Cultural diplomats visit the City of Queens
Veszprém hosted a cultural diplomacy meeting on a grand scale. Directors and cultural attachés of Hungarian cultural institutions from 26 countries of the world, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation visited our city. This concludes the 16-stage presentation series of the Liszt Institute ECoC, but the successful discussions suggest that the cooperation will continue in the second half of 2023 and beyond. In addition to the meeting, they also visited the city and the infrastructure developments of the ECoC programme, such as ActiCity, Foton and the Street Management Programme.
On 7 July, the directors, and cultural attachés of Hungarian cultural institutes from 26 countries around the world, as well as the staff of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, visited Veszprém for the second day of their annual meeting. The cultural experts arrived at 10 am at the Laczkó Dezső Museum, which hosted the morning's events, and were welcomed by Gyula Porga, Mayor of Veszprém, and Gábor Csaba, Deputy State Secretary for Cultural Diplomacy. The Mayor expressed his appreciation for the excellent work of the diplomats in promoting Veszprém and the Bakony-Balaton region abroad and thanked them for their helpful reception of the ECoC colleagues during our series of presentations.
After the welcoming words, Mike Friderika, Director for Programme Development of VEB2023 ECoC, gave a short presentation on our achievements so far, our infrastructure developments and drew the participants' attention to our future programmes. She was followed by Júlia Bucz, our International Relations Manager, who gave a summary of our successful series of presentations at the 16 Liszt Institutes of the ECoC, giving an accurate picture of the process of our presentations and giving a behind-the-scenes look at some exciting moments.
Following the presentations by our staff, the cultural experts held a closed session. They were then invited to the recently opened ActiCity Dance and Movement Centre, where they met with the directors of cultural institutions in Veszprém. This event provided an opportunity for local institutions to network and expand their platforms for cultural cooperation, which could lead to further joint work after the end of the Year.
In the afternoon, we invited our guests to an unmissable sightseeing tour of Veszprém, led by our colleague Hajnalka Márkusné Vörös, Programme Development Advisor, an excellent expert on our city. During the tour, the cultural diplomats and the Ministry staff were able to get to know the history of the city, the different stages of our Street Management Programme, the Castle District, with a special focus on St Michael's Cathedral and the Dubniczay Palace, where they could also visit the current exhibitions.
The last stop of the tour was the newly opened Foton Audiovisual Centre, where the Minister for Regional Development, Tibor Navracsics, welcomed the colleagues from the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, thanking them for their tireless work in promoting our region abroad and sharing his thoughts on the importance of the Year of Culture. At the end of the event, the staff had the opportunity to learn more about the function and history of the Centre.
We also tried to offer something for those who were not tired at the end of this busy day, by inviting the culture professionals to the Mahler: Symphony of Thousands concert in our city, where we were delighted to see a large number of our colleagues still present.
All in all, we had a successful and productive day with the KIM staff. Thank you for the honour of visiting our city and we look forward to seeing you again next time!
