Among the larger projects in the field of heritage and culture as a whole in Slovenia is the Cultural Bazaar. The Cultural Bazaar is also a major annual event organised to promote the arts and cultural education in Slovenia. It is supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and the National Education Institute. The main aims of the project are to provide information on cultural and artistic events taking place throughout Slovenia, to stimulate interest in arts education and culture among the specialised and general public, and to establish partnerships between education (educational institutions) and culture (cultural institutions, artists).

One key element of the project is a full-day training session aimed at a broad range of professionals – primarily educators from educational institutions across Slovenia and culture professionals, but also professionals from the fields of the environment, health, social care, etc., and students studying for those professions. Since 2010 the Cultural Bazaar has also been open to the general public, particularly children and young people and arts and culture enthusiasts.

In 2016 the training session was attended by more than 1,000 professionals. The programme featured a selection of more than sixty events, from which participants were invited to choose in accordance with their own preferences, and was complemented by a diverse cultural fair hosting more than 300 cultural institutions from all over Slovenia, other partner institutions and associations of freelancers from the cultural industries. More than 2,000 children, students and other visitors visited the cultural fair, attended performances, viewed exhibitions and participated in workshops.

Ana Petrovčič

kulturni.bazar@gmail.com

Read more about Slovenia's preparations for the 2016 European Heritage Days in one of our earlier articles.