PORTAL Art&Business | PORTAL WOMANCOMM | KREATIVNI PORTFOLIO 03 | HOTEL JUGOSLAVIJA (PDF)
Media-Marketing.com
  • Vijesti

    Wüsthof Sharp Systemic Brand Identity with Gigodesign wins Red Dot Award

    How to win a Grand Prix in Cannes?

    The best of Latvian and Estonian advertising

    Enjoy the summer with Cinedays Film Factor 20

    Lokomotiva and SentecaCommerce signed a partnership for 12 European markets

    Virtual Drumming with Fernando Machado, Karolina Galácz, and Thomas Kolster

  • Tema sedmice
    daljinski-naslovnica

    Television Audience Measurement: In Serbia, the media are in a race to the bottom for every extra “click”, while in Croatia HTV has undermined the principle of joint monitoring

    This global pandemic, coronavirus, cuts across all geographical borders regardless of cultures and language. What is the role of Public relations today?

    Slaven Fischer: Creativity doesn’t reside in buildings but in people, no matter where they are. It’s natural for people to work from home.

    Janja Božič Marolt: As in every crisis, there will be a lot of victims and some winners in the communications industry of the region.

    Shortcutting Video: New Study Highlights the Effectiveness of 2-second Ads

    Topic of the Day: Can artificial intelligence replace human intelligence and emotions. Is technology a servant or a master?

  • Intervju

    Miranda Mladin: Keeping consumers’ attention is every brand’s biggest challenge

    Nataša Mitrović: I understood that the Balkans should be my primary target area and that, once I had become a shark in the Balkans, then I could make my way “back” into the big world and swim in the sea with the other sharks.

    Ivan Stanković: I admit to having great fun and enjoying myself enormously working on my show, What I am to you and who I am to myself.

    Scott-Gould-naslovnica

    Scot Gould: Stop doing anything that you do that isn’t valuable, tell everyone about that offering, and don’t stop!

    lazar-naslovnica

    Lazar Džamić: We are experts at preferring the byways, swamps, and chasms, so that we can keep on going in circles, lost in space

    Irena-naslovna

    Irena Kurtanjek: Contributing to the Communities in which we Operate is the Foundation of Nestlé’s Business

  • Kolumna

    Sponsors? What that?

    misa-naslovnica

    Miša Lukić: What can start-ups learn from sperm?

    Do Brands Always Need to Sell Aggressively to Grow?

    Price of Hate

    The Advertising Industry: From Alchemists to Distributors and Back Again

    Milena Garfield: It’s not long since I said: If it ain’t live, it’s dead

  • Dnevnik

    Diary of a Methuselah #176 Will our industry come out of this better and smarter?

    Diary of a Methuselah #159: Ivo Pogorelić and Zoran Todorović weren’t attractive enough for sponsors in Sarajevo

    Diary of a Methuselah #157: The Young Leaders of Tomorrow, a great event for young people who are ready to assume responsibility for the future of industry

    Diary of a Methuselah #156: I’ve been writing my Diary for three years now, and I don’t think I wrote anything smart

    Diary of a Methuselah #154: Three days at the PRO.PR Conference

    Diary of a Methuselah #153: Portal Media Marketing starts a new life today

  • Mladi lideri

    Mladi liderji – Uroš Zorčič, New Moment Ljubljana: Vedno gledam na dela sama in ne postavljam v ospredje posameznih ljudi ali agencij

    Mladi liderji – Saša Droftina, Luna \TBWA: Želela bi, da bi se spremenil odnos do pitchev

    Mladi Lideri Kristina Gregorc

    Mladi liderji – Kristina Gregorc, Mercator: Zelo sem optimistična in izjemno ponosna in vesela, da sem del tako velike in uspešne ekipe

    Mladi Lideri

    Mladi liderji – Maša Crnkovič, Futura DDB: Največji izziv je vpeljava podatkov in feedback-a uporabnikov v procese dela

    Young leaders – Aneta Nedimović, New Moment Belgrade: Articulating ideas and the value of those ideas is an art form and a skill

    Mladi liderji – Matjaž Muhič, ArnoldVuga: Želel bi več časa za razmislek, za delo, za raziskovanje

  • Tri pitanja

    Robert Wester: Strategic communications is at the top of the European Commission’s agenda

    Chris Pomeroy: Tourism in 2019 accounted for 1 in 10 jobs on the planet and until now it was resilient to all manner of crisis

    Andrey Barannikov: The role of PR in Russia is changing and becoming more strategically important both for brands and communication agencies

    francis-ingram-naslovnica

    Three questions for Francis Ingham, Managing Director of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) & Chief Executive of the International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO)

    3 questions for Svetlana Stavreva, President of the International PR association (IPRA): Today, people are demanding that organizations do what they promised

    Three questions for Petra Krulc, Senior Vice President of Celtra

  • WomanComm
  • B/H/S
No Result
View All Result
Media-Marketing.com
  • Vijesti

    Wüsthof Sharp Systemic Brand Identity with Gigodesign wins Red Dot Award

    How to win a Grand Prix in Cannes?

