12 culture news headlines from 6 countries in March
Armenia
Tim Williams: flexibility is necessary for successful cultural project. In an interview with civilnet.am, Tim Williams, Team Leader of the EU-EaP Culture and Creativity Programme, noted that there are many good ideas in the air—but only few of them are being implemented. He stressed that the best ideas are always flexible. “30% of small businesses are being transformed only twelve months after the launch. It happens due to market’s demand. The same process happens with creative ideas,” Williams emphasized. civilnet.am
Medieval treasures of Armenian culture were displayed in Kyiv. Exhibition entitled “The Armenian Book in Ukraine: The 400-year History” was opened on 1 March at Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. Unique documents proving friendly bonds of the Armenian and Ukrainian people were presented to the public for the first time. Panorama.am
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani film European premiere was held in the European Parliament. Premiere of the film “Ali and Nino” brought together more than 200 people, including MEPs, representatives of European civil society, members of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Belgium, public and political figures. The film tells the story of love between two young people of different religions amid Azerbaijan’s fight for independence in early 20th century. Аzertag.az
Baku Jazz Festival joined Europe Jazz Network. This network brings together 115 members from 34 countries. Europe Jazz Network is a Europe-wide association of producers, presenters and supporting organisations who specialize in creative music, contemporary jazz and improvised music created from a distinctly European perspective. Today.az
Belarus
Belarusian writer: in Belarus, literary subjects are just lying under our feet. Alhierd Baharevitch, writer and opinion journalist, stressed in a conversation with the EU-EaP Culture and Creativity Programme that the most interesting thing in literature today is the possibility of seeing a contemporary protagonist who walks the same streets, coming across places familiar to the reader. In his opinion, people living in an unfree society have many more topics for conversation than those in free ones. That’s what makes them such an interesting literary subjects, Baharevitch emphasized. EU-EaP Culture and Creativity Programme
Georgia
European artists exhibit contemporary culture works in Tbilisi. An exhibition called “Contemporary Design and the Power of Convention” will showcase over 140 works from all over the Europe. The exhibition is situated in Tbilisi History Museum starting from 15 March. Agenda.ge
Georgian pianist won six prizes at international competition in France. Ana Kipiani triumphed at France’s annual Piano Campus International Competition by taking the silver prize. The competition is designed for young upcoming artists aged from 18 to 25 in order to support their career in music. Newsgeorgia.ge
Moldova
Moldova’s representative participated in Council of Europe culture committee meeting. Andrei Chistol, State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, attended the meeting of the Steering Committee for Culture, Heritage and Landscape of the Council of Europe. In course of the meeting, Chistol listed the activities planned by Moldova’s government for 2017. Moldova’s Ministry of Culture
Fifty first issue of international music festival took place in Moldova International Music Festival "Martisor," which took place in in Chisinau, welcomed visitors from 1 till 10 March. Monica Babuc, Moldova’s culture minister, noted that this traditional festival brings to audience famous national artistic collectives, which provides a huge boost to the development of Moldova’s traditional culture. Representatives of diplomatic corps accredited in Chisinau visited the festival as well. Moldpres.md
Ukraine
Platfor.ma named international cultural partnerships which succeeded. EU-EaP Culture and Creativity Programme organised a study tour to Poland for six culture managers form the Eastern Partnership countries. The participants planned and successfully implemented common projects with their Polish colleagues. Ragnar Siil, the expert of the EU-EaP Culture and Creativity Programme, commented on the event noting the utmost importance of international partnerships in culture sphere. “Such partnerships enrichen our own experience and help us to understand a broad picture,” he emphasized. Platfor.ma
Culture expert: Ukraine perceived as victim because culture not funded enough. Olena Zhuk, former head of culture diplomacy department at Ukraine’s foreign ministry, stressed this in an interview for Ukrayinska Pravda. She noted that the department has been receiving no funding for developing new projects and strategies—only the ones previously established were funded. She harshly criticized the actions of Ukrainian government aimed at saving money at the cost of cultural diplomacy development. Zhuk warned against repeating the same mistake in 2017. Ukrayinska Pravda
Ukraine launches country's first-ever National Film Awards. The award is organised along the lines of world-class events such as the Britain's BAFTAs or Hollywood's Academy Awards, UNIAN news agency writes with reference to The Hollywood Reporter. Nominees for the National Film Awards will compete for a Golden Dziga, the top prize. Winners in more than 14 nominations will be chosen by a jury from the Ukrainian Film Academy. UNIAN
