Opening of the Writers’ Hub

2nd Forget Heritage Slovene Info Day Ljubljana, Vodnikova domačija Šiška

The 2^nd Slovene Forget Heritage Project Information Day was held in Vodnikova domačija Šiška (Vodnik’s Homestead) in Ljubljana on 25^th October 2018. It was dedicated to the (official) Opening of the Writers’ Hub for Vodnik’s heritage preservation, a new coworking space for young authors in the field of literature. 

Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region (RRA LUR), partner in the project, and Divja misel, Manager of Vodnik’s Homestead and Pilot Manager of the Writers’ Hub, were working closely with the City of Ljubljana, the owner of the cultural heritage building, in setting up the new coworking space. In August 2018, after necessary infrastructure works and purchase of the ICT equipment, the coworking space was ready to receive first residents.

In the first year of operation of the Writers’ Hub a support programme for young people from the age of 15 to 29 years will also be implemented – workshops, a mentoring programme and various presentation events of the participants of the programme.

All steps of the development of the Writers’ Hub – from the initial idea till the realization and opening – was presented by three speakers from the above-mentioned institutions and the City of Ljubljana.

The attendees of the 2^nd Slovene Info Day were firstly greeted by Tina Popovič, Directress of Divja misel, the CCI operator of Vodnik's Homestead and the Pilot Manager of the Writers' Hub. She presented the whole path from the idea to the Writers’ Hub as a coworking space. She presented also the 3-year-long support programme with an emphasize on the 1^st year.

Lilijana Madjar, Directress of the Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region, presented briefly the Forget Heritage project and the aim of the Pilot Actions (PA) going on in eight Central European cities. She also stressed a very good cooperation between RRA LUR, City of Ljubljana and Divja misel. As the PA Writers’ Hub has been a successful story so far, it could serve as the best practice for other cultural heritage buildings in the Ljubljana Urban Region, especially as there have been more than 30 houses – birthplaces of Slovene poets and/or writers – in the Ljubljana Urban Region.

Attendees were greeted also by Mateja Demšič, Head of the Department for Culture in the City of Ljubljana. She emphasized the role of the book in the city, especially for the young population and the important role that very professional NGOs have had in the field of literature, Divja misel being one of them. She concluded with the words: “The Writers’ Hub should not only be the space of literary creation, but above all the space of literary power, which can change the reality with its content.” 

Presentations of the results of the first workshops

The first two workshops, designed to support the creativity of young authors in the field of literature, took place between 20 and 31 August 2018. We wanted to present the results of both at the Local Info Day.

The 1^st workshop Between literature and theatre was going on under the mentorship of two young, but already very successful (theatre) directors Žiga Divjak and Katarina Morano. Based on a book the attendees of the workshop wrote their own texts for the stage. Two of them, Matevž and Lara, had successful short stage presentations of their non-dramatic literary work.

Their presentation was followed by a conversation with one of the first residents of the coworking space Petra Meterc and with Nika Kovač, who has been co-creating the Writers’ Hub programme. As Petra was also a mentor to the attendees of the 2^nd workshop, dealing with translation of literary texts, she shared also her experiences as a mentor, not only as a resident. She was happy to share her knowledge with young women who were not students of English language but interested in literature and keen to get the first insights into translation. They were not coming only from the City of Ljubljana, but also from other municipalities in the Ljubljana Urban Region. As the resident she found the co-working space a very quiet and pleasant place to work in, to create new stories and meet new people, as the Writers’ Hub has enabled networking of self-employed in culture (like herself). As she said, self-employed people usually worked at home, so there was no division between home and workplace. Therefore, it was very good for self-employed people to have a possibility to work outside of their homes and have a desk and chair somewhere else.

Within the tour of the Writers’ Hub one could listen to translated texts of young authors (the mentor was Petra Meterc, translator) and see the atmosphere at the workshops from photos taken by Jošt Franko, a young and also awarded photographer.

More information about the project:

http://www.rralur.si/sl/projekti/forget-heritage and http://www.interreg-central.eu/Content.Node/Forget-heritage.html#SUMMARY

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Photos made by: Jošt Franko