    The best of Latvian and Estonian advertising

    Enjoy the summer with Cinedays Film Factor 20

    Lokomotiva and SentecaCommerce signed a partnership for 12 European markets

    Virtual Drumming with Fernando Machado, Karolina Galácz, and Thomas Kolster

  • Tema sedmice
    daljinski-naslovnica

    Television Audience Measurement: In Serbia, the media are in a race to the bottom for every extra “click”, while in Croatia HTV has undermined the principle of joint monitoring

    This global pandemic, coronavirus, cuts across all geographical borders regardless of cultures and language. What is the role of Public relations today?

    Slaven Fischer: Creativity doesn’t reside in buildings but in people, no matter where they are. It’s natural for people to work from home.

    Janja Božič Marolt: As in every crisis, there will be a lot of victims and some winners in the communications industry of the region.

    Shortcutting Video: New Study Highlights the Effectiveness of 2-second Ads

    Topic of the Day: Can artificial intelligence replace human intelligence and emotions. Is technology a servant or a master?

  • Intervju

    Miranda Mladin: Keeping consumers’ attention is every brand’s biggest challenge

    Nataša Mitrović: I understood that the Balkans should be my primary target area and that, once I had become a shark in the Balkans, then I could make my way “back” into the big world and swim in the sea with the other sharks.

    Ivan Stanković: I admit to having great fun and enjoying myself enormously working on my show, What I am to you and who I am to myself.

    Scott-Gould-naslovnica

    Scot Gould: Stop doing anything that you do that isn’t valuable, tell everyone about that offering, and don’t stop!

    lazar-naslovnica

    Lazar Džamić: We are experts at preferring the byways, swamps, and chasms, so that we can keep on going in circles, lost in space

    Irena-naslovna

    Irena Kurtanjek: Contributing to the Communities in which we Operate is the Foundation of Nestlé’s Business

  • Kolumna

    Sponsors? What that?

    misa-naslovnica

    Miša Lukić: What can start-ups learn from sperm?

    Do Brands Always Need to Sell Aggressively to Grow?

    Price of Hate

    The Advertising Industry: From Alchemists to Distributors and Back Again

    Milena Garfield: It’s not long since I said: If it ain’t live, it’s dead

  • Dnevnik

    Diary of a Methuselah #176 Will our industry come out of this better and smarter?

    Diary of a Methuselah #159: Ivo Pogorelić and Zoran Todorović weren’t attractive enough for sponsors in Sarajevo

    Diary of a Methuselah #157: The Young Leaders of Tomorrow, a great event for young people who are ready to assume responsibility for the future of industry

    Diary of a Methuselah #156: I’ve been writing my Diary for three years now, and I don’t think I wrote anything smart

    Diary of a Methuselah #154: Three days at the PRO.PR Conference

    Diary of a Methuselah #153: Portal Media Marketing starts a new life today

  • Mladi lideri

    Mladi liderji – Uroš Zorčič, New Moment Ljubljana: Vedno gledam na dela sama in ne postavljam v ospredje posameznih ljudi ali agencij

    Mladi liderji – Saša Droftina, Luna \TBWA: Želela bi, da bi se spremenil odnos do pitchev

    Mladi Lideri Kristina Gregorc

    Mladi liderji – Kristina Gregorc, Mercator: Zelo sem optimistična in izjemno ponosna in vesela, da sem del tako velike in uspešne ekipe

    Mladi Lideri

    Mladi liderji – Maša Crnkovič, Futura DDB: Največji izziv je vpeljava podatkov in feedback-a uporabnikov v procese dela

    Young leaders – Aneta Nedimović, New Moment Belgrade: Articulating ideas and the value of those ideas is an art form and a skill

    Mladi liderji – Matjaž Muhič, ArnoldVuga: Želel bi več časa za razmislek, za delo, za raziskovanje

