For more than four decades Prilep has not received a monumental sculpture. This year it will get several - and, more importantly, they will not end up in a gallery.

The eighteenth "Marko Cepenkov" - Dren art colony is focused this year on creating monumental sculptures, and the municipality has provided it with financial support for the first time.

"We build Prilep with infrastructure, and we bring it to life with culture, ideas and works that leave a trace," said mayor Dejan Prodanoski.

The difference is the space

Here is the part worth separating out from the usual press-conference rhetoric. According to Prodanoski, the works will not stay in gallery space but will be installed in public space - in the everyday life of the people of Prilep.

A sculpture in a gallery is seen by those who walk in. A sculpture on a square is seen by everyone who passes, every day, whether they want to or not. That is the difference between a line item in a culture budget and something that genuinely changes how a town looks.

The work is taking place in premises provided by the tobacco combine, and Prodanoski thanked the artists, the Culture Centre, the organisers and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

"What we are creating today is a legacy that will remain for future generations," he said.

The sentence is exactly what an opening speech is expected to produce. Whether it turns out to be accurate will depend on something nobody says at press conferences: who maintains the sculptures in ten years, and whether a municipality that has funded the colony for the first time will fund it the next time too.