Culture.si

Culture.si offers information on Slovene cultural producers, venues, festivals and support services, all in one place. It encourages international cultural exchange in the fields of arts, culture and heritage. The portal and its content is owned and funded by the Ministry of Culture and the European Union Recovery and Resilience Plan. It was developed and edited by the team of the Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory in the period 2009–2020 and again in 2024.

Content

Culture.si offers four major services: an up to date contact informations, images and logo collection for download and re-use according to their specific licences, calendar of international events, and referential articles on Slovene culture.

Articles

Over 3,000 articles, complete with profiles and contacts, are continuously updated and complemented. Each article is edited and proofread for English, providing also referential translations of the names of Slovene cultural organisations and institutions.

They are tagged with over 400 different categories so that many useful lists can be obtained, for example: Brass band music, Comic art exhibition organisers, Cultural management web resources, Dance residencies, Embassies and consulates in Slovenia, Film periodicals, Literature venues, Museum libraries, Music festival organisers, New media art festivals, Recording studios, Theatre research, Visual arts awards, etc.

Worldwide events from Slovenia

Culture.si publishes a calendar of previously unavailable announcements of cultural events from Slovenia happening around the world with links to relevant articles and selected external links on programmes. The lists of events by field are displayed on thematic portal pages. Up to 2021, the Ljudmila team had collected and published on the portal 6650 cultural events in 100 countries. In 2024, this number has gone up to 7327 cultural events.

Photo and logo collections

In Slovenia the photo collection of Culture.si is a growing resource of free images that are available for reuse, also for commercial purposes. They have been obtained from Slovene producers and institutions, from Slovene photographers individually and via SPP Institute for Promotion of Photography, or taken by the Culture.si team, while some were found on the Internet (free licences). The images are included in the Europeana.eu portal through the National and University Library, which acts as a national aggregator.

The logos are provided by their owners, preferably in a vector format. They are available for download and can be used with the permission by their owners if properly attributed (licence CC BY-ND). This collection is a practical resource for cultural operators and publishers as well as a unique showcase of Slovene visual communications design.

Background

A beta version of the Culture.si portal developed by the Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory was launched at the Ministry of Culture in April 2010 and developed to its full capacity in 2012. It is based on the experience with the Art Directories and Cultural Profiles databases project initiated and managed by Visiting Arts in London, conceived by Tim Doling, Managing Editor, and developed by Librios Ltd. The initiative came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia London) which proposed in 2001 that the data for the "Slovenia Art Directory" should be compiled. Slovenian Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government Communication Office co-funded the first edition of the publication that appeared in 2004 under the title Slovenia Cultural Profile, co-edited by a local researcher Helena Pivec and Tim Doling.

From 2002 till 2008 the maintenance of the Slovenia Cultural Profile, a comprehensive online database, English-language guide to culture in Slovenia, aimed at both cultural professionals and the general public, was actively supported by the Ministry of Culture in partnership with the British Council Slovenia. In 2008, on the occasion of the Slovenian EU Council Presidency, the 2nd edition of the Slovenia Cultural Profile publication appeared.

The collection of data that had been compiled and developed for the Slovenia Cultural Profile with financial support from the Ministry of Culture provided the basis for the newly organised, updated, and redesigned MediaWiki Culture.si database, developed by Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory with the financial support by the Ministry of Culture via public bids and multiannual contracts (2010–2014; 2015–2018; 2019–2020).

Semantic MediaWiki cultural portal

In 2009 the Ministry of Culture initiated its own cultural portal for those seeking international cooperation with Slovenia called Culture.si. This flexible public database providing for the needs of the cultural sphere, built with semantic web principles, using open source and open formats, was developed by Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab (2009–2010). Based on the Ministry of Culture's open call for the maintenance and development of the portal for the periods 2011–2014 and 2015–2018, the project has been managed by Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory in the period 2009–2020. Portal Culture.si is funded by the Ministry of Culture and the European Union Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Mission

Culture.si hopes to broaden and promote international cultural cooperation, as well as knowledge and recognition of Slovene culture.

User groups

There are several different groups which can benefit from the information offered by Culture.si. Although primarily designed to meet the needs of culture professionals, Culture.si also caters to researchers, students, artists, tourists and anyone looking for information on Slovene cultural institutions, organisations, producers, venues, festivals, heritage, funding, education, support services, etc.. Culture professionals may benefit from thorough and regularly updated contact informations, timeline charts prepared for research purposes, and image and logo banks for easy incorporation into publications. Students of culture may benefit from lists of educational possibilities in Slovenia. Any material found on this portal may be used based on the specified terms.

Enhance Wikipedia! Reuse our content

Wikipedia in English has over 3 million articles but not many of them are related to culture in/from Slovenia. Please, contribute! You can copy and adapt facts or texts from Culture.si by simply acknowledging the source (Culture.si, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia). Make sure to consult the WikiProject Slovenia pages first!

More information on the Culture.si content reuse you can find here Culture.si Content Reuse.

