Mission and Vision

The Interart cultural center, founded by the choreographer Risima Risimkin in 1996, is initially dedicated to the development of the contemporary dance scene in Macedonia, and later, after being led by the sculptor Matea Mijanoviкј, to contemporary art, especially to the connections between contemporary dance, visual arts and the music. The center designs project lines, in the field of contemporary dance, visual arts and music, on several levels: education, production and presentation, with which in the past 26 years, it has opened a wide platform for the development of contemporary art in Macedonia.

Since its establishment in 1996, the center has created strong ties with various prestigious centers, festivals and academies from Europe, America and Asia. Interart collaborates with the Choreographic Center of Saint-Saint-Denis, Bagnolet, Paris: the Rotterdam Dance Academy, CODARTS University and the Holland Dance Festival, the Netherlands; American dance Abroad, New York, USA, the Culture Union between the countries of Central and Southeast Europe and China. The center begins the connection of the Skopje Dance Academy, which it founded in 2010, as the first educational program at the university level in Macedonia, with nine European dance academies and universities from Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia, Hungary, the Czech Republic.

Through these connections, the Interart cultural center places Macedonia on the world map of contemporary dance, and at the same time, the center succeeds in developing the Macedonian contemporary dance scene. The Interart Cultural Center is the founder of several events, such as “Modern Ballet Week”, in 1996, a program that was part of “Ohrid Summer”, the largest festival in the country and takes place in Ohrid until 2004; then the manifestation “April – the month of dance!” in Skopje in 2002 and 2003; as well as the Dance Fest Skopje festival in 2005, which until today is held every year in April. Through these events and their programs, the Macedonian audience had the opportunity to host various companies, true representatives of the world contemporary dance scene, such as the Netherlands Dance Theater, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Introdance & Galili Dance Company from the Netherlands; The National ballets of Portugal, Slovenia, Hungary, Turkey, Serbia; Martha Graham Dance Company (New York), Philadanko! (Philadelphia), Megan Bridge Dance Company (Philadelphia) & Battery Dance Company (New York), USA; The State Ballet of Hildesheim, Steptext Dance Company & Christina Bonansea Dance Company from Germany; Zagreb Dance Theater, Croatia; Bitef Dance Company, Serbia; Derrida Dance Company from Bulgaria; National Opera and Drama Dance Theater (Beijing), Dragon Kung Fu Dance Company (Beijing) and “9 Dance Theater” (Beijing), China and many others, which presented choreographic pieces of prominent world choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Hans van Manen, Martha Graham, Mehmet Balkan, Itzak Galili, Johan Inger, Mauro Bigonzetti, Nacho Duato, Matz Ek, Murat Merzouki, as well as works by Salia Sanou & Seydou Boro, Boris Charmatz, Elsa Wolliaston, Katsura Kan and others.

Through its activities, the Interart cultural center works systematically and strategically, with development lines of presentation, production and education, and creates a complete infrastructure for contemporary dance in Macedonia. In 2010, the center founded the Skopje Dance Academy, in cooperation with one of the world’s most prestigious dance academies – Rotterdam Dance Academy, part of CODARTS University from the Netherlands and with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Skopje. Today, this program is part of the State University “Goce Delchev” and is led by Risima Risimkin, as the founder and dean of the Dance department. In 2011, Interart founded the Skopje Dance Theater, the first and to date only official contemporary dance company in the country. In 2012 Interart founded the new dance scene ZEBRA. The center has been recognized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia as an example of the promotion of entrepreneurship in culture, as a new model of work in Macedonia, coordinated with world trends. With progressive thinking and action, the Interart cultural center becomes a leader in the development of contemporary dance, not only in the country, but also in the region.

Through its work, since 2003, the Interart Cultural Center has been implementing the premises of CID UNESCO, promoting the values that UNESCO stands for, for the preservation and development of spiritual and non-material heritage. The Center organized two Regional Congresses of CID UNESCO in Macedonia; a Conference on the topic “Dance as an expression of cultural diversity” supported by UNESCO, as well as dance conferences on the topic “Contemporary dance (culture) as a factor in the transformation of society” supported by the Embassy of The Kingdom of the Netherlands in Macedonia.

In the period from 2010 to 2017, the center developed a new project line, an educational program for children aged 4 and up, named “Risimkin Research Center”, which trains more than 100 children annually.

In 2014, the center created the International Competition for Young Choreographers – DANCELAB, which takes place every two years, as part of the Dance Fest Skopje festival.

In 2018, under the leadership of Matea Mijanovikj, the center creates the platform “Culture Incubator Program” for the development of the youth art scene in Macedonia. The project is based on the collaboration of young artists from the three artistic categories: contemporary dance, visual arts and music, who go through a professional process of creating independent and interdisciplinary works, which they place on the contemporary art scene. In the Incubator program, in the past 5 years, over 150 young artists from the three art categories have gone through the training process.

Interart appears as the publisher of the book “The Art of Dance”, the three publications on contemporary dance: “On the Wings of Dance”; “New Dance Theater” and “Path of Changes”; the monographs: “Skopje Dance Academy – The Beginnings” and “The Wonderful World of Dance” for 10 years of Dance Fest Skopje”.

Currently, the Interart cultural center is working on the project “Dancing (Talking) Table” “Space for conversation” in which, through artistic activism, it wants to draw the public’s attention to gender (in)equality and domestic violence. The project is supported by the Swiss Embassy in Skopje.