From 7 September to 19 October 2013 we were able to participate in dozens of different cultural events in Austria. Most of the events took place in Vienna. Theater performances, meetings with authors, exhibitions and concerts this year attracted a large group of new Poles; the new audience, a lot of new faces , a lot of young people – our new Polish. Most of them did not even know that the Days of Polish Culture is held every year. I hope that many will change after this year’s success of the Polish Days. This event was prepared very carefully, first of all media coverage taken care of for a long time before the start of the Polish Days. The detailed program was distributed electronically to all Polish media, organizations and private individuals. Programs were printed on flyers, posters and invitations in large quantities. The publicity used was social networking sites and care was taken that the information about the events reached the largest possible number of people.
This kind of tactic resulted in a significant increase in attendance at many events. New young Polonia noted, that something positive and interesting was happening in the Polish community, and it happens to be good at the moment. I have heard of several projects involving the creation of new associations, young people who have ideas and enthusiasm. It would be a shame not to use this ideas. I just hope they are not alienated by attacks of several “old-timer, pseudo-social activists, from whom air escapes as from a punctured inner tube, and the only great frustration remains. I deliberately wrote “pseudo – social ” because if someone earns on ” social or community events ” they should not only be called a community worker but a business person. It’s time for new ones!
Praise is deserved by a newly formed association XYZ, which initiated a very successful theatrical performance. The play is based on a script written by Magdalena Marszalkow, journalist, whom you certainly know by her interesting articles in the monthly Polonika … about Polonika, it is worth noting in Polish Days about the organization of several interesting events.
Polish Days could not be held without the organisation of events by Zofia Beklen. Madam President of the Wiener – Krakauer Kultur- Gesellschaft is irreplaceable when it comes to organizing events at a high level.
This time we were able to take part in a concert of three outstanding musicians: Szymon Klima, Joachim Mencel and Adam Kowalewski, who prepared the Jazz arrangements of works by Witold Lutoslawski. An unforgettable experience also was the performance by Tadeusz Kwinta in monodrama ” Where is my Homel ?” and proverbs and songs accompanying Lejzorka Rojtszwańca by Ilya Ehrenburg / Written, directed by: Tadeusz Kwinta.
Photo report from the closing ceremony of the Polish Days: HERE
Photos © Barbara Kalczyńska / Elipsa