Commission on Culture – its past and present

Since its very beginning in 1993 the UBC Commission on Culture, CoC, has focused on inspiring and coordinating culture and art projects in the Baltic Sea Region. Main spheres has been promotion of contemporary art and artists, diversity of historical and cultural traditions in the Baltic countries, stimulation of new networks, and provision and dissemination of information on cultural activities in the region.

In 1993-2000, the CoC organised or coordinated the following events:

UBC Art & Culture Festivals

• 1993 and 1994 in Kaliningrad (Russia). Folk art, music and handicraft
• 1995 in Szczecin (Poland). Title 'Horizon Line', contemporary visual arts
• 1996 in Szczecin. Title 'Ars Musica', jazz, rock and pop music.
• 1997 in Gdynia (Poland). Classical chamber music.

Working sessions of the Commission on Culture since 1995

• 1995 (Szczecin), Cultural cooperation among the UBC members, resulting in the UBC Catalogue of Cultural Institutions.
• 1996 (Visby), 'Freedom of Expression Information Library' which witnessed the starting point of the UBC Library Network.
• 1996 (Szczecin). The implementation of the new Baltic Art Magazine and establishment of the MARE ARTICUM editorial board
• 1998 (Szczecin), The Choir Music Forum accompanying the 1^st International Choir Festival. The leading theme was 'Choir Music in the UBC Cities - problems and possibilities'.
• 1999 (Kalmar), discussion about possibilities of development of on-going projects, involvement of new CoC members in current and future projects, improvement of networking between the member cities.
• 2000 (Szczecin), election of the new Commission board and discussion of the commission's future strategy.
• 2001 (Espoo & Helsinki) meeting with the topic 'Artistic Education in the Baltic Cities'.

On-going projects co-ordinated by the Commission on Culture:

MARE ARTICUM - the Baltic contemporary visual arts magazine.
Originated in 1996. Since then MARE ARTICUM developed a net of currently 14 associated editors from nine BSR countries. Seven issues has focused on interesting phenomena in the BSR art (artists, events and places). MARE ARTICUM editors initiated a series of exhibitions, seminars and public promotion sessions of the magazine in Szczecin, Gdansk, St. Petersburg, Riga, Stockholm, Visby and Frankfurt a. M.

Baltic Biennial of Contemporary Art

The first two editions were organised in Szczecin in 1995 and 1997, the third edition was on show in Szczecin, Visby and Riga in 1999-2000 under the title N. E. W. S. During its 5 year history, the works of more than hundred artists from all BSR countries have been presented and gained attention of numerous art critics who participated in the accompanying theoretical seminars. The next Biennial will be organised in Oct. 2001.

International Choir Festival

organised since 1998 every second year by Pomeranian Dukes' Castle in Szczecin. Each edition of the festival gathers around 500 participants from the BSR countries and all the world.

In order to encourage the UBC member cities to take an active, a new commission board was elected in June 2000. Beside re-elected Szczecin and Visby, new members are Bergen, Espoo and Tartu.

Election of 5 board cities opens a new chapter in the Commission's activities. The first joint event will be the 5^th annual CoC session, to be held in Espoo and Helsinki, September 8-10, 2001 on the theme 'Artistic Education in the Baltic Cities'

By Slawomir Szafranski
Chairman of the Commission on Culture