Management in Culture: How to Create a Space Where Ideas, Creativity, and Development Emerge?

Fabrika Fest, Old Ironworks, Ravne na Koroškem, 22 June 2026, 15:00–17:00

At a time when cities and regions are seeking ways to attract talent, creatives, and innovators, the question of how to create environments where people want to live, collaborate, and develop their ideas is becoming increasingly important. Former industrial sites are increasingly taking on new roles. They are no longer only carriers of heritage, but are evolving into hubs of encounter, collaboration, and the emergence of new cultural, social, and entrepreneurial initiatives. In this way, they are becoming an important part of local development, where culture, the economy, education, and community intersect. The key question is therefore no longer how to preserve such spaces, but how to create the conditions for people to fill them with content.

The event will address the following questions:

• What role does cultural management play in developing environments where new ideas, projects, and collaborations emerge?
• How can we better connect culture, the economy, and tourism into shared development and business opportunities?
• How can we attract investment and establish sustainable business models for the development of such environments?
• What do creators, entrepreneurs, and communities actually need in order to choose to operate and remain in a given place?
• How do individual initiatives evolve into long-term communities and collaborative ecosystems?

The event will consist of two parts.

Opening Panel Discussion (50 min): How to Create a Space Where Ideas, Creativity, and Development Emerge?

Speakers:

• Špela Pavli Perko, Director, Delavski dom Trbovlje
  An experienced cultural manager with expertise in developing a cultural centre in a former industrial setting and working closely with the local community.
• Primož Šporar, High-Impact Designer and CEO, FUND 2740
  An expert in systems design and the development of innovative, financially and socially sustainable project models.
• Mateja Hafner Dolenc, Secretary General, Association of Historical Towns of Slovenia
  Specialist in strategic cultural heritage development and its integration into tourism and urban development.
• Tilen Hudrap, Slovenian instrumentalist, Old Ironworks
  Artist with experience working in various creative environments and insight into the importance of space for artistic production.

Moderator:
Zdravko Kozinc, Co-founder and Co-creator, Iskriva Institute

Co-creation Workshop (50 min)

The workshop will focus on exploring new forms of collaboration between culture, the economy, and society. The emphasis will not be on a single space or project, but on the question of how to build partnerships that enable the development of ideas, their realisation, and long-term operation.

The aim of the workshop is to develop concrete insights into how ecosystems are being established today, where culture is not a separate sector but one of the key pillars of social and development cooperation.

Facilitator: Primož Šporar, High-Impact Designer and CEO, FUND 2740

The event is part of the NONA project, in cooperation with the CAST and SteelCityZen projects, co-financed by the Interreg Danube Region Programme.