Spartak, Interdisciplinary Platform for Eastern Europe
2012 ANNUAL REPORT
Introduction Chapter 1: Programmes 1.1 Streets 1.2 Comixiade 1.3 EVS sending 1.4 Training and networking 1.5 Urbania Chapter 2: Communication 2.1 Showcases 2.2 Publications 2.3 Press and publicity 2.4 Online outreach Chapter 3: Strategic Development Chapter 4: Finances
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WELCOME “It was a year of change, with familiar faces leaving the office and new ones arriving. It was a year of new partnerships and the continuation of old ones, but most of all 2012 was year in which Platform Spartak laid a solid basis for the future.� President of Platform Spartak in 2012
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Introduction BY SVEN In 2012 Platform Spartak reaffirmed its position as a platform for European cooperation. The 169 young people that participated in our activities, experienced the value of cross-cultural cooperation and strengthened bonds between them and youth scenes in other parts of Europe. These these young people worked on various topics, but all shared the same process: They connected with new people, discussed ideas and values, and shared their new insights with their communities. This way Platform Spartak fullfilled its a role as a platform, which facilitates young people in realizing their ideas and dreams in binding Europe together.
2012 was also the year in which Platform Spartak settled its position in the local community of The Hague. The cooperation with local NGO’s and the 59 Dutch participants of which a large part was from The Hague give a good indication. Another improvement this year was the increase in cooperation with partner organizations from 22 countries with who we organized international and local projects and made 4 publications. To conclude, I would like to thank all the partners, freelancers, volunteers and participants who dedicated so much time, efford and energy to Platform Spartak in the past year. I hope they will keep their enthusiasm, energy, creativity and
critical views the coming years. Thank you for making Platform Spartak the dynamic and lively organization it is today. Sven Kooiman
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Chapter 1
PROGRAMMES
In 2012 Platform Spartak had a strong focus on connecting young creative scenes and local communities of engaged citizens in Eastern and Western Europe. The core of our work was about connecting the local realities and bringing them to an European level. The five programmes that were executed resulted in new pictures of, and insights about Europe.
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1.1 Streets
The main goal of the Streets Music Exchange Programme was to empower scenes of young underground musicians. This was done by providing them with a stage and connecting them with peers from other countries. In 2012, the programme had a special focus on post-conflict areas. Another important part of this programme is represented by the strategic partnership with the municipality funded The Hague Music Export, which gives a local band from The Hague the opportunity to travel and perform at the Balkan Streets Festivals. These festivals were initiated by Platform Spartak in 2008 and are now implemented by our local partners. With this programme, Platform Spartak managed to find a great balance during 2012 in being active in The Hague and abroad. By organizing workshops for the young musicians in The Hague, we gave them a chance to develop their talent by learning more about promoting their music abroad.. With the following performance in Bazart we created an opportunity for young talent to show their work to the local public. And to top it off in 2012, not one but two bands took part in the Streets
festivals. By doing this we showed part of the reality of the Balkans to the young Dutch musicians and contributed to a more diverse programme of the festivals. The musicians had the opportunity to meet many of their peers and, as a result, are planning to organize another tour next year in their newly set up network. Another part of network building between young creative Europeans happened during the meeting of Young Artists Linked In., a seminar organized to kick off a new network of young Europeans - the New European Underground. During the seminar recommendations were formulated on how young people could create better, and spread their work to have a bigger impact in the European Society by making use of their network and creativity. To show the potential of European cooperation, two artworks were created and showcased. This happened during the celebration of the Day of Europe, where the audience of The Hague was invited to experience the New European Underground with us. For the further development of our activities abroad, to build our own network and to have
more young people join the New European Underground in the future, Janneke Francissen went to Mitrovica to study the local reality and it’s challenges and opportunities. As a result of her stay, we now have a better insight in the possibility for cooperation with Kosovo and we have met new partners and strengthened ties with our existing partners in the region. Looking at the goals and ideas behind the Streets programme, we believe that in 2012 we have managed to contribute a great deal to the building of networks between young Europeans. By making use of social media such as Facebook, these networks are maintained also after the duration of the projects. It remains important for us as an organization to actively stimulate youngster to express their talents. In 2013 we hope to facilitate this process further, for example by the development of a more extensive online network, as a part of the young artist programme.
