Participation of the Director of the State Institute For Culture in the General Assembly of EUNIC
In the period June 29-30, 2023, the director of the State Institute for Culture under the Minister of Foreign Affairs Snezhana Joveva-Dimitrova took part in the general meeting of the board of directors of EUNIC - Network of Cultural Institutes in the EU, which took place at the Danish Cultural Institute in Copenhagen . The State Institute for Culture has been a full member of EUNIC since June 2021 and since then regularly participates in the annual meetings, where important topics for the future management of the organization and the main strategic plans and new projects are discussed. In addition to her, the intern at the Institute, Kristin Simeonova, who is a student of "Cultural Studies" at SU and actively works on Bulgarian-Danish cultural projects, took part in the working talks and meetings.
The main focus of this year's meeting was climate-related topics and the long-term integration of this issue in the context of cultural activity in the form of cultural diplomacy and exchange carried out by the clusters. Also activation of international cooperation through social dialogue; the construction of a new more effective methodology to achieve the new goals laid down in the EUNIC concept.
Another highlight of the conference was the voting and election by the EUNIC board of directors of a new president. The director of the Danish Cultural Institute, Camila Mordhorst, has been elected as the new president of the organization for the next period, and she will lead the network of 39 cultural institutions. Its main focus will be the cultural exchange between Denmark and Ukraine, as well as the purposeful and strategic cooperation between the Danish Cultural Institute and the other representatives of the EUNIC network. Updates and the creation of new clusters in Colombia and Brazil were reviewed and discussed, as well as the future development of the network.
The Director of the State Institute for Culture held working talks with Dr. Ondrej Cerny, Director of the Czech Centers Worldwide and currently a member of the EUNIC Board of Directors; Monika Virkla, Director of the Swedish Institute, Miroslava Pishova, Directorate of Cultural Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, Maja Slobodanac, Department of Public Diplomacy, International Relations and Culture at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, H.E. Christoph Hohenstein, Director General of International Cultural Relations at the Ministry of European and International Relations; Sarah Keliff, chief expert at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. the representatives from the Swedish Institute - Mrs. Monika Virkala, from the "Adam Mickiewicz" Institute - Mrs. Barbara Krzeska, the Lithuanian Cultural Institute, Mrs. Ruta Nanartavitsuite, as well as Mr. Filipe Montesinos from the Cervantes Institute. Mrs. Yoveva presented some of the projects of the State Institute for Culture and the participation in the EUNIC cluster in Sofia. The participation of the State Institute for Culture in the EUNIC General Assembly in Copenhagen was an important step towards the positioning of the State Cultural Institute as a full-fledged organization, with the potential to be a partner in the field of cultural diplomacy, to work together on projects that bring out a stronger and more sustainable European cultural diplomacy.