In the last week of September 2007 a group of students from Poland and Lithuania went for a study trip around south-eastern Poland. The Polish part of the group consisted of students of cultural animation specialization at Institute of Polish Culture, Warsaw University. The aim of the trip was to discover people, places and institutions important for culture of this particular region. The meetings had been planned around the theme of local culture animation but they became much more. It turned out that we set off on a track of lost multiculturality, memory and tradition which are being preserved not only by institutions but also village theatre groups and a collector and local history enthusiast based in the woods of Medynia Glogowska…

We visited:

• Ośrodek Brama Grodzka/Teatr NN (Lublin)
• Ośrodek Praktyk Teatralnych Gardzienice
• Stowarzyszenie Miasteczko (Chełm)
• Tarnogrodzki Dom Kultury
• Muzeum Etnograficzne w Tarnowie
• Malopolski Instytut Kultury

and

• village theatres in Hańsk, Zanowin, Bukowa
• Teatr Przedmieście in Łańcut

In all those places we learned the secrets of local enterprises and found out that cooperation, institutional support and information flow are among the most important ones. Just as passion and courage to set off to make one’s dreams come true. We are hoping that these meetings will become an inspirations for students who are bound to meet similar challenges in the future.

"Katedra Kultury" Assocciation was founded in 1997 by employees, students and graduates of the Institute of Polish Culture. From the beginning of its existence the main activity was to cooperate with the Institute in conducting the Cultural Animation specialization and organizing workshops and internships for students. This cooperation is one of the most important statutory objectives, but the overarching goal of the Association is to promote and support active engagement in society. Therefore it is an equally important objective  to establish a dynamic network of students and graduates of Cultural Animation, to initiate exchange of ideas and information between them. (Read more…)