EUR 34 million for Capital of Culture – Novi Sad announces construction of Youth Creative Polis, music and ballet school with concert hall...

Those in charge of infrastructural projects which should be completed by 2021, when Novi Sad is officially to become the European Capital of Culture, have gotten to work at the very beginning of the year 2017.

It was announced earlier that the construction of several big facilities was planned, such as the Youth Creative Polis, a music and ballet school with a concert hall, a bridge to Ribarsko Ostrvo and several cultural centers in the local communities. This year alone, a total of EUR 11 million should be invested, of which EUR 9 million by the City, and the rest by the state and the province of Vojvodina. A total of EUR 34 million is to be set aside for the realization of all planned facilities.

– Since the day Novi Sad was pronounced the 2021 European Capital of Culture, speculations have been made about what is to be built and reconstructed – Nemanja Milenkovic, director of 2021 NS ECC foundation says for Novosti and notes that, based on the experiences of other ECC cities and recommendations by European experts, this “year zero” has been dedicated to enhancing the capacities for the realization of all planned programs by 2021.

– The realization of certain infrastructural projects, directly or indirectly tied to the ECC project, has already started. The construction of the music and ballet school with a concert hall, started last year, has continued, and the preparation of the documentation for the Youth Creative Polis, to be raised on the location of the former Petar Drapsin factory in Liman, will also start in 2017 – Milenkovic says.

– On this location with slightly under three hectares, old industrial facilities should be reconstructed and new ones built, meant for culture, creative industries and youth activism.

Milenkovic added for Novosti that 46 small public areas will be selected within the territory of the city, to be turned into special cultural centers. In the next five years, several cultural center-stations will be built in the city and the surrounding neighborhoods, Novo Naselje, Klisa and Sremski Karlovci, in “urban pockets”.

– No doubt the most important thing about the 2021 ECC project is for an advance in the culture of living and cohabitation to be made in the years to come in Novi Sad – Milenkovic emphasizes.

The majority of the expenses related to the realization of the planned projects will be covered by the City Administration, but the Governments of Serbia and Vojvodina have also set aside considerable funds, to be transferred to the city budget.

The 2021 ECC foundation will also apply for three international projects, to be financed by the IPA program of cross-border cooperation of Hungary and Serbia, as well as the Citizens for Europe program.

Grad Novi Sad

Vlada Republike Srbije

Autonomous Province of Vojvodina

2021 European Capital of Culture

2021 ECC

Novi Sad European Capital of Culture

Youth Creative Polis

construction of Youth Creative Polis

Novi Sad music school

Novi Sad ballet school

Ribarsko Ostrvo bridge

Ribarsko Ostrvo

Nemanja Milenkovic

NS 2021 ECC foundation

Petar Drapsin factory

IPA program

Citizens for Europe program