Together with the The Government of Romania - Department for Interethnic Relations and the Council of Mureș County , the Centre for Interethnic Youth Education Sighisoara (ibz) organises the 16th edition of the Intercultural Festival Sighisoara – ProEtnica 2018.
The disrespect of rights of ethnic minorities has, in the past and present, led to many conflicts and wars.
ProEtnica is in concordance with the principles of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. This framework states that: ”a pluralist and genuinely democratic society should not only respect the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of each person belonging to a national minority, but also create appropriate conditions enabling them to express, preserve and develop this identity”. Further, ”the creation of a climate of tolerance and dialogue is necessary to enable cultural diversity to be a source and a factor, not of division, but of enrichment for each society”.
The European Agenda for Culture in a Globalising World of 2007 states in chapter 3.1: “In order to simultaneously bring our common heritage to the fore and recognize the contribution of all cultures present in our societies, cultural diversity needs to be nurtured in a context of openness and exchanges between different cultures. As we live in increasingly multicultural societies, we need therefore to promote intercultural dialogue and intercultural competences”.
Fully supporting the two legislative texts, the project objectives of ProEtnica are as follows:
1.) ProEtnica offers the national minorities of Romania a forum to express themselves and an opportunity to preserve their cultures as well as it promotes the development of ethno-cultural identities.
2.) ProEtnica promotes intercultural dialogue between as well as artistic interaction of the respective minorities by organising an intercultural festival lasting four days with 600 representatives of the national minorities of Romania attracting 15,000 visitors
3.) ProEtnica promotes Romania as a model state in Europe in terms of protection of national minorities.
The festival includes 30 artistic spectacles from the field of performing arts which can be seen on an open-air stage, 25 interactive performances in front of the stage, 12 presentation and craftsmen booths, an exhibition from the field of visual arts by ten contemporary artists from the national minorities, three screenings of documentaries presenting the national minorities, interreligious and intercultural dialogue from different perspectives as well as workshops that are led by the organisations of the national minorities.
The festival's website and numerous national, regional and local media partners help to promote ProEtnica. The media partners will publish more than 100 reports on all media channels which cover the festival as well as the cultural heritage of the national minorities, the intercultural dialogue and the artistic interaction. After the festival, a catalogue will be published online and printed with 250 copies.
ProEtnica is an instrument which promotes the rights of cultural expression of the national minorities and, at the same time, strengthens cultural dialogue. Thus, ProEtnica contributes to the preservation and creation of the intercultural peace in a pluralistic and democratic society.