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MARCH 17 Balkan Factor Festival // Performances, Bazart, The Hague Music Export, Fonds 1818 The Hague, the Netherlands
APRIL Workshops for musicians
MAY 7-9 Young Artists Linked In // Seminar Tranzyt, A25, YPGD The Hague, The Netherlands
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Young Artists Linked In, Seminar
May 7-9
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MAY 9 Day of Europe / New European Underground // Showcase, debate, performances Het Nutshuis, Fonds 1818 The Hague, the Netherlands
MAY - JUNE 12 - 12 Mitrovica Rock School Job Shadowing Visit Mitrovica, Kosovo
JUNE - JULY STREETS Festivals // Music festivals Generator, Youth Peace Group Danube, Associaton Stari Grad // Vranje, Serbia, Vukovar, Croatia, Tesanj, Bosnia and Hercegovina
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STREETS Festivals, Music festivals
June/July
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“I can’t believe I’m home again.. [it] feels like I’ve been away for ages. So many new faces, new ways of thinking, feeling, communicating, so many friendships and touched souls. New insights, new roads to walk. Not yet knowing how, this changed me a lot. And I am ready. I am embracing life.” Michel – Groove Embassy
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1.2 Comixiade
Comixiade, Platform Spartak’s longterm comic drawing and jamming project, reached it’s conclusion in 2012, with two grant programmes of the ECF finalizing by the end of the year. On the website (www. comixiade.org), several new comics were published under the auspices of ‘Project: Osvald’, while the organizers arranged for the publication of a book containing all artwork produced in the course of a year and a half of comic jamming. Thijs van Nimwegen and Guido van Hengel remained in charge for Platform Spartak, in cooperation with partners Tranzyt (Poznań, Poland), Club Elektrika (Pančevo, Serbia) and Malabedna (Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic). The main goals of Comixiade remained the same: tell the ‘untold stories of Europe’ as imagined by a host of comics artists and scenarists, and promote cooperation and networking with the underground comics scenes of Europe. The online publishing went smoothly and – except for the occasional discussion on theme and quality – without incident. Basically, this was the follow-up of the three 2011 comic jams in digital, online form: to keep artists connected through the website,
social media and other means, and thereby fortify and consolidate the international network created. The book production, however, had to overcome some bumps along the way, mainly in the communication with the Czech partner. Eventually, Lukas Malak took over designing the book for Aneta Bendakova. For financial reasons printing of the book was moved from Plzeň (Czech Republic) to Belgrade (Serbia). Because of these changes, production was delayed until December 2012. At the time of writing, book dissemination to sponsors, partners, artists, press and potential buyers is still underway. Nevertheless, the ECF published it’s own anthology of their ‘Narratives’-project (where Comixiade was part of), which included several of the comics and a revised version of an essay on the ideas behind Comixiade, also included in Comixiade: The Book. To keep the flow of comic- and art jamming going – and have artists network ‘in real life’ as well as online - a Youth Exchange with the Youth in Action-programme was organized in July, using ‘comic jamming’ methods, in cooperation with Paul de Vreede and Michiel van de Weerthof. This project, which
was both a success in it’s own right and a worthy link in the chain of ‘comic events’, brought together young comic enthusiasts from the Netherlands, Greece, Spain and Poland, and was concluded with a well-visited exposition of the results in Groningen underground club VERA, where the results of earlier Comixiade-jams are also on permanent display. Comixiade was in many ways a learning process towards the bigger effort of the STREETS: Mapping & Connecting Young Artists project and showed us both what can go right and what can go wrong. Nevertheless, the main aim – to strengthen the network of underground comics artists in Europe – has been achieved in many ways; both the Czech and Greek partners are currently contemplating their own comic jamming activities.
