The Latest at Goethe

Ten participants from five different countries of eastern Europe were invited to Germany by the Goethe-Institut for its pilot project Competence Centre for Cultural Managers. Tamar Janashia is one of them. The lively Georgian is working on an art project in Berlin. By Lena de Boer

When Tamar Janashia talks about her work, her eyes light up. Art and culture – her heart beats for them. It also beats for her homeland of Georgia. “And believe me,” she says, “artists in Georgia are chaotic and definitely need good management.” That is why she is in Germany. As part of the cultural manager programme of the Goethe-Institut, the Georgian is presently an intern at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin with the goal of establishing good art in Tiflis.

Last September, ten participants from Georgia, Kirgizstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Ukraine journeyed to Berlin for the project Competence Centre for Cultural Managers. All of them are professionals in the arts sector, but each of them encountered problems in their everyday work. “In Georgia, for example, we are simply lacking quality assurance and good international networks,” Janashia explains.

This is why the advancement programme immediately motivated her, for the Competence Centre for Cultural Managers project aims to create links between the countries. What can my country learn from the cultural sector in Germany? What experience do the participants from different countries bring with them to Germany? The programme therefore has three phases: an initial advanced training course, an internship at a cultural institution in Germany and finally implementation of the project in their home country – with the support of the Goethe-Institut.

“Cultural managers have a hard time in the cultural and artistic scenes in eastern European and Central Asian countries,” explains the director of the project Katrin Ostwald-Richter. “They are often lacking experience, in particular in international collaboration. This is where our programme can help.” First, an advanced training course was held in September, during which Tamar Janashia could share with the other participants. Together they learned how to form skilled work teams, how to collect funding for projects or develop marketing strategies. This quickly generated ideas for their own projects.

Performance art comes to Tiflis

“Now, we can implement these projects during the practical phase,” says Janashia. She is seated in her office in the Akademie der Künste, her eyes sweep over the view of Pariser Platz and stop at Brandenburg Gate. “A great working environment!” The participants carry out their one-month internships at various cultural institutes, depending on their professional backgrounds. In this case, the philologist from Tiflis loves art. Why is that? Janashia laughs: “I find ordinary management really dry, but art management is full of creativity, ideas and colours.” This creative environment also gave her the idea for her project: the Georgian wants to bring performance art to the Artisterium, the trade fair for international contemporary art in Tiflis.

“The performance medium is not yet very well known in Georgia, but it is here in Germany,” Janashia says. Together with the Akademie der Künste and the Goethe-Institut she is planning, researching and viewing interesting artist portfolios. But lively Tamar Janashia, who first worked at an institute of modern photography in Tiflis and then founded a science magazine for young people, wants to achieve far more during her internship. Her desk is covered with flyers, art catalogues and business cards. She hopes to create contacts with architects, cultural managers and specialists who can help to revive idle industrial sites in Georgia with art. “The way it is happening now in the Ruhr region,” she explains.

Tamar Janashia in her own words

It was not difficult for Tamar Janashia to become integrated at the Akademie der Künste, partly due to her excellent command of German. She has been learning the language since she was six years old and also studied a few semesters in Germany. This has made is easy for her to soak up day-to-day work at the academy and carry her experience back to Georgia. In order to prepare the programme participants for their internships at German cultural institutions, all of them attended language courses based on their previous knowledge at the Goethe-Institut in their respective countries of origin.

Yet Janashia recognizes that the programme has one advantage not only for herself. “The Goethe-Institut will also profit in the long term from well-trained cultural managers,” she states. This will make it possible for the institutions in the different countries to build upon skilled support when events are organized and carried out. “We’ll be involved with heart and soul.”

Tamar Janashia has already learned one primary thing from the project: “Many people come to the west and then return home and attempt to imitate western culture. But, it’s not the culture we ought to adapt, it is targeted training and promotion and the creative freedom that we ought to emulate from Germany.”