KRUG Youth Center

Name of the organization or artist

KRUG Youth Center & KRUG Art Movement

Email

krug@abv.bg

Address

Kardzhali, post code 6600, Trakia Str. №3

Country

Bulgaria

Website URL

https://krug-movement.tumblr.com/; http://www.krug-bg.org/

Missions and objectives

During the last 9 years KRUG Youth Center (KRUG art movement) has been working in the sphere of the social and cultural regeneration of marginalized urban and rural zones using the means of education, debates and cultural industries (CIs) in Bulgaria. We believe the culture and education could contribute to the economical prosperity of such settlements by the inspiration of cultural innovations more than politicians are able to make. KRUG is a specialized civil organisation which initiates new means of expression, which enriches the experience of people living together and provides the effects “transportable” from place to place, from generation to generation, and from one ethnic group to another one. In Kardzhali lives the biggest part of the Turkish population in Bulgaria, which transforms this region in a real laboratory of social and cultural experiments, to create new strategies for communication and bridging people. Since 2008 in partnership with Kardzhali pubic authorities we have been organized the annual initiative “Multicultural City” – a new technology to meet and motivate citizens for social innovations. The main target groups of our activities are youth, women and policy-makers. We have partners from all over of Europe and develop alive partnerships in the culture issues and civic monitoring, in the participative civic and culture life and in creating of new forms of expression with participation of minorities.
This is not a project, but rather is a 16-years old model for carrying of the literature and the art in a real time and space by the route: from „Cultural center” (Sofia, capital) to „Cultural Periphery” (Kardzhali), to the „Non-cultural place” (tiny forgotten Muslim village Dazhdovnitsa) and „return” to Kardzhali identifying by this way this city as an integral part of Multicultural world. This moving is an open circle (“krug” means “circle”) of artactions – literature, visual and research in which gradually the community toward which they are targeted begins to play an exceptional role. Living in an ethnical isolated village Krug is encouraged to create art works and performances with EU-Med partners for both a local and international audience in what are normally perceived and experienced as “non-touristic” areas often ignored in city marketing or the musealisation of our living spaces. The new acquired ethnical experience gives us a new “magnifier” toward Kardzhali when Muslims takes 67%, Christians – 33%. “Return” by the route „Non-cultural place” – „Cultural Periphery” is connected with new evaluation of a number of cultural resources of the spirit and heritage of the Mediterranean which has stayed “aside” from the public interest and has not been identified as a factor for the region development.

Main Activities

KRUG Youth Center – KRUG Art Movement) contributed in 2002 as a leader of the civil society to inform policy makers on issues of youth and adult education, cultural innovations, minority’s rights and strengthening civil society in the Kardzhali region where the biggest part of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria lives, which transforms this region in a real laboratory of social and cultural experiments, to create new strategies for communication and bridging people. The main target groups of our activities are youth, women and policy-makers.
We have worked together with Dutch, German, Czech, Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Belgian, Polish, Macedonian, Japanese, Swiss, Turkish, American, Israeli and many others organizations and individual experts, researchers and professionals to link formal and non-formal approaches to culture and education.
KRUG has been working in the sphere of social and cultural regeneration of disadvantaged urban and rural zones using the means of formal and non-formal literacy programs, debates and cultural industries (CIs). We believe intercultural learning and creating of relevant literate environment with respect to gender, linguistic and cultural diversity could inspire more social innovations in such areas than politicians are able to make. The “Meeting of Cities” (Dutch-Bulgarian festival, 2002), the Matra for Democracy (Netherlands, 2001, 2003), Youth in action Programme, Action 1.1., Youth exchanges (2004, 2006, 2007, 2009), Swiss Cultural Programme, Cooperation project (2004-2008), the project “New Cultural bridges for Bulgarian-Turkish partnership among NGOs and citizens” (2006-2007, Open Society Institute), LLP Grundtvig projects “AIRe – Associations in Rural Environments” (2009-2011) and “Elderly Memories” (2012-2014), Erasmus+ project „ROAD MAP for youth art work in public space” for development of arts-based methods in socially engaged research practice (2017-2019) in partnership with Ghent University Belgium, etc. 126 regional young volunteers from different ethnicity groups (Bulgarians, Turks, Roma people) are members of the non-formal structure KRUG Alliance. Core team has 3 full-time experts and 5 part-time researchers.