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Osvald ‘Project Osvald’ – Online publishing of comics within the framework of the Narratives project by the European Cultural Foundation Organizer: Platform Spartak Partners: European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Tranzyt (Poznan, Poland), Malabedna (Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic), Elektrika (Pancevo, Serbia) Date: 01-01-2012 – 30-06-2012
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The Book ‘Project The Book’ – Book publication of the comics made within Comixiade Organizer: Platform Spartak Partners: European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Tranzyt (Poznan, Poland), Malabedna (Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic), Elektrika (Pancevo, Serbia) Date: 01-01-2012 – 31-12-2012
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“The book looks even nicer then it did in the promotional video – it took a while, but it was worth it!” by Henry, one of the donors
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Everyman Everyman - Youth Exchange Organizer: Platform Spartak Partners: Tranzyt (Poznan, Poland), Historias deJacintos (Madrid, Spain), Comicdom Press (Athens, Greece) Date: 15-07 – 22-07-2012
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“I can’t say that I feel like a local citizen, but I definitely do not feel like a tourist either. It feels like home and I have really got to appreciate the culture (...).” Richard Grul
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1.3 EVS Sending
The EVS Sending programme is one of the oldest and most stable activities of Platform Spartak. Since its inception, our organization started promoting mobility opportunities for young people via the Youth in Action programme. The European Volunteer Service (EVS) received particular attention among the different actions of YiA, because it offers our organization the opportunity to support creative encounters among young people from different European countries. By functioning as a Sending Organization, Platform Spartak supports positive and stimulating encounters among young people at an European level. We believe that young people should become aware of their role in European society and that they should be stimulated to participate in the life of their own local communities. By promoting voluntarism at European level, we hope to engage young people’s activism both at local and at European level. 2012 was quite a successful year for what concerns the EVS Sending programme. Building on the achievements of the previous years, this year we finished 11 projects, including 3 projects started in 2012. 3 projects are still ongoing. Morever, in 2012
we secured the funding for 6 other volunteers who will start their activities at the beginning of 2013. In terms of partnerships, Platform Spartak strengthened its cooperation with ADVIT in Chişinău, Moldova. This Hosting Organization proved to be quite interesting, due to the variety of activities it offers to our volunteers, from human rights promotion to animal welfare. At the same time, the scope of our activities has widened, thanks to the cooperation with new partners. As a direct result of a study visit in Turkey in 2012, we found a new reliable partner in GEGED, Gaziantep. After hosting Silke Moldijk in 2011-2012, GEGED will be an important EVS actor in 2013 as well. In addition, our network has expanded to Greece and Georgia, in cooperation with USB (United Societies of the Balkans) and DRONI. By building on the successful experiences of 2012, Platform Spartak and Bulgarian partner CVS are planning to continue the refugee programme in 2013, originally initiated and established in 2012 by our volunteer Judith den Boer. The EVS programme has also been integrated into other existing programmes of Platform Spartak,
for example the STREETS Music Exchange Programme. Volunteers Jasper Pol, Lia Hamminga and Loren Snel worked on this programme within the EVS framework and were hosted by two of our main partners, YPGD and Generator. Thanks to their enthusiastic contribution, the Streets festival 2012 has been a great success, both in the local communities in Serbia and Croatia, and in The Netherlands, in terms of outreach and communication. Thanks to the EVS programme, we were able to widen our pool of human resources. Jolanda Hovius, volunteer in Moldova, has joined the Board of Platform Spartak, at the moment covering the function of Board Secretary. Lia Hamminga is continuing her cooperation with Spartak as volunteer Communication Intern and she will join the EVS Sending mentors team, as will Silke Mooldijk. Finally, Tonny Joosten will be our contact person for EVS Sending in the south of the Netherlands.
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“CVS Bulgaria has worked before with the Refugee children in the Integration Centre but on a much smaller scale. In 2012 45 volunteers were chosen to work on the project with 50 refugees and asylum seekers’ children. The volunteers worked individually with the children which contributed incredibly to their adaptation and integration. They improved their language abilities, and, moreover found new friends as they bonded together with the volunteers.” CVS Bulgaria
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TIM Tim Schoot Uiterkamp
JUDITH Judith den Boer
Developing Human Rights in Moldova Chisinau, Advit Moldova
Linking Opportunities Sofia, Bulgaria
01/09/2001 - 30/03/2012
01/09/2011 - 01/09/2012 The project ‘Linking Opportunities’ supported activities in the Refugee Center in Sofia. By organizing workshops, Judith helped refugee children to learn Bulgarian and integrate into the Bulgarian education system and society. According to CVS, Judith’s project was extremely beneficial for the target group and it is now sustainable through the involvement of local and international volunteers.
