City of Women – Association for the Promotion of Women in Culture
The Association for the Promotion of Women in Culture – City of Women was established in 1996, a year after the first edition of the City of Women festival, with a purpose to prepare and run the festival annually. Today, the association is a multifaceted organization that focuses on artistic, activist and theoretical presentations and productions by women* throughout the year while also expanding its activities to: arts education by running projects for youth and teachers; community building by initiating temporary communities which engage in co-creation of art, advocacy by collaborating with different stakeholders and awarding women who are changing our society for the better; and connecting art and culture with other sectors, such as the social, the educational and the business sector. Thanks to the donations of our supporters, we also offer the City of Women – Special Library for Contemporary Arts and Feminism which contains some unique jewels you might want to borrow
Committed to art and critical theory, as well as feminist, queer, gender and postcolonial studies, the association keeps its commitment to the core values of equality, diversity, solidarity and the creation of decent working conditions for women* in the arts. With an intersectional approach, we keep alert to the ways in which gender overlaps with class, race, sexual orientation, physical ability and other nodes of oppression while developing new audiences and encouraging critical thinking, creativity and the acquisition of feminist values through promoting artistic content
We build capacities for women* artists and cultural workers and offer support to artists, from pre– to post production phase. By working against prejudice and stereotypes we are implementing community-driven artistic projects and strengthening social cohesion. We are promoting the work of artists through our offline and online publishing, as well as the Web Museum digital repository.
Since the initiation of the City of Women festival we have collaborated with numerous venues where we have shown the work of invited artists, activists and theoreticians, making Ljubljana a real City of Women each October when our festival takes place. By visiting other towns throughout the years in Slovenia and internationally, many of them have become Cities of Women. We stimulate international cooperation by leading small and large-scale European projects, or participating in them.
Uniting amazing women* from all over the world, the festival offers a unique experience blending great artistic endeavours with inspiring talks. This has been recognized by two very acclaimed international awards; City of Women is the 2019 winner of the prestigious international prize for culture Princess Margriet, awarded by the European Cultural Foundation as well as the EFFE Festival Label awarded three times (2017/18, 2019/21, 2022/23 and 2024/25), which is presented to festivals with an artistic commitment, involvement in their local communities and a European and global outlook by the European Festivals Association (EFA).
The Association for the Promotion of Women in Culture – City of Women also received the 2022 City of Ljubljana Prize for “accentuating the significance of struggles for the equality of women, and thus enriching the City of Ljubljana”. In 2023, we also received the Recognition for Professional Work in the Field of Sociology from the Slovenian Sociological Association for "addressing numerous taboo topics and tackling pressing social issues in an innovative, sometimes provocative manner, while simultaneously advocating for the improvement of working conditions and equal opportunities for all those working in culture and the arts."