  • Tri pitanja

    Robert Wester: Strategic communications is at the top of the European Commission’s agenda

    Chris Pomeroy: Tourism in 2019 accounted for 1 in 10 jobs on the planet and until now it was resilient to all manner of crisis

    Andrey Barannikov: The role of PR in Russia is changing and becoming more strategically important both for brands and communication agencies

    francis-ingram-naslovnica

    Three questions for Francis Ingham, Managing Director of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) & Chief Executive of the International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO)

    3 questions for Svetlana Stavreva, President of the International PR association (IPRA): Today, people are demanding that organizations do what they promised

    Three questions for Petra Krulc, Senior Vice President of Celtra

  • WomanComm
  • B/H/S
No Result
View All Result
Media-Marketing.com
No Result
View All Result
Home Diary

Diary of a Methuselah #96: How and (why) the Mixer house project in Sarajevo fell through in record time

At the opening ceremony, there were the Children’s regional philharmonic orchestra and Rambo. When they left after three and half months, they did it quietly, silently without a word

11/01/2018
in Diary
5 min read
Diary of a Methuselah #96: How and (why) the Mixer house project in Sarajevo fell through in record time

Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian

Piše: Ekrem Dupanović

A few days before the New Year, the Mixer house closed its doors in Sarajevo. First, it was announced that they will close after the New Year holidays, they announced a spectacular programme but they closed down a few days early.

Mixer opened on the 8th of September and closed down after less than four months. It was announced as a project for urban Sarajevo connecting all the young creative forces of the Balkans. Does this inglorious end mean that Sarajevo is not an urban environment, that our city is not worthy of such a project that blossomed in Belgrade until it was closed down there because of the Belgrade on water project, does this mean that Sarajevo is narrow minded and a primitive city, and it missed out on a chance of a cultural renaissance, as announced by the team behind the Mixer.

To recap. Mixer moved into the  refurbished factory halls of old Vaso Miskin Crni factory. Total investment was 300 000 euros. The Mixer team managed to gather ¾ of the  necessary funds, some of it coming from their own pocket some from commercial partners, foundations, private donors and friends of the project. The rest of the funds, 25% or 75 000 euros were supposed to be financed by the contributions of the citizenry, interested businesses, future Mixer house visitors  and people from around the world who shared the belief that the initiative of supporting the local talent and the cultural  reintegration of the region is the right path for putting the Balkans back on the map. An  international crowdfunding campaign was also started. The Mixer was meant to be a catalyst for  cultural dialogue of the young people of the region regardless of their religion or ethnicity, based on the basic absolute values of  Mixer Belgrade who built their name on self sufficiency and being present on the cultural scene of the region, without a penny of state funding.

I was there at the opening, on September the 8th. It all seemed pretty spectacular. I heard the speeches and words of support (from the Mayor to the top of the State) and I was sure it would  succeed. After a month, I went there again to show my friends from abroad  around. It all seemed bit tatty, full of smoke and dust, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it. I went there again, couple of weeks ago, for a meeting about organising Vladan Srdić’s exhibition, a Belgrade designer living in Ljubljana. Mixer house looked awful. Month old mud on the floor, lot of dust in the air, and when I went to the toilet… Ivan Lalic (and his wife Maja, the alpha and omega of the Mixer) was sat at the next table with his team. They were having their first morning coffee, they were all smiles as if everything was hunky dory. I only found out that not all was well when I received news from N1 that Mixer house would be closing down after the New Year holidays. Even that was not the case, it closed down two days later, cancelling all  programmes.

At the opening ceremony, there were the Children’s Regional philharmonic orchestra and Rambo. When they left after three and half months, they did it quietly, silently without a word apart from a short message on their web page signed by Ivan Lalić. I couldn’t see any explanation why it all went so horribly wrong and in a record time. In his short message, Ivan explained that they had to close down due to unpaid debts for the reconstruction of the place, that some donations hadn’t  materialised , and that the state support never happened, despite the fact that  when they announced that they are moving to Sarajevo it was strongly expressed that Mixer Belgrade was developed without a penny of the state funding and the idea was to be able to succeed by self financing..

The space has been returned to the owner, the Malagić company, who took over all the debts. At the end of his message, which didn’t say much apart from the fact that their huge debts were the cause of closing down, Ivan was deeply grateful to Mr Malagić. We were told unofficially that  turbo folk music will now be played there, Malagic has given the use of the space to the TV project Grand.