Working within the team of the Center for Independent Journalism, Tim organized discussions and small conferences about different topics connected to the profession of journalists. In cooperation with professionals, NGOs and human rights activists and young students from the local University. In addition, Tim did research about the image of Moldova in international media.
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SILKE
JOLANDA
Silke Mooldijk
Jolanda Hovius
Volunteering Synergy Gaziantep, Turkey
Volunteering Synergy Chisinau, Advit Moldova
04/12/2011 - 04/06/2012
06/02/2012 - 06/08/2012 Jolanda worked mainly in the Center for Active Recovery and Social Reintegration of the Children and Youth with Physical Disabilities (CCCT). There she organized workshops and recreational activities for the guests of the center. By helping a fellow volunteer, Jolanda discovered to be very interested in organizing projects for young people. Now she is a Board member for Platform Spartak and she will work on different projects at the European level.
Silke was involved in a series of different activities and supporting different target groups within the local communities. Among others, she was organizing workshops for children in the Oncology department of the local hospital, touching a variety of topics, and she was active in the center for youngsters with a difficult family background.
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RICHARD
LIA/ JASPER/ LOREN
Richard Grul
Lia Hamminga, Jasper Pol and Loren Snel
Volunteering Synergy 2.0 Chisinau, Advit Moldova
01/03/2012 - 01/07/2012
Volunteering Synergy 2.0 Vranje, Serbia & Vukovar
01/03/2012 - 01/07/2012 Loren, Jasper and Lia took part in the development and implementation of the annual Balkan Streets Festival series with local partners Generator in Vranje, Serbia and YPGD in Vukovar, Croatia. Their contribution has been fundamental for the development, planning and execution of the event, and, thus, of the good result of the 2012 edition.
Our volunteer Richard cooperated with the Association for the Protection of Homeless Animals ALGA, in Moldova. Richard enjoyed the activities in the dog shelter and organized workshops in local schools to stimulate discussions about animal rights. During his stay in Chisinau he managed to learn Russian, which will be important for his future studies at University.
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“Living in small towns and connecting to the local culture and mentality, we developed new insights on local communities in Serbia and Croatia. Being able to work on this project with all the other volunteers has been a privilege, developing ourselves on the way, working towards a festival that proved to be a big success.� Jasper Pol
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ON GOING EVS PROJECTS Richard van Schaik
Annemiek Schrijver
Volunteers beyond borders Tbilisi, Georgia Youth Association DRONI
Volunteers beyond borders Thessaloniki, Greece United Societies of the Balkans
01/09/2012- 01/07/2013 Richard is at the moment busy with the realization of different projects in cooperation with the HO Droni, focusing on the topic of human rights.
01/09/2012 - 01/03/2013 Our volunteer is developing a blog and a website dedicated to cooking. Using recepts collected all around Thessaloniki, Annemiek is trying to map the presence and the cultural contribution of migrants.
Sanne Keulen Volunteers beyond borders Skopje, Macedonia Volunteers Center Skopje
01/11/2012 - 01/07/2013 Sanne is contributing to the development of different issues of the youth magazine Voices.
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1.4 Training and Networking
The aim of this program is to establish sustainable relations with partner organizations and participants. In order to fulfill this aim, Platform Spartak participates in, and organizes Training Courses and Youth Exchanges to involve young people in Platform Spartak and to create new, constructive partnerships for the future.
