ART NOUVEAU project officially took off! The Kick-off event of project was organized in Vienna, at the premises of the MAK Museum, on the 7th of March. After Mr Thun-Hohenstein, director of MAK Museum, had welcomed the participants and opened the event, Ms Ana-Maria SCHOBER, the national contact point of Danube Programme in Austria, and Ms Adriana LIPOVEANU project manager on behalf of Oradea Municipality, the Lead Partner of the project, greeted the participants.

Experts from all participating countries attended the event. After a general presentation of the project, the experts from a wide variety of related fields - art historians, architects, urban planners, tourism and IT specialists - engaged in lively discussions structured into four working groups. During the work in groups, the experts discussed the foreseen actions, relevant, best and up-to-date practices in their field of expertise, analysed possible obstacles and proposed solutions for them. The event presented a great opportunity to re-examine and refresh the content of the project as well as refine the approaches and methodologies to efficiently implement professional activities, such as:

• Development of a digital repository of the Art Nouveau heritage in the Danube Region (coordinator Mr Franc ZAKRAJŠEK– Urban Planning Institute of Republic of Slovenia)
• Elaboration of a strategic document for the preservation and promotion of Art Nouveau heritage in the Danube Region (coordinator Ms Irina IAMANDESCU – National Institute of Heritage Romania)
• Elaboration of a study on the restauration of Art Nouveau building decorations (coordinator Mr Zsombor JÉKELY – Museum of Applied Arts Budapest)
• Elaboration of a study on urban planning and its influence on preserving Art Nouveau (coordinator Ms Vlasta VODEB – Urban Planning Institute of Republic of Slovenia)

A technical meeting of the partnership preceded the Kick-off event. At the meeting, the tasks related to project implementation were elaborated and agreed upon and the workplan for the upcoming months was detailed.

Following the Kick-off event, the partnership is working with renewed élan on activities which will revive Art Nouveau jewels in the Danube region.