Third event – Zamość, Poland

For the third time we were in Poland, our host was the Zamojskie Voluntary Service Association. The foreign participants arrived to Zamość on the 28^th of August 2015.

On the first day of the event the mayor of the city, Andrzej Wnuk opened the cultural festival on the stage in the main square of the city. After that the local and foreign performers made a parade wearing their traditional costumes. In the afternoon folk dances and songs were performed on the stage and a large concert closed the event. The performers of the festival were the following:

• Choir Ale Cantare, Poland: Polish songs
• “TAMBURINO” group, Poland: Roma songs and dances
• Nagyecsedi Rákóczi Kovács Gusztáv Hagyományőrző Együttes, Hungary: Dances from Szatmár and Mezőség
• Nagyecsedi Gyöngyszemek Hagyományőrző Cigány Együttes, Hungary: Roma dances
• „Teregovița” from Technological Highschool Sfântul Dimitri from Teregova, Romania: Picking blackberries – Romanian songs and dances
• Rakonca Traditional Folkdance Group: Hungarian dances, gypsy dances of Moldova

After the opening ceremony the professionals took part in the conference in the town hall. The conference was opened by the vice mayor Magdalena Dołgan. The representatives of the municipality and the local institutes (family care center, Grabowiec local cultural center, cultural institutions of Lubelskie Region), and the representatives of the partner organisations and towns took part of the event.

The presentations introduced the situation of the Roma people in the Lubelskie Region and good practices from the partner countries:

• Ewa Koper (Poland), Majdanek National Museum, historian: Roma extermination in Bełżec death camp
• Agnieszka Caban (Poland), editor, cultural studies expert: Roma people in Lubelskie region – Cultural heritage of social problem
• Halina Rycak (Poland), daily centre for family care, social worker: Situation of Roma people in Zamośc, living conditions of Roma people from social workers’ perspective.
• Interview with Andrzej Kaznowski and Vanessa Kaznowska (Roma citizens of Zamość)
• Elemer Szentpetery (Hungary), president of Association Co-Efficient, 'Tanoda' Programme in Hungary
• Nistor Iorga (Romania), Asociatia Nevo Parudimos, project manager: ‘Second Chance, a new Chance’ Educational opportunities

On the second day of the event (30/08/2015) the partners took part in workshops in the voluntary centre of the Polish partner:

• Puppet workshop (Janina Lachowska theatre expert of ‘Drukarnia wyobraźni’ Association): the participants acted the tale ‘Red Riding Hood’. The main aim of the workshop was to show the theatrical methods in the work with local society and minorities.
• Partner workshop (Daniel Grebeldinger, Asociatia Nevo PArudimos): The main aim of the workshop was to present effective methods of the cooperation between partners on international level.
• Roma dancing workshop (Szilvia Erősné Balogh, Vazdune Cherhaja Rising Stars Roma Women’s Association): The main aim of the workshop was to present the dance as an integrative method in the work with minorities.

In the afternoon the participants visited the tourist attractions of the town. The visitors were impressed by the fortified town, which was built by Italian architects and is also known as “city of arcades” or “Padua of North”. The presentation about Bełżec and more than 11 000, including Roma, Sinti Jewish people who were killed there, has had a huge impact on the attendances. One of the results of the project was, that a Roma dance group could make a show on the stage of the city festival at the first time.

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Presentations