‘Act in a Healthy Way’
‘Diversity in Connection’
‘Tackling and Resolving’
Contact-making Seminar. Partners: Hollókoő, Budapest - AFS Latvia (Riga, Latvia), True start code (Pleven, Bulgaria), The voice of youth (Istanbul, Turkey), Raplection (Split, Croatia), Outward Bound (Zagreb, Croatia), Youth4Youth (Boves, Italy), Youth Center Podlaga (Sezana, Slovenia), Synergy Romania (Iaşi, Romania), Egyesek (Budapest, Hungary), Fairbund e.u. (Leipzig, Germany), Luaviv (Riga, Latvia)
Training Course Formerum, Terschelling, The Netherlands Organizer: Platform Spartak (Den Haag, The Netherlands) Partners: Fundacija Catalunya Voluntaria, Balkan Kids, CGE Erfurt, Vicolocorto, Egyesek, Young Partners, IVS Great Britain,
Organizer: Youth Association creACTive (Kavadarci, Macedonia) Partners: Youth Education Center Fialta (Minsk, Belarus), Istanbul Kolektis Sanatlar Kultur Denergi (Istanbul, Turkey), Center of Youth Iniatives Horizons (Krakow, Poland), Generator (Vranje, Serbia)
05/10/2012 - 15/10/2012
06/07/2012 - 17/07/2012
19/02/2012 - 28/02/2012
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“To see all these different organizations from different countries with different projects trying to make a change, made me truly feel part of a European community.� by participant
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‘From Social Exclusion to participation’ Training Course Kavadarci, Macedonia, Organizer: Youth Association creACTive (Kavadarci, Macedonia), Partners: Association de la fondation etudiante pour la ville (Lyon, France), Omladinski Centar Future (Vogosca, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Fundacja Sztukmistrze (Lublin, Poland)
14/07/2012 - 22/07/2012
‘Over borders: Going East’ The Feasibility Visit Minsk, Belarus Organizer: Youth Education Center Fialta (Minsk, Belarus) Partners: Youth for the world (Tbilisi, Georgia), NGO People (Bila Tservska, Ukraine), Hyvärila youth centre (Nurmes, Finland)
15/08/2012 - 19/08/2012
The feasibility visit resulted in 3 projects of which one will take place at the end of February. The different projects were all successful, but in different ways. The contact making seminar and feasibility visit resulted into new partnerships and projects, that aim to increase the integration of Platform Spartak in the network of youth centers in The Hague. The Youth Exchange and Trainings were successful in both reaching their goals and introducing people to the work of Platform Spartak. With the new gained experience and partnerships, Platform Spartak will be able to take the next step in 2013.
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PARTICIPANTS BY AGE
PARTICIPANTS BY GENDER
PARTICIPANTS BY NATIONALITY
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PARTNERS MAP
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1.5 Urbania Based on the achievements of last year’s project Urbania, Spartak’s task for 2012 was to develop a new, subsequent programme. The basis of this programme is formed by the local (underground) artistic scenes in The Hague. Building on earlier results, the main purpose of the 2012 programme was to connect our experiences within an international working field and a non-formal context with local youth. The programme was to be designed in a way it was proved to be beneficial for the development of local talent and thereto connected local communities. As a try out a group of 4 students, under supervision of Tessa Beeloo, started developing a video documentary on the artistic environment of the Hague and the challenges local artist have. Furthermore a series of meetings and a project round were organized to better analyze the strong points and sharpen the focus of the Urbania
programme. Taking the outcomes of these activities together, we reached the conclusion that the plans developed during 2012 were ambitious and set out a future goal. However in order to achieve this goal, we also realized during this process that we would need to work on the base further.
and the concept of the art jams as binding factor was developed. For looking into concrete results of the Urbania project, there is the video available made by Tessa’s team that inspires us to continue in this direction.
This resulted in a clear choice taken by the end of the year to develop the community programme. The community programme, that will also be further developed with the local actors and our volunteers, binds all our activities that are set out to work within and in order to develop youth participation in the local communities. The experiences and ideas of the Urbania programme stand at the cradle of this new community programme and, thus, will be implemented in Platform Spartak’s working plan. By the end of 2012 the contacts with local youth work were made
METRO Den Haag mapping creative scenes video production // April – May 2012
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Chapter 2
COMMUNICATION
“In 2012, the website received 16.458 unique visitors, averaging 1.371,5 visitors monthly. The number of visits to the website was 41.958, averaging 3.496,5 visits monthly and 2,54 visits per unique visitor. Compared to the previous year, this meant an increase of approximately 10% in unique visitors (14.955 in 2011)�
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2.1 Showcases Platform Spartak implemented a number of showcasing events, to give the general public a chance to see the results of our activities and find out about our work in general. Regrettably, not all planned activities could be conducted, due to financial cut backs in the budget and the connected understaffing. In May the Day of Europe was organized once more, as an annual celebration of the European project. It was organized in the wake of the Young Artists LinkedIn (YALI) event, held a week earlier. This year, the event featured: a debate on the overall theme ‘New European Underground’ of young artists in a changing cultural sector, concerts by Dyzack (winner of the Talent Scout Festival ‘Balkan Factor’) and the Utrecht band Lost Bear, screenings of several documentaries and other short films, a presentation
of the ‘Gesammtkunstwerke’ made by the YALI-participants, and an interactive comics drawing ‘Zinejam’ organised by Comixiade and ReKult from Amsterdam. The event was visited by about 115 persons and, even though we had hoped for a bigger audience, we consider the event to be a success both in it’s own right and as a promotional event for Platform Spartak. Promotional activities for the EVS programme were halted a bit, but picked up again with the arrival of our new EVS-volunteer in December. In the same month, we organized a ‘borrel’ event for Spartak-enthusiasts, during which we also presented our Annual Programme for 2013. This event was organized together with Europe Direct, the Europe-division of the The Hague municipality.
