Refurbished Rekovac Culture Centre Carries on the Old Traditions

The Rekovac Culture Centre building dates back to 1948 and was constructed to provide a venue for the cultural activities of the residents of this municipality in the Pomoravski district, locally known as Levač and boasting a claim to be one of the most beautiful areas in this part of Serbia. The culture centre was home to many events and shows that gathered not only the people of Rekovac, but residents of 32 neighbouring villages as well. The building deteriorated with the years and no funds for reconstruction were in sight. Over the previous years, the Culture Centre was almost condemned, but the institution was revived through reconstruction and refurbishment funded by the European Union (EU) through the EU PRO programme.

It has been said that the culture of a people can not survive without the preservation of its tradition and lore. The residents of the municipality of Rekovac have been holding on to their traditions owing to their Culture Centre. After more than 70 years, first time since the institution was constructed, it has regained its former glory and refurbished facilities which will be available to the local populace and the coming generations. 

The people of Rekovac waited a long time to see their Culture Centre reconstructed. The damage to the building itself was visible, from its floors, walls, hallways and toilets. The investment necessary for reconstruction was a sizable one and hence it took a long time to create the conditions for the adaptation of this institution. “The Culture Centre building is practically the only venue where cultural events are held for the entire territory of the Municipality of Rekovac. The roof structure was in very bad shape, it leaked into the theatre, the hall and other rooms where the events would take place. The seats were old and in disrepair and the entire building called for a detailed reconstruction“, Srećko Stanković, advisor in the Rekovac municipal service for local economic development, said and added the following: “This is why we started developing the technical documentation and applied to the public call of the EU PRO programme in order to receive a European Union grant for reconstruction. Owing to this donation, the building got a complete makeover. The roof, and joinery were all changed, the whole building was insulated, while the entire sanitation block was reconstructed. Now our Culture Centre provides adequate conditions to host numerous events that will promote the cultural potential of our municipality and the multitude of talents of our fellow citizens.

The European Union donation to the Rekovac Culture Centre enabled procurement of tables, chairs and cabinets, as well as computer equipment. “There are our associations of women and winegrowers that simply had nowhere to present their work and display their products. This is why we came to the idea of refitting one section of the Culture Centre to that purpose and to provide them with necessary funding and offices for their work, which is exactly what we were able to do with this donation“, Srećko Stanković concluded. The EU invested 72,000 Euros in the reconstruction of the Culture Centre, while the local government participated with nearly 16,000 Euros.

The adapted venue and refurbished Culture Centre now provide the opportunity to increase the scope of the events, exhibitions and many other activities. “Primarily we intend to assist amateur creatives in our municipality, foremost to the work of our Rekovac folk ensemble that uses the Cultural Centre premises, where they rehearse, hold annual performances, organise events and exhibitions. The venue has now been adapted and refurbished so they could go on with their activities unhindered“, Katarina Avramov, Cultural Centre Director said and added: “The thing that makes us most proud of is the fact that our area is a lovely land of good people and that this project contributed to the life of our community. Now that we have all conditions needed to work , I am positive we will successfully continue holding all events and include more and more young people in these activities. By actively including them we intend to motivate them to care about our region themselves and to prevent the brain drain of our youth to major cities while preserving our folk traditions, cultures and customs“.

Reconstruction of the Rekovac Culture Centre is one of the 37 local infrastructure projects supported by the EU in cooperation with the Ministry of European Integration through the EU PRO programme with a total of 4.5 million Euro. The goal of these projects is better quality of people’s lives through improved conditions in sports and cultural institutions, schools and kindergartens, health and social care institutions, and some of them will significantly improve utility infrastructure. 

Through the activities of the EU PRO programme, the European Union contributes to the more balanced socio-economic development of Serbia with a total of 25 million Euros. The programme aims to contribute to increasing the competitiveness of micro and small enterprises, improving the business environment and strengthening social cohesion in 99 local self-government units, in two regions: the Region of Šumadija and Western Serbia and the Region of Southern and Eastern Serbia. The activities in the field are implemented by UNOPS.