers all gave their final pitch to the programme team and were given the green light and funds to begin the project inception stage – with dates and logistics firmly in place. 

A total of 14 projects will be kicking off in late spring and running throughout the summer period in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.

Our up-and-coming creative producers have it all – inspiring and fresh ideas coupled with the energetic drive to execute them, all of which is sure to appeal to diverse audiences hungry for memorable and engaging experiences this season!

FILTER (Functionality; Innovation; Local; Technology; Ecology; Resource)

Format: Project about sustainability and circular economy

Organisation / Producer: Brokuli / Darko Kuzmanoski

Date(s): April 2022

Location: Skopje

The purpose of FILTER is to invite different stakeholders to address the issues related to a clean and healthy environment, offer creative solutions, and present good practices by using new models of self-sustainability and discussing the benefits of a circular economy. The general objective of this project is to increase the participation of young people in decision making at the local level, protect the environment and combat climate change, as well as strengthen their capacity for self-employment following the principles of circular economy at a local level by creating a strong network between independent artists, civil society organizations, local and state institutions, schools, universities, private companies, and citizens. Another specific objective is to enable informal and practical education for young people to acquire knowledge and skills for new arts and crafts and proper waste treatment by repairing, reusing, reducing, recycling, and upcycling the waste into new environmentally friendly products.

MAGDA GameDev 1UP

Format: Online workshops/lectures on game development

Organisation / Producer: MAGDA / Gorast Cvetkovski

Date(s): 4 May, 11 May, 18 May, 25 May, 1 June (Workshops)

18 June 2022 (Hackathon + Lecture)

Location: Skopje

MAGDA GameDev 1UP will produce 6 LIVE learning sessions/workshops from professionals in the Game Development industry. Topics that will be covered include Level Design, Art Direction, Game Design, Sound Design, Game Programming, Game Producing, Monetization and more. Depending on the duration of the lectures, there will be one or two lecturers per day/session. As a pinnacle of the event, a two-day GameDev Hackathon will be organised, where participants from the lectures together with other Game Development enthusiasts and professionals will gather to develop game prototypes.

WE – Collection of Stories, Poems

Format: Book and documentary

Organisation / Producer: Shortbas / Gorazd Kitanovski

Date(s): April – July 2022

22 August 2022 (Book and Documentary Launch)

Location: Skopje

As we live in unprecedented times, positive energy, empathy and compassion have never been more sought after. The project’s goal is to delve into the psyche of people and bring all their positive energy to the surface, to show them that they are not alone in the cruel process. The idea is to achieve this through different methods: poetry slams on the street, organised events, in order to collect poems and create one book titled WE. The process of gathering the stories will be filmed. The book will have no author – rather, it will belong to the people who take part in its creation. One of the goals of this project is to help and inspire people to follow their dream of writing, but also to inspire people who are not professional writers to express their deep feelings on paper. The concept for this project transcends the boundary of language – anyone can write anything in whatever language. The final products of the project will be the book WE and the accompanying documentary.