Platform Spartak was also present at a number of showcasing events of third parties: we had a stand during the event organized by the The Hague municipality, where Serbia was presented as a new candidate EU-member.
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Day of Europe Showcase, debate, performances, The Hague, The Netherlands Het Nutshuis, Fonds 1818
May 9 // 2012
International day The Hague Showcasing, Wereldforum The Hague, The Netherlands Department of International Affairs, The Hague Municipality,
September 23 // 2012
Meet the future EU member state Serbia. The Hague Municipality, Showcasing, The Hague, the Netherlands, The Hague Municipality, Serbian Embassy.
November 26// 2012
Information evening ‘Gap-year’ Gymnasium Novum, School, The Hague, the Netherlands, PTA Gymnasium Novum
November 14 // 2012
Eindejaarsborrel Europe Direct Eindejaarsborrel Europe Direct / Winterborrel, Showcasing Het Nutshuis, The Hague, The Netherlands.
December 11 // 2012
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2.2 Publications
Donau is the only magazine with a specific focus on East and SouthEast Europe published in Dutch language. This being one of the oldest projects of Platform Spartak, we are showing our interest in promoting a nuanced and diverse image of this region among the Dutch public. In 2012 Donau has continued to built on the success obtained in previous years, under guidance of the new editorial board led by Hellen Kooiman. As a result, Donau gained a quantity of subscribers and followers on digital media. Donau also observed the interest of new companies and organizations in advertising in it’s publications. These results have
been made possible thanks to extra-effort in promotional events as well, by cooperating with other organizations and a greater presence in public events. In February, for example, some members of the editorial board of Donau have organized the ‘Oost-Europees Overlastfeest’ in Utrecht. The idea of the party developed as a reaction to the website ‘Meldpunt Overlast Oost-Europeanen,’ promoted by the Dutch political party PVV. The event was positively received by a diverse public of Dutch people, expats and immigrants. In terms of content, the majority of the articles unfolds around a specific theme, to the tradition of Donau. This year, though, the section ‘Donaupeil’ has been enriched by
a section called ‘Alledaags leven.’ Thus. Donau keeps developing itself and expanding its topics by exploring and including new ones and, the editorial board keeps our subscribers updated about the most relevant current developments.
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1 Migratie Donau 2012 / 1 Migratie The first number of Donau 2012 focused on one of the most debated issues of last year in The Netherlands: in an interview Malgorzata Bos- Karczewska (chief editor of Polonia.nl)sheds light on the issue of Polish immigration to The Netherlands. In addition, a series of portraits of immigrants tries to challenge stereotypes about migration from East and South Eastern Europe.
2 Crisis & Protestt Donau 2012 / 2 Crisis & Protest Contemporary and past protest movements in the region are analyzed in the second issue of Donau. An insightful outline on generational differences and contrasts, the growing role of civil society and the old problem of youth unemployment as crucial factor for protest movements.
3 Voedsel en Drank Donau 2012 / 3 Voedsel en Drank Cooking traditions, new trends and opportunities for economic development are the themes of the last number of 2012.
