SWISS CULTUE FOUNDATION PRO HELVETIA

In 2013, Swiss Culture Foundation Pro Helvetia, after 20 years of presence in Poland, closed its office in Warsaw. Its duties were taken over by Pro Helvetia headquaters in Zurich.

The programme for the closing event of Pro Helvetia Warsaw was focused on the transformations to which culture in Central-Eastern Europe had been subjected since the beginning of 1990s and up until the present day. Pro Helvetia was both a witness to and a participant in these transformations. Under the ZMIANA (Transformation) programme, Swiss involvement in the Central-European cultural transformation was analysed. The participants discussed the best ways to develop cultural relations with countries undergoing a more or less sudden transformation.

Three meetings devoted to the issue of international cultural cooperation were held under a common name KULTURA WOBEC TRANSFORMACJI (Culture and Transformation): “Pomiędzy promocją a pomocą. Jak wspierać kulturę w krajach transformacji ustrojowej?” (Between promotion and aid. How should culture be supported in countries undergoing a political transformation?); “Kultura niezależna i oficjalna w czasie rewolucji: Egipt, Polska” (Independent and official culture in times of revolution: Egypt, Poland) and “Kultura i państwo: Rosja, Polska” (Culture and state: Russia, Poland). A play entitled “Tarab” by dance theatre CIE7273 was staged in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s Nowy Teatr.

SZUSTOW. KULTURA I KOMUNIKACJA developed the programme and the communication strategy for the closing event of the Polish office of Swiss Culture Foundation — Pro Helvetia.

Cooperation period: January–December 2013.