Do you want to be part of the discussion on cultural mobility justice? Register now for the Cultural Mobility Forum 29–30 April 2026, in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia.
Register here
Each year On the Move proposes a Cultural Mobility Forum to collectively investigate international artistic and cultural mobility trends. As a unique knowledge platform, the network works together with its members and partners to design thematic panel discussions and contextualise global mobility issues. For this Forum, On the Move is proud to partner with one of its members, Kooperativa – Regional Platform for Culture, a network of organisations and national platforms dedicated to independent culture and contemporary art in Southeast Europe.
Focus 2026: Cultural Mobility Justice
Cultural mobility justice examines and challenges the systemic inequities that determine who can move, create, and participate within the global cultural landscape. It exposes how visa restrictions, economic disparities, and enduring colonial, ableist, and patriarchal power structures disproportionately limit the mobility of artists and culture professionals - particularly those from marginalised communities, burdened by precarious working conditions, family responsibilities, or personal constraints, or from non-Western contexts.
This framework advocates for equitable access to resources, including visas, funding, information, and professional (digital) opportunities, while amplifying the voices of those most affected by mobility injustices. It demands alternative approaches to curation, cultural exchange, and the dismantling of institutional gatekeeping that perpetuates inequality. Ultimately, cultural mobility justice seeks to reimagine and redistribute the power dynamics of global circulation, ensuring that mobility becomes a fundamental right rather than a privilege reserved for a select few.
The 2026 edition of the Forum will explore these systemic inequities, interrogating how mobility within the cultural sector reinforces disparities and imbalances.
Full thematic description, programme and speaker biographies here.
Programme
Wednesday 29 April 2026 (morning)
Morning venue: Albanian Theatre Skopje, Nikola Martinovski 41, Skopje
| 09:00-10:00 |
Registration & welcome coffee Albanian Theatre Skopje, Nikola Martinovski 41, Skopje |
| 10:00-10:30 |
Opening and welcome words |
|
10:30-11:00 |
Keynote Speech by Marijana Cvetković (Stanica/Station – Service for Contemporary Dance, Nomad Dance Academy)Mobility Justice: Fairer Policies, New Practices, and Radical Solidarity |
| 11:00-12:30 |
Parallel sessions Panel discussion: Artistic Autonomy and the Balkans with Sara Whyatt (Freemuse) and Haris Pašović (Sarajevo Fest); Moderator Mateja Lazar (Motovila); Rapporteur Sviatlana Haidalionak (Warsaw Observatory of Culture) Long Table: Safe Havens: Artist Residencies in Turbulent Times with Seed speaker Theresa Ridder (SWAN Emergency residencies); Moderator Maik Müller (Martin Roth-Initiative); Rapporteur Ika Sienkiewicz-Nowacka (Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art) Long Table: Building our Fairness Capacities with Seed speaker Sabrina Kamili (Fondation Hiba, K&Co); Moderator Kalina Dukovska (Laboratorium); Rapporteur Antonija Letinić (Kultura Nova) |
| 12:30-14:30 | Self-organised lunch & venue change |
Wednesday 29 April 2026 (afternoon)
Afternoon venue: MKC Youth Cultural Centre, 15 MK, Dimitar Vlahov Walk, Skopje
| 14:30-15:00 |
Check-in and moving forward MKC Youth Cultural Centre, 15 MK, Dimitar Vlahov Walk, Skopje |
| 15:00-16:30 |
Parallel sessions Panel discussion: Cultural Mobility Funding: Biases and Blind Spots with Marina Mussapi (Moleskine Foundation) and Jon Opie (Acme); Moderator Maria Vlachou (Acesso Cultura); Rapporteur Lorena Copil (Centrul Cultural Clujean) Long Table: Navigating Visa Barriers in Cultural Mobility with Seed speaker Marie Le Sourd (On the Move); Moderator Sebastian Hoffmann (touring artists, Internationales Theaterinstitut); Rapporteur Florent Mehmeti (Teatri ODA, HAPU Festival) Long Table: Mobility Justice – Invisible No More with Seed speaker Abdullah AlKafri (Ettijahat); Moderator Jordi Baltà Portolés (independent expert); Rapporteur Argyro Toumazou (D6:EU) |
| 17:00-18:30 |
Harvesting insights from rapporteurs and participants with Rapporteurs Sviatlana Haidalionak (Warsaw Observatory of Culture), Antonija Letinić (Kultura Nova), Ika Sienkiewicz-Nowacka (Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art), Florent Mehmeti (Teatri ODA, HAPU Festival), Argyro Toumazou (D6:EU), and Lorena Copil (Centrul Cultural Clujean); Moderator Yohann Floch (On the Move) |
| 18:30 | Conclusions and announcement of the 2027 edition of On the Move’s Cultural Mobility Forum |
| 18:45 | Reception with finger food and drinks |
Thursday 30 April 2026 (9:30-12:30): Cultural visits and curated discussions
These parallel visits invite participants to move through Skopje’s artistic landscape and discover how the local arts scene takes shape, resists, and evolves. There are four visits to choose from:
- Performing Public Space: Artistic Practices in the City with Faculty of Things that Can’t Be Learned / AKTO festival for contemporary arts
- Holding the Line: Practices, Structures and Solidarity in the Visual Arts with Centar Jadro
- Anatomy of a Performing Arts Scene: Bodies, Spaces and Autonomy with Lokomotiva – Centre for New Initiative in Arts and Culture
- Music Landscape Session with Creative Europe Desk - North Macedonia, Password Production and Laboratorium
Register for the Forum here
Other resources
- Cultural Mobility Forum Resources – 2025 (Riga, Latvia and online)
- Cultural Mobility Forum Resources – 2024 (Caernarfon, Wales and online)
- Cultural Mobility Forum Resources – 2023 (Tunis, Tunisia and online)
- Cultural Mobility Forum Resources – 2022 (Helsinki and online)
This Forum is part of On the Move’s EU co-funded programme New Solidarities.