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2.3 Press and Publicity
Platform Spartak started off 2012 with a mention in the press: local newspaper Dagblad van het Noorden mentioned the Eye-Biting Comic Exposition in VERA, Groningen, featuring art made during the Comixiade project in an article, published January 4th. The exposition itself was well visited and exposed visitors of VERA to the art on a daily basis. Another highly publicized event was the ‘Overlastfeest’ for supporters of Eastern European immigrants in the Netherlands which, while not organized by Platform Spartak itself, we were happy to support. Donau chief editor Hellen Kooijman was interviewed in national newspaper De Volkskrant on the 16th of February. In April 2012, Platform Spartak was
present at the Ligatura festival in Poland, with an exhibition of Comixiade-artwork, which was covered by local Polish media. In July, the Everyman Youth Exchange created another publicity boost in Groningen, with an exposition in VERA and a mentioning of the event on their well-visited website (vera-groningen.nl). Organizer Thijs van Nimwegen was interviewed on the website of partner organisation Comicdom from Greece (www.comicdom.gr). In November, Platform Spartak was present at a promotional event organized by the The Hague municipality for the presentation of Serbia as a potential new
EU-member state. Last but not least, the crowdfunding campaign through indiegogo.com for the Comixiade publication earned us lots of publicity and (online) recognition.
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2.4 Online Outreach Platform Spartak approaches its target groups and the general public through 3 main digital outlets: the website, the newsletter and social media
WEBSITE The website, located at platformspartak.eu, is Spartak’s main ‘corporate identity’ and consists of general news, calls for participants and the blogs written by EVS volunteers. Current events are presented in a calendar-form. The website also contains general info, how to apply for EVS, and contact data, amongst other small sub-pages. The archive of newsletters can also be reached through the website. Furthermore, the website hosts the subdomains of streets. platformspartak.eu and donau. platformspartak.eu, containing the websites of the STREETS festivals and Donau magazine. In 2012, the website received 16.458 unique visitors, averaging 1.371,5 visitors monthly. The number of visits to
the website was 41.958, averaging 3.496,5 visits monthly and 2,54 visits per unique visitor. Compared to the previous year, this meant an increase of approximately 10% in unique visitors (14.955 in 2011). All in all, this amounted 643.365 unique hits (times a visitor opened a page). Peak month was June, with the STREETS festival taking place, with a record high of 1806 unique visitors. A small peak was also reached in February, when Spartak supported the ‘Overlastfeest’ in Utrecht. Full statistics are available at http://www.platformspartak.eu/ webstat/. Comixiade.org, the website dedicated solely to the Comixiade comics jams project, received 6.225
unique visits, averaging 519 unique visitors monthly. According to web analytics site alexa.com, platformspartak.eu was reached mainly through blogspot (EVS volunteers private blogs), news websites like presseurop.eu, sponsor websites like culturalfoundation.eu and vacancy sites. A full list can be found at http:// www.alexa.com/site/linksin/ platformspartak.eu. For the coming year, Platform Spartak plans to improve web analytics by using Google Analytics, providing a better insight in visitors background and country – currently mostly blocked.
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NEWSLETTER
SOCIAL MEDIA
Platform Spartak’s newsletter featured a new design in 2012 and was published on a regular basis, the aim being monthly - which was not quite reached yet. The newsletter features ‘smaller’ news items, calls for participants, and offers like the Comixiade-publications and other insider info. A full archive of the newsletters can be found at http://www.platformspartak. eu/log/newsletter.htm. Most importantly, the newsletter saw a significant increase in subscribers, with about 600 in January 2012 and 776 in December, an increase of nearly 30%. For the coming year, Platform Spartak aims to improve newsletter statistics by changing to a more advanced newsletter system (MailChimp).
Platform Spartak mainly employs Facebook for social media outreach. Our Facebook-page, http://www. facebook.com/platformspartak. Facebook statistics are complex and full data is available at the Spartak office, but a few general observations can be made. Top countries for people exploring the page were, after the Netherlands: Germany, Serbia, Macedonia, Italy and Poland. Depending on the month, Spartak seems to have a slightly larger number of female visitors. The main age group is 25-34. Increased use of social media, mainly through exploring the possibilties of Twitter and Tumblr, is planned for 2013.
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Chapter 3
In 2013 and beyond Platform Spartak will focus on the improvement of the structure within the association and the development of our ‘Young artist’ and ‘Community’ programs. The board set clear strategic goals and together with the freelancers developed a framework for 2013 that will give Platform Spartak the directions it needs.
