New group promotes European culture

British, German and French organisations joined with the cultural sections of the Italian, Dutch and Austrian embassies, and the delegation of Wallonie-Brussels, to sign an agreement here yesterday launching the EU National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC).

The British Council, Germany’s Goethe Institute, and the French cultural organisation L’Espace were among the agencies joining in signing an agreement that makes Viet Nam part of the global EUNIC network.

EUNIC, headquartered in Brussels, has local associations in 53 countries around the world.

“The special thing about the EU is that its 27 member states possess a great wealth of different cultural traditions and an enormous potential of exciting, diverse contemporary cultural trends,” said EUNIC chairman and Wallonie-Brussels delegation head Franck Pezza, at the ceremony yesterday.

Smaller countries would benefit particularly from presenting themselves within a European context, Pezza said.

The interest in a co-operative effort is greater because more is offered to the public, and – precisely because of the comparison – it is more interesting, he added.

“It is appealing for us to present our national cultural scenes – film, music, dance and literature – in context with those of our European neighbours, just as our cultures at home in Europe are inspired and stimulated by our proximity and interaction,” said Goethe Institute director and EUNIC vice chairwoman Almuth Meyer-Zollitsch.

The founders of the new EUNIC chapter have a lot of ideas about how they would like to present the diversity of European culture to Vietnamese audiences, including such initiatives soch as European Dance Days, a Week of European Literature or a Week of European Languages.

The European Music Festival – already a well-established annual event co-organised by several European cultural institutions and embassies, along with the EU delegation – will be held from November 26-December 4 in both Ha Noi and HCM City.

Along with the European Film Festival and European Documentary Film Festival, the music festival was already an established highlight of the cultural calendar in Viet Nam, according to Ngo Phuong Lan, deputy head of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s international co-operation department.

“We hope, with the establishment of EUNIC, there will be more cultural activities which bring the diversity of European culture to Viet Nam and European art closer to Vietnamese audiences,” Lan said. — VNS

Tags: European culture