24–29 June 2026, SofiaLab
From 24 to 29 June 2026, Sofia will host a five-day art management workshop organized by Derida Dance Center as part of the regional contemporary dance platform Moving Balkans.
Following an open call and selection process, professionals in the field of contemporary dance from the Balkan region have been selected to take part in the programme, including participants from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Greece, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The participants are producers, project and operations managers, entrepreneurs, curators, agents, and other specialists with experience in cultural management.
The programme is aimed at building professional capacity, exchanging experience, and creating sustainable international partnerships in the field of contemporary performing arts, and contemporary dance in particular.
The training includes practical modules dedicated to fundraising, project development and management, cultural diplomacy, international partnerships, festival management, touring, business development for producers, and artist management. The format combines lectures, practical exercises, group work, analysis of real-life case studies, and the exchange of professional experience in a multicultural environment.
The programme also includes preliminary online sessions held before the in-person part in Sofia, as well as a follow-up online meeting after the workshop has concluded. The working language of the training is English.
Among the mentors in the programme are established international experts in the fields of cultural and festival management, producing, international cooperation, fundraising, and the development of the performing arts. The workshop will feature Kathrin Deventer, Secretary General of the European Festivals Association and co-initiator of a number of European platforms and programmes; Giulia Poltronieri, a cultural manager with experience in festival programming, the performing arts, and artistic coordination; Magnus Nordberg, founder and Executive Director of Nordberg Movement, a performing arts production agency with a focus on dance; Marija Popović, Programme Director of Magnet Association and International Cooperation Manager at the Student Cultural Center in Novi Sad, co-founder of Moving Balkans; as well as Atanas Maev, art manager, co-founder of Derida Dance Center and Moving Balkans, and Vice-Chair of the Bulgarian Association “Independent Cultural Sector.”
The workshop is of key importance for the development of the professional ecosystem of contemporary dance in the Balkans. In a region where artists, producers, and cultural organizations often work with limited resources, fragmented infrastructure, and uneven access to international opportunities, formats such as this create the necessary space for knowledge exchange, strategic thinking, and the building of long-term partnerships.
By bringing together around 40 professionals from 11 Balkan countries, the programme supports not only the individual development of the participants, but also the formation of a stronger regional network of producers, managers, curators, and organizations. This network is essential for future co-productions, touring, festival participation, artist exchange, and joint applications to international programmes.
Within the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to work on specific case studies, share experience from their local contexts, and identify common challenges and opportunities for the contemporary dance scene in the region. In this way, the training goes beyond the function of a classic educational format and becomes a platform for creating professional connectedness, trust, and a shared vision for the development of the sector.
Moving Balkans is a regional contemporary dance platform that works to increase the visibility, mobility, and sustainability of the contemporary dance scene in the Balkans. The platform encourages artistic exchange, international cooperation, and the building of partnerships among organizations, artists, producers, and cultural managers from the region. Through initiatives such as this workshop, Moving Balkans invests in the people and structures behind the creation, production, and dissemination of contemporary dance.
The development of a partner network within Moving Balkans is strategically important for positioning the Balkans as an active and recognizable region on the European and international dance map. The platform creates conditions for a more systematic exchange of knowledge, resources, and professional contacts, supporting the development of more sustainable working models beyond national borders. In this sense, the workshop in Sofia is an important step toward strengthening the regional infrastructure of contemporary dance and creating new opportunities for long-term cooperation among cultural professionals from the Balkans.
The Moving Balkans project is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union and the National Culture Fund, and is implemented in partnership with SofiaLab.
