plaza de SVE en centro cultural en Eslovaquia

Kosice: The second largest city of Slovakia with popullation of approximately 240 000. It´s situated in lowland, surrounded by Slanske hills. City is considered as cultural and economic centre of the eastern Slovakia. It was important crossroad of many cultures and ethnics(Hungarian, German, Slovak, Roma, Jewish and Polish) through the centuries. Historical centre is well preserved, filled by aristocratic palaces, churches, theatres, galleries, parks, fountains, cafes and restaurants. Mainly in last few years, Kosice has become very pulsing and «livable». It was also chosen as the European capital of culture for the year 2013. Outer part of the city consists mainly of suburbs (socialistic architecture) and villages.

Transportation: City has one airport with regular flights to Prague, Wienna and Bratislava and very good railroad infrastructure with direct train connections to Prague, Bratislava, Moscow, Kiev, Budapest etc. Public transportation is based mainly on buses, trams and troley buses, but the cheapest and fastest solution is the bicycle.

Economy: Economy of Kosice is based mainly on U.S. Steel Kosice factory which employ about 16 000 people. There are also few big IT companies as T-Systems, A&T, Microsoft, Ness etc. In the city the average unemployment rate is 6% and in Kosice´s district it is 17%.

Surroundings: There are many possibilities for hiking, bicycling and skying close around the city. For bigger journeys we recomend mainly National park Slovak paradise (about 1,5 hour far), High Tatras (about 2,5 hour far) or Slovensky kras ( about 1,5 hour far).

Inner environment:
Tabacka kulturfabrik is the cultural centre that was created in former tobacco factory. It is old, industrial building, partially renovated and repaired for cultural purposes. One part of the building is dedicated to employees and administrative, the other one is used for the events. Fabricafe is a coffee bar that is situated on the ground floor and it is open a whole day. Meetings, presentations, exhibitions, projections and discussions are taking place there. First floor consists of three big halls used mainly for concerts, exhibitons, workshops, discussions, theatre and artistic performances. Tabacka kulturfabrik provides also a recording studio and supply storage for a local graffiti festival. Whole atmosphere of the building is still quite raw, industrial, unique and interesting.
Employee team contains 10 young, opend-minded people and 10 volunteers (maily students). Almost all of the employees speak English fluently.
Most of the visitors of Tabacka kulturfabrik are young people, students and artists but we also cooperate with local schools and charity so we are involving children to workshops and discussions.
We are also part of Trans Europe Halles (TEH) network. (www.teh.net)

PROPOSED ACTIVITIES FOR EVS VOLUNTEERS:

What do we offer: Our volunteers will get a chance to learn how to run modern cultural centre, how to organize events, exhibitions, concerts, workshops, discussions etc. They will be involved in many processes (PR, dramaturgy, production, technical back-up, renovation, cafe bar back-up etc.). They will also get the opportunity to organize their own cultural event (or events) and we will offer them support and place for that.
Tabacka kulturfabrik is also a great place for meeting young people from eastern Slovakia, so they will learn much about the local culture, characters and the specifics of the country.
EVS volunteers will gain a lot of new experiences and skills and they will be able to use them when they will come back to their home country. This experience will increase their qualification.
Role of EVS volunteers: Volunteers will participate in various processes in our organisation and they will become an interesting part of our team. Specific of their residency here will be the fact that they will represent EVS, Tabacka kulturfabrik and themselves at the same time. They will have certain duties but also quite big freedom to organize their own events.

ACTIVITIES:

• Helping with technical back-up : Volunteers will get chance to learn how to ensure and instal all necessary technical equipment for concerts, projections, performances and exhibitions. They will be guided by member of our team. When they will gain enough experiences, they can try it on their own with proper supervisor.
• Organisation of cultural events: Volunteers will get chance to organize their own cultural event, such as exhibition, concert, conferention, theatre, multicultural evenings etc. They will learn all the necessary processes (planning, managing. marketing, coordination, evaluation…)
• Assistance in cafe bar: Volunteers can also help in Fabricafe as bartenders.
• Cooperation with schools: Volunteers will be involved in cooperation with schools. They will get chance to create and lead workshops, discussions and conferentions for children and students. This events will take place in Tabacka kulturfabrik and in schools as well.
• Marketing activities: How to make your organisation more visible? How to ensure that your events will be attractive enough? How to speak to potentional visitors or donors? Volunteers will also try marketing tools and activities.
• Cooperation with journalists: Volunteers should make EVS more visible in local medias. They should try to contact them and make this topic attractive enough.
• Festival organisation assistance: Our cultural centre organise two bigger festivals. Volunteers will also try to ensure smooth and non-problem realisation of those events. (http://moonride.sk/, http://www.pokefest.sk/)
• Assistance to foreign artists: When EVS volunteers will be experienced enough, they can help and assist artists and performers from abroad. They can introduce the city, cultural centre, their EVS experience, they can hepl them with their needs
• Renovation of building: Building of Tabacka Kulturfabrik is still changing and renewing. There are enough possibilities to make this space more interesting and attractive to visitors. Volunteers can help with such processes manually.

VOLUNTEER PROFILES AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS:

We are looking for young ( ideally 18-30 years old) people interested in culture. We prefer non-conflict and open-minded individuals who would like to learn new things and gain new experiences.
Its advantage when our volunteer will be

• creative
• tolerant
• able to communicate in English language simply
• communicable
• responsible
• able to work intelectually and manually as well

Volunteers below 18: According to activities and responsibilities of volunteers we are looking for, we prefer volunteers over 18.

Selection process

For the selection of the volunteers we will need:
– Europass CV with picture (made in the last month)

– Motivational letter, writing that your sending organisation will be “Building Bridges”. We ask all candidates to send a specific letter of motivation – why they want to volunteer with us rather than just a general EVS one.

Remember to write in the motivation letter that your sending institution is “Asociación Building Bridges”.

All documents written in english you can send to: asociacionbb@gmail.com with subject “Kosice Eslovaquia”.