26th European Meeting of Cultural Journals Conversano, 3–6 October 2014 Internal session Minutes

Chair: Paul Stepan

1. Welcome from Eurozine managing director Paul Stepan.

2. Introduction of partners All partners in attendance – more than 50 – introduce themselves.

3. Pecha kucha presentations Italian partners, new partners and Eurozine's 2014 publishing activity

ResetDOC (Michele Salonia, ): an online portal promoting intercultural understanding and human rights; seminars in Istanbul, New Delhi and Milan generate papers and videos; ResetDOC different from Reset but both under the same director; the two publications exchange content; their finances are separate.

Lettera internazionale (Biancamaria Bruno, Italy): the aim of this quarterly print journal is to see ourselves through the eyes of others, to reconnect Italian culture with the world and to Europe, across national borders; and thus to end the provincialization of our culture: "we no longer wish to be on the periphery.

New partners (Antonia Plessing, Eurozine): Frakcija (), est. 1996, a mainstay of Croatia's independent scene, works with impressive range of production units, performing arts centres and festivals throughout Europe; published quarterly, in English and Croatian.

A2 (), Czech cultural biweekly, est. 2005; provides a provocative alternative to the cultural mainstream; combines rigorous critique with a punk approach to all the latest developments in both Czech and international cultural spheres.

Kultura Liberalna (), Polish socio-political weekly magazine (online only); committed to core liberal values but also open to diverse social, political and cultural life, internationally and in Poland; est. 2009 by a group of young academics, artists, journalists.

Belgrade Journal of Media and Communications (), an English-language biannual journal committed to decoding discursive formations on the end of history, politics and geography, post- humanity, postmodernity and post-secularism, among others pARTisan (), a Minsk-based magazine of contemporary Belarusian culture and world art, est. 2002. The editorial team is headed up by the artist and writer Artur Klinau; its mission is to "create and expose idols, construct and destroy myths". Major focal points (Antonia Plessing, Eurozine) - " in global dialogue" focal point launched 2013 in partnership with long-standing partner the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in continues to expand - the focal point " in focus" started with a statement on events in Ukraine as they unfolded, made at Eurozine's conference in Oslo, November 2013; continues to expand - the focal point "The ends of democracy" also continues to expand, having been launched December 2013; and in September 2014, the focal point "Beyond Fortress Europe" accompanying the conference here in Conversano was launched too

Dissemination (Antonia Plessing, Eurozine) - the Eurozine Review and Eurozine Newsletter, which provide the latest on partner journals' content and articles published in Eurozine, are subscribed to by almost 15,000 readers and civil society organizations in total, from all around the world - comparable number of followers on Facebook and Twitter receive regular updates on EZ publishing activities

4. Funding and organizational issues Carl Henrik Fredriksson (Eurozine): - European Union was for a long time EZ's main source of finance, in the form of numerous successive project grants, successive network grants etc; - under new Creative Europe programme (call was delayed, then made December 2013; we applied prior to March 2014 deadline; decision delivered in August), we did not receive a network grant that would have covered 2014-2016 and even provided for expansion; - the whole playing field as regards EU funding has completely changed and this leaves a huge hole in our finances; Mika Buljevic has more on the structural changes at an EU level:

Miljenka Buljevic, Kulturtreger/Booksa and Eurozine editorial board member: - small grants have been cut by two thirds (there were 100, now 37; this is the type of grant Eurozine had applied for) - number of large grants awarded doubled - number of networks receiving funding cut drastically from 75 to 25; nothing to the south or east of Vienna - many of the networks receiving grants were pure lobbying networks based in Brussels

Carl Henrik Fredriksson on Eurozine's response: - will file an EU project grant application covering 2015/16, with the journals dérive, Esprit, and Glänta and with Booksa (all represented on the editorial board), and with the organizers of the 2015 and 2016 EZ conferences, these being Dialogi (2015), New Eastern Europe and Res Publica Nowa (2016); - donation campaign directed towards readers; - the Advisory Board has also been discussing strategy here in Conversano, especially stressing the need to diversify the funding - to diversify sources of funding --> stresses that it's not the office in Vienna but the Eurozine network itself that's in a precarious financial situation --> stresses that EZ is a mutual partnership, so please ensure you carry the EZ logo in your imprint and on your website so that EZ's visibility is clear

Veronika Leiner, Eurozine: Please ensure that you transfer your membership fee on time and that you carry the Eurozine logo in your imprint and on your website in order to promote the network.

Several editors of partner journals urge the office to resend partner guidelines to all in order to help ensure partners know exactly what's expected in terms of documentation (front covers, table of contents, etc.).

5. Partner presentations at the networking session Simon Worthington, Mute: Commends the organization on fantastic and multifarious work. Presents the Hybrid Publishing Consortium, a research project geared toward exploring the potential of the digital press (how computation can enhance the reading experience, deal simultaneously with difference formats and enhance the digital publishing industry's output).

Gérard Wormser, Sens Public: Presents Sens Public's new blogs, including thematic development and how to contribute / share content. In connection, Nadine Blanchard (Eurozine) reminds everyone of the opportunity to use the internal newsletter, the Rohrpost, to announce projects, call for cooperations etc. This is sent out from the office in Vienna; information provided by partners is filtered and presented to 200 Eurozine network editors at more than 80 publications.

Vicky Baker, Index on Censorship: Presents the plans to reengage the journal in the network after having been recently re-launched, and discusses new ideas for sharing and promoting content in the network via social media and other means.

Matthew Cruickshank, Time To Talk: Presents the Time To Talk (TTT) platform, a Eurozine sister site devoted to public debates hosted by the debate houses throughout Europe that make up the TTT network.