As nobody is willing to tell the truth, the rumour mill is in overdrive in Sarajevo and the region, stories have  started to circulate which could damage Sarajevo as these stories portray  Sarajevo as an ungrateful and primitive environment unable to appreciate a gift given to them.

Is this the case?

The facts are that Mixer Sarajevo didn’t have the necessary technical equipment (notably the  PA system) for live music. After each concert, social networks were full of stories of bad organisation. There was talk of employees leaving as they were not being paid. The exhibitions, the most important part of the Mixer repertoire, were held on a narrow gallery, where only one row of people could see the exhibits at a time and you had to wait for your turn on the stairs., The parking was always full as well.  Bad organisation meant few came to visit.

Only some ten people came to see the opening of Slavimir Stojanović’s exhibition because the invitations were only sent out two days before the opening day. There were many problems in Mixer’s business practices but the tipping point was the bad financial planning and debts. Out of the 300 000 euros needed, they managed to secure 225 000 euros, they were expecting to receive 75 000 euros from the friends of Mixer house and future ticket sales.

Mixer House was a business project. However one tries to present it as a socially responsible project devoted to the promotion of young people’s creativity and their cooperation across the Balkans in order to overcome religious, political , cultural differences and blah, blah, blah – Mixer was a profitable project for the owners, because each idea that “saves” the Balkans from future bloodshed is paid for by foreign donors and sponsors, getting these to pay was Mixer’s speciality. If it was a commercial project, why were Maja and Ivan looking for friends who would give away their money to help Sarajevo into the 22nd century and not investors.

This can’t stay shrouded in darkness and Sarajevo shouldn’t  be the dumping ground for the debris left in the wake of Mixer house. Maja and Ivan should come out and explain why the project was disaster and who is responsible (that is if they are back from their  hols on Vis). Was it their bad financial planning, debts and bad leadership or somebody from Sarajevo fooled them as is rumoured . If it is Sarajevo’s fault I would be the first one to admit it and even give a donation to get the city out of the quagmire it finds itself in. But if it is not our fault, somebody (and we all know who) should come out and admit their mistakes.

11 January 2018.

Tags: DiaryMikser House
ShareTweetShare

Related Posts

Dukat and agency Švicarska create a digital ad that changes depending on the time of the day
News

Statistics: Dukat and Švicarska; column by Ivan Stanković; Bruketa&Žinić&Grey – Višnja Pevec’s great comeback; Mercator; and column by Andrea Štimac round up the Top 5

03/08/2018
Diary of a Methuselah #104: I don’t want to trade influence. I believe that would be the shortest path to destroying all that I’ve built, and many friendships that I nourished for years
Diary

Diary of a Methuselah #104: I don’t want to trade influence. I believe that would be the shortest path to destroying all that I’ve built, and many friendships that I nourished for years

20/03/2018
Diary of a Methuselah #95: How to sell yourself?
Diary

Diary of a Methuselah #103: A million dollar question for Ilija Brajković – do you know what Facebook and Google are?

19/03/2018
Diary of a Methuselah # 100: The diary of a Methuselah has become a cantilever by which the importance of some information and their confidentiality is weighted
Diary

Diary of a Methuselah # 100: The diary of a Methuselah has become a cantilever by which the importance of some information and their confidentiality is weighted

20/02/2018
Statistics: January 2018 saw second biggest readership on Media Marketing in its history, with Mikser House and Sarajevska pivara dominating attention
News

Statistics: January 2018 saw second biggest readership on Media Marketing in its history, with Mikser House and Sarajevska pivara dominating attention

02/02/2018
Diary of a Methuselah #95: How to sell yourself?
Diary

Diary of a Methuselah #99: Australian Open finale – HTV marketing department, media agencies and advertisers all failed this test of maturity

29/01/2018
Next Post
Bella Hadid beats Kendall Jenner to the crown of brands’ most coveted celebrity endorser

Bella Hadid beats Kendall Jenner to the crown of brands’ most coveted celebrity endorser

Media-Marketing.com

2011-2020 © All rights reserved.

Portal Media-Marketing.com

  • About us
  • Marketing
  • Impressum
  • Contact
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Social Media

  • News
  • Topic of the day
  • Interview
  • Opinion
  • Diary
  • Young Leaders
  • Three questions
  • Media Marketing
    • About us
    • Marketing
    • Impressum
    • Contact
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Advanced search
  • en English
  • bs Bosnian

2011-2020 © All rights reserved.