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Description
Being the oldest cultural institute of post-liberation Bulgaria and the largest public library in the country, St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library is a repository for the culture and history of the nation, an integral part of which is the contribution of cultural and ethnic minorities. Guided by its role of a cultural institute of national value with broad public functions, defined in the Public Libraries Act and the Mandatory Deposit of Printed and Other Works Act, the National Library initiates this project proposal with the ambition to contribute to the social cohesion between ethnic groups in Bulgaria on the basis of interethnic cultural cohesion. The project proposal focuses on the cultural heritage of the Roma ethnic minority, interweaving the participation of other two minority groups within the Bulgarian society - Jews and Armenians, in order to show the "coexistence" of minorities’ cultures, together with the Bulgarian culture. Pursuing these goals, the project includes series of events in the National Library, aimed, on the one hand, at promoting the cultures of the covered minorities (with a focus on Roma) and, on the other hand, at involving their representatives in cultural and educational activities. The project proposal integrates a Bulgarian-Icelandic partnership with the The Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding at the University of Iceland, holding the initiative “Roma in the Centre”, uniting several Romani Studies related projects. Two Bulgarian partners are involved in the project. Sun-1879 Community Center in the town of Ihtiman unites the efforts of a group of students from the local Roma community around an initiative for studying of the Roma cultural presence at local level, and raising the awareness of the local communities on this topic. New Opportunities Association presents the diversity of Roma culture at a three-day Days of Roma Culture festival in a remote, Roma-populated area.
Summary of project results
The projet''s goal is to promote minority culture among minorities and the majority by holding events, publishing works and providing educational activities for school-age children from minority ethnic groups, as well as to promote the role of the National Library of St. St. Cyril and Methodius as a repository for the cultural and literary heritage of minority groups in Bulgaria.
The project included setting up a traveling exhibition of children''s drawings that sends the message of ethnotolerance. The activity called “Ethnocafe” draws a parallel with a popular meeting place for artists – writers, artists, composers – the so-called “Armenian Cafe” in Sofia at the beginning of the 20th century. The Ethnocafe included holding 8 events that provided a platform for artists and authors of research on topics related to the origin, history, traditions, customs, holidays and prominent figures of the Roma, Jewish and Armenian ethnic minorities. The International Center for Multilingual and Intercultural Understanding Vigdís participated in the project by providing its material on the history of Roma literature, for translation into Bulgarian, publication and presentation in Bulgaria. The author of the material is a long-time researcher of Bulgarian origin of Roma history and culture – Sofia Zahova, who is part of the team of the Vigdís Center in Reykjavik. The project included publishing a bibliographic index - a catalog of the publications stored in the National Library''s collection related to the Roma, Jewish and Armenian ethnicities, also of a reference book "Who''s Who in the Armenian Community in Bulgaria - Cultural, Art and Scientific Figures", as well as the creation of the “Native Land” club in the “Sun-1879” Community Center in the town of Ihtiman, which has its own traditions in working with the Roma community. Children and adolescents from local schools and often their parents were actively involved in the variety of events and initiatives.
The project managed to involve representatives of minority groups in cultural and educational activities both in the National Library and outside the urban centre and in small settlements in the Sofia region and successfully promoted inter-ethnic cohesion on the basis of improved knowledge of Roma, Jewish and Armenian culture.
Summary of bilateral results
The Vigdís Centre participated in the project by publishing and presenting to the Bulgarian audience material dedicated to the history of Roma literature. The cooperation between the Bulgarian National Library and the Vigdís Centre includes the provision of digitized materials from the collection of Roma publications from the National Library collection, which present Roma literature in Bulgaria and further enrich the publication on the history of Roma literature being prepared by the partner. The publication will be promoted in both Bulgaria and Iceland, which will help its dissemination in both countries. In addition to the book version, the publication will be freely available in electronic format - Open Access with Creative Commons permission. Access to the electronic format of the entire publication will be provided on the National Library website and the Vigdís Centre. Through the Bulgarian-Icelandic partnership, the project aims not only to present the significant contribution of Roma culture to Bulgarian literature, but also to establish a lasting mechanism for cooperation between educational and cultural institutions from both countries.