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This year, the International Festival “In the Footsteps of Singer” visited fifteen cities and towns in the Lublin region. The event evokes the Jewish heritage of the town immortalized by the Nobel award-winning writer in his short stories. It also creates opportunities for building bonds and deepening relationships with other communities based on cultural activities and common historical heritage.

Since 2011, in mid-July, the Festival travels from city to city. Through artistic activities, it evokes memories, teaches, and entertains. The first city on route of this year’s edition was Łęczna. Then the artists visited Lubartów, Bychawa, Piaski, Chełm, Krasnystaw, Goraj, Stary Dzików, Biłgoraj, Kraśnik, Józefów, Szczebrzeszyn, Janów Lubelski, Krasnobród. The festival ended on July 25 in Lublin.
The organizers invited the audience to a joint performative reading of the book “The Magician of Lublin”, led by Witold Dąbrowski. This novel and the personal memories of Izaak Bashevis Singer were also an inspiration for an outdoor theatre performance directed by Arkadiusz Ziętek, and performed by the ensemble made of artists from Argentina, Croatia, Ukraine, and Poland. The show combines music and elements of dance, juggling, hula-hoop, fire show, circus, and clowns.
The participants watched documentary films: “The Bevel of Light” and “Reading Sienkiewicz in the Negev Desert”. The protagonist of the second picture is Alex Danzig, born and raised in Poland, who emigrated with his parents to Israel in 1959. The film tells the story of Alex’s mission, which was to introduce Polish culture and history to the young generation of Israelis. In October 2023, he was kidnapped, along with a group of other residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz, by Hamas fighters. In recent days, information about his death has been confirmed.
The organizer of the International Festival “In the Footsteps of Singer” is the “Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre” Center in Lublin. The event is created in cooperation with local governments and cultural institutions.

Representatives of the “Węglin” Community Cultural Centre visited Slovenia on a study visit related to preparing the project “Cultural Center: towards accessibility”. The project is being prepared in the bid framework for the European Capital of Culture 2029.

The group visited cultural and local government institutions in three cities: Ljubljana, Rogaska Slatina, and Koper-Capodistria. They assessed the architectural and communication adaptation of the institution as well as the facilities related to the program and exhibitions. The institutions visited included: the National Gallery in Ljubljana, National Museum in Ljubljana, Gallery of Contemporary Art, City Hall and the historic Town Hall (with exhibitions on the history of Ljubljana’s institutions), Cankarjev Dom Cultural Center, Ljubljana Castle Museum, Regional Museum in Koper, and institutions in Rogaska Slatina. Representatives also visited AKC Metelkova mesto (independent cultural centre) and a participatory exhibition organized by the Youth Center in Ljubljana. In Rogaska Slatina, they met with representatives of the local government, the local cultural centre (which operates 7 facilities in the commune), and the University of the Third Age. During the visit, the concept of creating a platform for cooperation and exchange of experiences was presented. Its idea is to create a group of cultural institutions that would launch several activities focused on the availability of cultural centres with similar goals and operating models. All parties expressed their intention to participate in the platform and declared to promote its operation among the Slovenian institutions.Based on preliminary talks with specialists in the field of accessibility, the platform would be an opportunity to promote good practices, including legislative ones in Slovenia.

In May and June, representatives of the “Węglin” District Cultural Centre visited Berlin in connection with the preparation of the “Object/Subject”
Conversations with various institutions, theatres, and artists concerned future substantive partnerships and participation in events planned in Lublin, including the bid for the European Capital of Culture 2029.

The largest institution that joined the partnership is Schaubude Berlin – a city theatre organizing one of the largest European subject theatre festivals – Theater der Dinge. Theatre and festival director Tim Sandweg and co-organizer Silke Haueiss expressed their willingness for substantive cooperation and exchange of experiences within the partnership and proposed artistic recommendations tailored to activities in Lublin.
Another institution that has declared its willingness to join the network being built is TATWERK Performative Forschung. Aurora Kellermann – co-founder and artistic director of the theatre, presents events outside the institution and works with performing artists at the crossroads of disciplines.
As part of the study visits, the representative established contact with the Merlin Theater, whose latest project, carried out in Iceland, involves using materials and objects found on the island to create a new performance. The theater itself has a well-established position in the visual theatre community and produces its performances.

Links:
https://schaubude.berlin/en
https://theaterderdinge.com/
https://tatwerk-berlin.de/en/

Lublin / Re:Union – Marta Ryczkowska

The European Capital of Culture is a brand that has as many definitions as there are candidate cities in this almost 40-year-old competition. Each of the cities that held the title perceives it differently, from the perspective of its challenges, and plans for the future. Lublin is competing under the motto Re:Union, is richer in experience and the legacy of the process from 2011. The concept refers both to the Union of Lublin as a peaceful union of states, and to the European Union. In 2029, 25 years will have passed since Poland’s accession to the EU structures, which is a reason to reflect on the community and democratic values.
The key concept of the Lublin candidacy is reunification. Re:Union refers to the renewed dialogue of countries, the interpenetration of cultures, integrating diversity within one city and region, repairing broken ties with nature, and cultivating relationships with others, and oneself. The most important part of the Lublin bid is the process of recovering and generating connections. It is an difficult task in a polarized world and a divided community.

As part of the bid for EcoC, the team preparing the application takes care of development, internal networking, and joint reflection on the city in times of changes and crises. One of the activities was the establishment of the Cultural Union of the Lublin Metropolitan Area, covering the entire region in preparations for the ECoC. The expanded team is working on its models of city development, and new qualities of cultural policies. Another body that was established is the Consortium of Lublin Cultural Operators. It has been supporting the curatorial team in preparing the application program. The Consortium of Lublin Non-Governmental Organizations was also established. It takes care of the development of non-institutional culture in the context of the ECoC. An Academic Union was established between public and private universities in Lublin. The Business Union was also signed, a declaration of cooperation between the most important companies and enterprises in the Lublin region for the European Capital of Culture 2029. It intends to work together on the quality of cultural life in the city through the synergy of business and culture. The agreements are unique formats initiating joint activities that have not had a chance to exist in Lublin so far. The idea of Re:Union assumes both internal networking, related to environments and areas of urban activity, external networking, related to more dynamic functioning in the international arena. We are committed to defining a long-term European vision of local development through culture and creativity. Networks are the essence of European cooperation, the lifeblood of its culture. In the application process, Lublin joined Culture Next, a network of over 30 ECoC cities financed by European funds. Based on the experiences, processes, and collaborations established during the ECoC bid, the network, supports all cities in implementing culture-based local development programs and policies. Culture Next is also a commitment to ensuring the lasting impact and significant legacy of the ECoC program. As part of the network Lublin works with PolyLoop, a pilot project for monitoring and evaluating ECoC cities created by a British technology start-up. PolyLoop supports Culture Next in benchmarking the collective impact of member cities and harmonizing a set of indicators that can be aligned with the European Union and UN Sustainable Development Goals. Thanks to this, it is possible to examine the translation of EU guidelines into the operation of cities. Lublin also joined IETM, the largest and oldest network bringing together institutions and people professionally involved in broadly understood performing arts. We want Lublin to become a workplace of the most important artistic networks in 2029, to be able to enrich the program of urban activities with residencies, showcases, sessions, debates, and other manifestations of co-thinking and cooperation.

Re:Union is continuous work in the spirit of community regeneration. Strong relationships, awareness of one’s limitations, the need to support the grass-roots, independent culture of the city, and stimulating the residents in constant dialogue become key.

The article was published in the magazine Lubelski Informator Kulturalny ZOOM (7-8/2024).