Representatives of Belarusian Counterculture in Europe

Two large events connected with advance of European culture took place last week. In Romanian Craiova a regular assembly of the European theatre convention took place, while the European Forum Culture Action Europe took place in the capital of Poland. The Belarusian counterculture was represented by the Belarusian Free Theatre at the both events.

The Belarusian topic dominated the both representative forums. And while at the European Theatre Convention’s General Assembly a long period of time was dedicated to the discussion over the project of ETC development proposed by the Belarusian delegation, at Culture Action Europe Forum one of the keenest discussions was a discussion on conditions of existence and survival of Belarusian counterculture.

The European Theatre Convention in fact witnesses its second birth at the moment. Once a closed elitist theatre club, after a well-known French stage director Jean-Claude Berutti was elected president, it has become an effective structure which solves difficult problems on advancing theatre ideas in Europe. For today the ETC is elaborating a number of initiatives which can bring new ideas into Europe’s theatre context and extend communication both between theatres and in the relations “a person - a theatre”. One of the important roles in drawing up these programs is taken by the Belarusian Free Theatre admitted to the ETC almost a year ago.

“We are sincerely thankful that we have admitted the Belarusian Free Theatre to the ETC. Their energy, industriousness and amazing creativity are the keystone of successful development of the European Theatre Convention, and of the dynamic integration of the Belarusian independent theatre community into the European theatre process,” told the president of the Convention Jean-Claude Berutti.

At the General Assembly held in Romania, the Convention has gained one more participant. A German Schauspiel Stuttgart was admitted to the Convention as a 41st member of this prestigious organization.

XV European Forum Culture Action Europe held in Warsaw this year, was a meeting place of most leading European experts in the sphere of culture. The alliance recently officially called European Forum for the Arts and the Heritage unites 5,000 organizations representing the culture of all countries of Europe. This forum’s motto was: Inside Out. Re-imagining cultural action in Europe. Representatives of the European Commission and the Council of Europe, which are not only responsible for culture in these structures, but are actively promoting the idea of a comprehensive dialogue between governments and people of art.

One of the plenary sessions of the forum was dedicated to discussing problems of Belarusian counterculture. A well-known Macedonian dramatist Goran Stefanovski was the leader of the discussion. The speech of the Free Theatre director Natalya Kalyada received a great ovation of the forum’s participants who expressed their support to the be;arusian musicians, artists, actors, writers, stage directors and publishers who are forced to work in the conditions of an underground actually. “The fact that most prominent European experts are discussing the situation in the Belarusian culture is a guarantee that in a short period of time we would be able to enter the cultural space of the united Europe. It’s a pity that in time when the European culture is developing, and governments of the EU countries are making efforts to hold an open dialogue between politicians and the culture, we are continuing to discuss the problems of censorship and prohibited performances, which is a barbarity for the rest of the world,” told Natalya Kalyada commenting on the discussion on the forum.

On the second evening of the forum a presentation of Warsaw as the city claiming the title of the “cultural capital of Europe” 2016. Commenting on this significant event, the art director of the Free Theatre Nikalay Khalezin said: “The struggle of cities for this honorable title has become one of the signs of the enlarging Europe today. Every year two European cities are called “Cultural capitals” of the continent, receiving a possibility not only to get huge funds from the EU budget and develop their cultural infrastructure, but to display their best qualities to Europe. Unfortunately, today’s Belarus is outside this process, losing time, losing chances and, as a matter of fact, remaining in self-isolation”.