People, stories, fates, emotions, talents, traditions- that’s the Golden Beggar – the festival that will get you by heart. The festival needs financial resources to implement this unique project looking for its supporters even after 25 years.
Author: Eva Děkanovská
Košice, Košický kraj, Slovensko
???project.detail.fixedGoal??? All or nothing. Project finished on Jul 3, 2019 at 09:44.
How it all began
When one of the first local televisions in Slovakia was given a license for broadcasting in 1995, it was clear that it could not afford to buy programmes or to broadcast the same way as large televisions. Back in the day the local televisions were isolated and didn’t have any information about each other. And so the idea of organizing the festival was born, festival for exchanging programmes, experience and information.
What is our goal?
In Košice, Slovakia and in Europe the festival is the broadest platform for connecting various cultural values and dialogue. Our goal is to create a place of permanent dialogue, exchange of ideas and experience and creative confrontation of authors of audio-visual programmes. Television production is influenced by its environment. Its quality is then dependent on the courage of professionals and experts, expecially on the competence of the television workers themselves. Presence in the festival means a unique experience and a possibility of direct professional and creative inspiration.
Details
In 1995, the International Festival of Local Television/Golden Beggar was started by the owners of new local television stations made possible by a change in the political and economic systems. It was a self-help effort, and it has continued to work as such. With a programme competition, workshops and debates, the Golden Beggar has helped to define and refine the idea of non-national media, local and regional, not only in Eastern Europe, but across the continent as well. The festival’s organisers continue to see this part of the media space as invaluable in the building of democratic processes and economic development. In fact, the plan is to move the 2015 festival to the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine, in an effort to duplicate in Ukraine what the festival has done in other parts of Europe – create a network of producers and encourage programme exchange.
... and a little more
Who is The Golden Beggar ? In the lore of the city of Košice is the story of a beggar, who begged for years. But he used his beggings wisely - saving them and building one of the grandest houses on the main street. The house still stands today, with a Golden Beggar statue on top. A copy of that statue made by a sculptor Arpád Račko is given to the best program from local TV.
“The people which I have met in Košice do the right thing in a right place at a right time. The doers of Košice have understood and accepted the reality of their land, its history, its culture and turned it to success.” – Ivan Župa , journalist Austria
Good idea in most cases is a simple idea. Simple idea is often not easy to be recognised and often can be implemented only with much effort. If the idea is recognized as a good one, then many people ask: Why did not I get this idea before? – anonymous festival guest
"But when I see the influence of the festival, and I think how much better television the audiences of these local stations now have, when I see how much self-confidence the producers have developed, I finally feel I am associated with something doing real good. Let us say I am now earning all that money I was getting. And I hope it is, as you put it, a neverending story."- Ed Baumeister, journalist France
Who are we?
The City TV Foundation was established in 1995 in Košice, Slovakia, to foster improvement in local television, especially in the formerly communist countries, where there had been no tradition of independent local television, and where its development was an important element in the development of a democratic, civil society. In addition to staging the annual event, the foundation conducts training of local television managers, producers, cameramen and journalists, in Slovakia and in other countries. It has also produced a large database of information about local television stations across Europe, and functions as a distributor of local television programs among local stations.
Why are we doing it?
In 2013 the festival was one of the key projects within European Capital of Culture 2013. Despite its uniqueness and long-term sustainability of the project, it has been more and more difficult to find the funding. The support of usual partners is considerably lower even non-existent. Dissolution of a successful international media event seems to be a sign of disrespect towards what has been achieved in Košice, Slovakia and in Europe in the past 20 years. While we have been familiar with the system of crowdfunding for quite some time, only now the time has come for us to take advantage of it. 7 000 Euros presents 10% of the total budget and we want to use it for purchase of film licences and subtitling.
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