City of Women Association for Promotion of Women in Culture

Established in 1996, the City of Women Association for Promotion of Women in Culture aims to raise the visibility of high-quality, innovative work by women artists, theorists, and activists from around the world, while promoting Slovenian artists abroad through partnerships and international co-productions. Beyond arts production, the association is also active in advocacy, community building, and arts education. It organises the annual City of Women International Festival of Contemporary Arts in Ljubljana.

In 2019, City of Women received the Princess Margriet Award for Culture, the prestigious international prize awarded by the European Cultural Foundation (ECF).

Mission

The City of Women Association presents the artistic and cultural production of women across the performing arts, music, visual arts, film and video, literature, and theory, provoking debate and raising awareness of the persistently disproportionate participation and representation of women in arts, culture, and society at large.

Beyond its festival manifestation – the City of Women International Festival of Contemporary Arts, which offers a growing number of its own productions and co-productions, primarily in the performing arts and dance – the association is active year-round, organising lectures, public discussions, and civic initiatives, while also engaging with the critical contemporary issues that underpin its mission.

Rooted in an awareness of gender inequality and discrimination in the creative sector – and understanding discrimination intersectionally – City of Women has developed the Guidelines for Gender Equality in Culture. This document formed the basis for the first survey on sexual harassment and violence in the cultural sector in Slovenia, launched by the Ministry of Culture, the results of which will inform the Action Plan for Equality in Culture.

Recent and past projects

City of Women builds its international presence through several EU-supported projects: ReStory (2025–2027), which aims to develop training tools and methods to raise young people's awareness of their cities' public spaces; BRIDGE: Building, Revising, Including – Diaspora and Gender Equality (2026–2028), which spotlights the voices of diasporic women artists with a focus on diversity, gender equality, and social inclusion; and Space for Gender Equality (2026–2028), offering information, awareness-raising, training, workshops, and intergenerational exchange in the priority area of civic rights and gender equality.

City of Women is a member of Roots & Routes International, a network dedicated to creating interdisciplinary projects with young artists and promoting social and cultural diversity through the arts.

In 2019, City of Women launched the international project Women on Women (WoW) together with Outlandish Theatre Platform CLG (Ireland), Space of Gender and Media Culture K-ZONA (Croatia), and Tiiiit! Inc. – Skopje (North Macedonia). The project explored new models of solidarity and knowledge exchange between different communities, celebrating past and present achievements of women.

City of Women was also a partner in BurnOut Aid, a European project supported by the Erasmus+ programme, which addressed the growing problem of workplace burnout and raised awareness of burnout syndrome in the non-governmental sector. The project's partners were the Culture Shock Foundation (Poland) and Space of Gender and Media Culture K-ZONA (Croatia).

External links

Gallery

Drage drage (Expensive Darlings), choreographed by Maja Delak, premiering at Dance Theatre Ljubljana co-produced by Emanat Institute and City of Women International Festival of Contemporary Arts, 2007.

City of Women Association for Promotion of Women in Culture

Contents

Mission

Recent and past projects

See also

External links

Gallery

Operated by

Financed by