Reports & Manuals & Factsheets

Press clipping

Press clipping re Culture.si in Kulturnik

External links

Culture.si portal
More on the Creative Commons licence, used by Culture.si for images (CC BY-ND 4.0)
More on the Creative Commons licence, used by Culture.si for texts (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)

Culture.si social

References

On Semantic MediaWiki

Impressum

Developed and published by Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory in the period 2009–2020, 2023
Project coordination 2009–2020, 2023: Živa Zupan, Anže Zorman (2018–2020)
Programming & realisation 2009–2020, 2023: Luka Frelih, Žiga Kranjec, Zoran Obradović, Mitja Doma & Jurij Podgoršek (2019-2020)
Product (UX) design: Živa Zupan
Graphic design: Kontrastika
Logotype and the previous website design old.culture.si: Atelje.Balant
Project administration: Robert Mohorič
Editors 2024: Anja Guid, Dali Regent
Editors 2023: Helena Pivec, Urška Savič, Jaša Bužinel
Editors up to 2020: Anže Zorman, Jana Renée Wilcoxen, Helena Pivec (Worldwide section)
Previous editors: Alenka Pirman (2009–2018)

Language editor 2009–2020, 2023: Jana Renée Wilcoxen
- Additional proofreading and language editing: Kristjan Mavri (2012–2014)

Worldwide events editor 2024: Dali Regent, Anja Guid
Previous Worldwide events editors: Helena Pivec (2023), Katja Kosi (2018–March 2020), Kristjan Mavri, Anja Mrak (2010–2017)

Infographics: Jana R. Wilcoxen, Alenka Pirman, Tea Pristolič, Jure Čuhalev, (Festivals), Helena Pivec (Events Map), Mateja Lazar/Creative Europe Desk Slovenia (EU projects)

Social media editors: Tonko Sekulo (2019–2020), Anže Zorman, Alenka Pirman (2014–2018)

Blog editors: Anže Zorman
- Previous blog editors:Ali Bramwell (2011–2013), Alenka Pirman (2014–2018)

Photo editor: Maruša Kocjančič (2018–2020)

Previous photo editors: Lidija Biškup, Ali Bramwell, Živa Zupan

Photographers portfolios:

Jaka Babnik, Urška Boljkovac, Kaja Brezočnik, Borut Bučinel, Matevž Čebašek, Edi Einspieler, Miha Fras, Janez Gerčar, Katja Goljat, DK, Miran Kambič, Janez Klenovšek, Žiga Koritnik, Matej Leskovšek, Nada Mihajlović, Borut Peterlin, Simon Pintar - Madpixel, Peter Uhan, Nada Žgank; Culture.si photographer 2019: Kaja Brezočnik Some stocks were obtained with the help of SPP Institute for Promotion of Photography.

Copywriter: Irena Duša Draž (2011–2015)

Promotion consultants: Marko Brumen, Rok Avbar (2018)

Overview texts (Selected 2020) by Tea Pristolič, Barbara Škerl (architecture), Primož Jesenko (theatre), Urška Savić (new media art), Peter Baroš, Luka T. Zagoričnik (music), etc.

Articles update & writing in 2019:

Nataša Velikonja, Katja Kosi (theatre & dance), Alenka Pirman (heritage), Simon Smole (literature & publishing), Tonko Sekulo (music), Ajda Kocutar (visual arts, new media art), Nina Hlebec (design), Michael Jumić (arhitecture), Žiga Brdnik (film), Simon Žlahtič (various, regional), Helena Pivec

Field specialised writing on request (2014–2016):

Katja Kosi (theatre, dance), Dare Pejić (education, embassies, civil society), Tea Pristolič (architecture, design), Tina Dolinšek (music), Nina Hlebec (music), Denis Valič (film), Anja Mrak (literature)

Previous writers (2009–2013):

Katja Černe (puppetry), Danaja Grešak (music), Maia Juvanc (music), Nataša Kocjančič (music), Eva Lučka Kozak (visual arts), Andreja Musar (literature), Aljaž Pavlin (glasba), Ivan Pirnat (heritage), Gregor Pompe (music), Janez Premk (heritage), Maja Škerbot (visual arts, new media art), Ičo Vidmar (music), Miha Zadnikar (music)

Consultants (lists reviews):

Vesna Teržan (architecture, design), Natalija Glažar (archives), Urška P. Černe (literature), Petja Grafenauer (visual arts and new media art), Viktor Škedelj and other collaborators of the SIGIC, Slovene Music Information Centre (music), Katja Kosi (theatre and dance), Tjaša Tomšič (puppetry), Denis Valič (film), Marko Brumen (festivals, promotion consultant 2011-2014), Alenka Pirman (cultural heritage)

Legal advisor: Urša Chitrakar

Founded and funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia

Acknowledgements

The Culture.si portal is a complex enterprise and wouldn't be possible without the benevolent help of many individuals. We wish to thank the following: Ali Bramwell, Vuk Ćosić, Jure Čuhalev, Miran Hladnik, Tea Hvala, Vesna Jurca Tadel, Urška Jurman, Jiři Kočica, Mateja Koren, Amelia Kraigher, Špela Kučan, Borut Krajnc, Mateja Lazar, Inge Pangos, Stojan Pelko, Kristina Plavšak Krajnc, Anja Premk, Domen Savič, Barbara Skubic, Alenka Suhadolnik, Robertina Šebjanič, Majda Širca, Blanka Tivadar, Darja Vuga, Beti Žerovc, and many more.