14 culture news headlines from 6 countries in December
Armenia
Armenian participants won awards at Christmas singing competition in Minsk. Lusine Makaryan and Tigran Ohanyan have represented Armenia at 3rd Minsk International Christmas Singing Competition. Lusine Makaryan was awarded the Diploma of Honor, while Tigran Ohanyan has been named the winner being awarded with Grand Prix of the prestigious competition which featured 120 singers from 16 countries.Panorama.am
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan took part in 11th session of Intergovernmental Committee of UNESCO. Sevda Mammadaliyeva, Azerbaijani deputy culture and tourism minister, has participated in the event. She held discussions with member countries of the World Heritage Committee on including the city of Shaki to UNESCO Heritage List. Azertag
Expert in communication listed the ideal components of communication campaigns. Andriy Kulakov, Program Director at Internews Ukraine, stressed the importance of setting the clear goals for every communication campaign. He also noted that one should analyze the field to discover the problems—and then decide whether these problems are his or her to deal with. The most important thing further down the road is to choose methods which suit this specific campaign the best, according to Kulakov. Vesti.az
Belarus
Belarusian festival organizers told about problems and the reaction of locals. Organizers noted that one of the biggest problems is ticket prices—people who live outside of Minsk often do not have enough money to visit festivals. However, according to producer Vladimir Shablinskiy, organizers are mostly oriented on locals and therefore have to put prices as low as possible to barely cover the expenses. Artur Klinov, writer and artist, stressed that festivals should not be concentrated in capital, but to be scattered around the country. He called this process “cultural decentralization” and stressed its importance for today’s Belarusian culture. Tut.by
Media breakfast with EaP Culture and Creativity Programme took place in Minsk. On 22 December, Belarussian journalists had an opportunity to take part in the event “Business and culture. Why is it profitable to support culture projects?” A number of successful Belarusian culture project managers and businessmen took part in the event as speakers. Press Club Belarus
Works of contemporary artists from 25 countries went on show in Minsk. International exhibition of contemporary art “From Lisbon to Vladivostok through Minsk” features more than 80 works of contemporary artists. The project was initiated by the Belarusian embassy in France to mark the Year of Culture in Belarus. The exhibition will stay open till 5 February 2017. BelTA
Georgia
Georgian filmmaker receives France’s top culture medal. George Ovashvili has joined a list of recipients of France's top civilian award after he was decorated with the country's Order of Arts and Letters. The honour was bestowed upon the film director in recognition of his contribution to the French and international arts, based on a decision by France’s culture minister Audrey Azoulay. Agenda.ge
Tbilisi’s Theater and Music Exhibition Hall named among top cultural buildings of 2016. According to Georgian Journal, Tbilisi’s unusual and modern exhibition hall comes first in the list of Designboom, world's first digital architecture and design magazine. The building was created by Italian architecture studio Fuksas. Georgian Journal
Moldova
Moldova, Romania signed an agreement on cooperation in film industry. According to the Agreement, National Centre of Cinematography (CNC) in Moldova and National Centre of Cinematography (CNC) in Romania will implement more mutual projects and share the experience. Valeriu Jereghi, CNC director, pointed out that this was the first agreement signed by CNC with similar institution abroad. Moldpres
Moldovan short film won at Balkan New Film Festival. “Paparuda” by Lucia Lupu was named as the best in “Short Film” category. The film was created with the support of Moldova’s Ministry of Culture as part of the «Întoarcere la Moldova-Film» project. Locals.md
Ukraine
Ukraine and Italy discussed cooperation in cultural sphere. Yevhen Nyshchyk, Ukraine’s culture minister, and his counterpart Dario Franceschini delved into such issues as common cultural projects, renovation sphere and protection of cultural heritage. Ukraine’s representation at 57-th Venice Biennale was also looked into. Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture
Podium discussion on reforming the theatre sphere took place in Kyiv. The main issue on the agenda was the future of the independent theatres. The participants agreed that state perceives such theatres as tax evaders and aggressive competitors to state-owned theatres. Anastasiya Gayshenets, theatrical critic, argued that such treatment should be changed, as it might push independent theatres from Ukraine, and in this case state-owned theatres would stagnate. LB.ua
The EU launched a contest for piloting Creative Towns and Regions Initiative. The EU-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme invited small and medium sized towns in the six Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) to express their interest in piloting Creative Towns and Regions Initiative. Selection of pilot towns and regions will be carried out by a panel consisting of the Initiative Expert, Country Coordinator of the EU-EaP Culture and Creativity Programme and a representative of the respective culture ministry. Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture
Ukrainian writer proposed to create a title of honourable Ukrainian culture consular. Andriy Kurkov noted that conflict with Russia increased Europe’s interest to Ukraine as whole and to Ukrainian culture in particular. Therefore, according to him, it is vital to use this opportunity to promote Ukraine’s culture. He stressed the importance of introduction of the title of honorable Ukrainian culture consular, which would be granted to those who promote Ukraine around the world and would help to keep in touch with them. Glavcom
