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Foundation and activities of Ivan Vazov Cultural Centre
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Background
The city of Madan, created as a centre of the ore-mining industry, attracted people from all over the country, everyone bringing with themselves the traditions and the characteristics of their birthplace. The feeling for a temporary dwelling place, caused by the continuous man-flow, made impossible to achieve any stable results in the intellectual sphere. The building of the former House of Culture has sheltered spontaneous, non-professional initiatives, but they died off with the changes. After ten years of looking for adequate forms to manage the House of Culture and to revive the amateur art activities, Madan public and the institutions concerned came to the idea of setting up a Cultural Centre.
The city of Madan, created as a centre of the ore-mining industry, attracted people from all over the country, everyone bringing with themselves the traditions and the characteristics of their birthplace. The feeling for a temporary dwelling place, caused by the continuous man-flow, made impossible to achieve any stable results in the intellectual sphere. The building of the former House of Culture has sheltered spontaneous, non-professional initiatives, but they died off with the changes. After ten years of looking for adequate forms to manage the House of Culture and to revive the amateur art activities, Madan public and the institutions concerned came to the idea of setting up a Cultural Centre.
Practice
Ivan Vazov Cultural Centre is founded as result of the committed work of an Initiative Group, consisting of representatives of PLD, Madan Municipality, Women s Movement in Madan, other NGOs and citizens. The Initiative Group surveyed the public opinion with regard to the person the Cultural Centre should be named after. The analysis of the data collected showed that the majority of people gravitate towards the personality of the Patriarch of Bulgarian literature Ivan Vazov. The decision to name the Cultural Centre after him was taken and a celebration of Ivan Vazov s 150th anniversary was organised in July 2000.
Ivan Vazov Cultural Centre was registered in court on 1st March 1999 by 103 founders. The Municipality of Madan provided 22 000 BGL to repair the building and granted it to the Cultural Centre to use it for its activities over a ten-year period. A fundraising strategy was discussed at a number of Initiative Group sessions (10 sessions to present besides the founding session). The Centre s bank account started filling up, which gave the Initiative Group confidence to start real action. The Cultural Centre s Board of Trustees decided to raise funds from renting Centre s space to private bars and restaurants. As next step a Secretary was appointed to manage the Centre on a daily basis. 13 people applied for the announced position and interviews were held in two rounds. Aiden Tahirova, with a degree in philology, was chosen for the position of Cultural Centre Secretary.
A programme is developed defining the priority activities that the Cultural Centre should offer. Through a leaflet, published in 500 copies, the citizens were informed about the purpose of the initiative and were called to actively participate in choosing the Cultural Centre activities they would prefer. The leaflet also gave information about who the 103 founders and the Board of Trustees are (Nevena Kukaleva chairperson; Rozalia Kehaiova, Dimitrinka Angelova, Silvia Ivanova and Vesselin Boshnakov members).
Through a second leaflet the results of the needs assessment were made public and the possible activities that the Cultural Centre would offer were listed: journalists club, language courses, dance and folklore groups, computer literacy courses, etc.
The Community Centre in Madan made a successful start. The following initiatives are unfolding at the moment:
The Young Artists Club is regularly exhibiting paintings, graphics and abstract art, received with a considerable interest by the public;
The Piano School frequently appears in public with performances;
The English language courses serves various age groups;
The rock group Failure is warmly welcomed by the young people.
Ivan Vazov Cultural Centre is founded as result of the committed work of an Initiative Group, consisting of representatives of PLD, Madan Municipality, Women s Movement in Madan, other NGOs and citizens. The Initiative Group surveyed the public opinion with regard to the person the Cultural Centre should be named after. The analysis of the data collected showed that the majority of people gravitate towards the personality of the Patriarch of Bulgarian literature Ivan Vazov. The decision to name the Cultural Centre after him was taken and a celebration of Ivan Vazov s 150th anniversary was organised in July 2000.
Ivan Vazov Cultural Centre was registered in court on 1st March 1999 by 103 founders. The Municipality of Madan provided 22 000 BGL to repair the building and granted it to the Cultural Centre to use it for its activities over a ten-year period. A fundraising strategy was discussed at a number of Initiative Group sessions (10 sessions to present besides the founding session). The Centre s bank account started filling up, which gave the Initiative Group confidence to start real action. The Cultural Centre s Board of Trustees decided to raise funds from renting Centre s space to private bars and restaurants. As next step a Secretary was appointed to manage the Centre on a daily basis. 13 people applied for the announced position and interviews were held in two rounds. Aiden Tahirova, with a degree in philology, was chosen for the position of Cultural Centre Secretary.
A programme is developed defining the priority activities that the Cultural Centre should offer. Through a leaflet, published in 500 copies, the citizens were informed about the purpose of the initiative and were called to actively participate in choosing the Cultural Centre activities they would prefer. The leaflet also gave information about who the 103 founders and the Board of Trustees are (Nevena Kukaleva chairperson; Rozalia Kehaiova, Dimitrinka Angelova, Silvia Ivanova and Vesselin Boshnakov members).
Through a second leaflet the results of the needs assessment were made public and the possible activities that the Cultural Centre would offer were listed: journalists club, language courses, dance and folklore groups, computer literacy courses, etc.
The Community Centre in Madan made a successful start. The following initiatives are unfolding at the moment:
The Young Artists Club is regularly exhibiting paintings, graphics and abstract art, received with a considerable interest by the public;
The Piano School frequently appears in public with performances;
The English language courses serves various age groups;
The rock group Failure is warmly welcomed by the young people.
Results
On its first anniversary, Ivan Vazov Cultural Centre is proud of its fruits :
A Christmas show;
Exhibitions of the young artists Ivajlo Georgiev, Tamara Zaneva and Alexander Karabov;
Celebrations of the spring holidays.
A gathering of amateur artists from the region to form a folklore singing group and a small folklore dance group is forthcoming. The celebrations of 24th May and of Ivan Vazov s anniversary are in preparation. It is expected that these events will be attended by a variety of local government institutions, as well as by the wide Madan public, to whom a formal invitation is addressed.
On its first anniversary, Ivan Vazov Cultural Centre is proud of its fruits :
A Christmas show;
Exhibitions of the young artists Ivajlo Georgiev, Tamara Zaneva and Alexander Karabov;
Celebrations of the spring holidays.
A gathering of amateur artists from the region to form a folklore singing group and a small folklore dance group is forthcoming. The celebrations of 24th May and of Ivan Vazov s anniversary are in preparation. It is expected that these events will be attended by a variety of local government institutions, as well as by the wide Madan public, to whom a formal invitation is addressed.
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