Within the framework of the CreArt international project a conference was organized on 7th of February 2013 with the title Network of Cities for Artistic Creation in the marble hall of Harghita County Council. At the conference, Mr. Juan Gonzalez-Posada Martinez, the project coordinator and representant of the Municipal Foundation for Culture (Valladolid City Council), Mr. László Botár, painter and specialist of the CreArt project in Harghita County, the moderator of the conference and Mr. Csaba Borboly welcomed the participants.
Mr. Juan Gonzalez-Posada Martinez expressed his sincere gratitude for Harghita County because it was among the first ones to join the project supporting thus not only the local artists but also the initiative of international cultural collaboration. The project focuses mainly on creativity and art offering a possibility for artists to participate in international experience exchanges, learning best practices, as well as a possibility for building up a network between artists. According to Mr. Juan Gonzalez-Posada Martinez a special attention have to be paid on similar events as the present one is, since without culture Europe would be an empty place, which nobody wants to become a reality.
Mr. Csaba Borboly shortly presented Harghita county for the foreign participants. He said that though a low population density characterizes the county, we dispose of a lot of institutions (among them there are 7 cultural institutions operated in the county), specialists and artists who are deeply concerned in art and cultural issues. The present conference aims not only to learn from other nations acquiring knowledge from each other but to present the artistic side of Harghita County to Europe.
The county council president declared that ‘culture is everbody’s culture, it is a national priority, forming a community and being independent of any political party. At the same time, culture may be the engine of economic and regional development too.’
After the welcome speeches the invited participants of the conference held presentations, namely Dr. Jonathan Vickery, the director of MA Global Media and Communication held a presentation about Cultural and Creative Policies in Times of Scarcity; Mrs. Valentina Montalto, researcher in charge of KEA Regional, KEA European Affairs, Brussels talked about An E-strategy for a Creative Europe; from Romania Mrs. Nicoleta Salcudean, researcher in the Department of Philosophy and lecturer in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at Babes-Bolyai University provided a presentation on Creators nd cultural policies in Europe.
In the course of the afternoon programs of the conference, Mr. László Botár artist and the specialist of the CreArt project offered an overall presentation about the actual situation in Harghita county regarding art and artists. The conference was closed by a round table discussion on the topic of Cities, Cultural Managers and Creators: Necessary Triangle for the Development of the European Creativity “What can we do nowadays in Europe?”, where all the participants were invited to share opinions.
Also within the framework of the CreArt project an art exhibition presenting Harghita county’s artists’ artworks was organized from 6 o’clock pm. at Harghita County Council’s Gallery. These artworks were selected on local level and after a second selection a jury selected those that will be brought to the international exhibition of 2013 organized within the framework of the project CreArt respectively to The Travelling CreArt European Exhibition. The conference was closed by a cultural program entitled Heritage at the ‘Csíki Játékszín’ Theater performed by the Harghita National Sekler Folk Ensemble.
Miercurea Ciuc, 7th of February 2013
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