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3. Strategic Development
The year 2012, although productive and positively balanced, was by no means a smooth ride for Platform Spartak. The internal and external problems – organisational and working as a non-profit organisation during a time of economic crisis – caused Platform Spartak to reflect upon its position, to re-evaluate its broader goals and mission, and to develop a plan that will ensure its survival as an organisation. This mainly led to designing a new workplan for 2013, in which two programmes get a main role. These programmes are supported by activities that are beneficial for the development of the association as such, like the implementation of a coaching system for our members. The first programme is born from combining the results of Streets and Comixiade and through it we create networking opportunities for young creative Europeans. The second programme is the Community Programme, which binds together our EVS sending and hosting activities as well as
the development of stronger ties with the local community that was built up by the Urbania programme. The organisation came under financial strain when the request for an Operating Grant (OG) from the European Commission was denied, on grounds of too little innovative projects. This led to a situation in the second half of the year in which we had to decide that the freelancers would temporarily forfeit part of their allowance, in order for Platform Spartak to survive financially. The already granted programme STREETS: Mapping and Connecting provided us with the grounds and motivation to carry Platform Spartak through the year. We also put extra time and effort into writing a good and innovative workplan, in order to secure an Operating Grant in 2013. In addition, we invested time and resources in a course with the Blauwe Noordzee about securing funds in these financially complicated times. An important achievement of the year 2012 was
that we improved the human resources of the organization. In the beginning of the year, after many changes in the staff, the organisation was shortly left with only two of its old freelancers. This led to a mission to replenish its staff. With the addition of the new Programme Manager Ankie Knippenbergh, the small but core team of staff was formed. The board was also rejuvenated, and a new intern for Communication joined in. Furthermore, an application was made and granted for the hosting of two new volunteers within the European Voluntary Service. The first one, Seniha Yildiz, arrived in December. Several teambuilding events, such as a barbecue, were organized with the new recruits, while a Project Round was organized to generate new ideas for projects.
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BALANCE SHEET / DECEMBER 31 2012
31-12-2012 ASSETS Fixed assets Fixed capital goods 2.09
31-12-2011
3.902
Floating assets 0 9.044 Debtors 1.416 Prepayments 1.51 500 Stock (books) 500 12.709 Other debts 10.866 12.876 23.669 56.562 Liquid assets 71.528
18.798 46.369
31-12-2012 LIABILITIES
31-12-2011
71.528
46.369
Association capital 1.686 Association capital 18.574 Accrued liabilities 0 Debts to suppliers 2.388 52.234 Prepayments 15.154 17.608 Unpaid debts 10.253 69.842 27.795
ANNUAL REPORT Plataform Spartak 2012 // 6 3
STATEMENT OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
2012 INCOME Operating grants 0 Other direct income 5.710 Income from 110.428 programmes Total Income
116.138
EXPENDITURE Freelancers 16.740 Volunteers 5 Housing 6.418 Other general 10.518 expenditure Expenditure related 92.428 to programmes Total Expenditure
126.109
2011 35.000 2.170 115.623
152.793
31.984 878 8.943 15.596 95.963
153.364
Operational profits and losses Balance 2012 -9.971 Correction 2011 -6.917 Balance -16.888 -571 Measures taken Addition from
general savings
-16.888
-571
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EXPLANATION
General (Acount Policies) The operational profits and losses are integrated into the annual balance. The annual balance is in whole euros. The balance is made based on previous costs. The policies regarding valuation and profits and losses are as follows: Assets and Liabilities All assets and liabilities are nominally valued, unless otherwise stated. Fixed Capital Goods Fixed capital goods are valued at their original price, minus annual depreciation, which is calculated based on the estimated economic viability. Claims Claims are nominally valued, if necessary depriciated based on irrecoverability. This concerns claims lasting maximum 1 year. Liquid assets Liquids assets are, unless otherwise stated, available to the association and concern directly claimable debts to credit instituations and treasury. Accrued Liabilities Accrued liabilities concern debts lasting maximum 1 year and are – unless otherwise stated – nominally valued.
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Policies regarding Income and Expenditure Grants Grants are accounted for based on allotments and whether or not they are attributable to that year. Interest on Profits and Losses Included is claimed interest on credits and also interest paid to third parties. Exceptional Profits and Losses Exceptional profits and losses concern those which have not been gained from normal operation and are incidental.