I always get a homely feeling when waiting at one of the railway stations in our region or when gazing at the buildings, whether I'm in Graz, Varna or Kaunas. The Conference on Performing Arts focuses on this region of Europe whose shared historical roots - not only from the twentieth century - still invisibly determine the everyday lives of the countries located here. The common heritage is also reflected in the attitudes and reflexes that seem to be somewhat different from their “Western” counterparts. It is enough to consider the witty division of Europe through the widely known “coffee border” (certainly invented in the West), which makes a whimsical analysis of the differences in mentality, primarily on the basis of coffee-drinking habits. 

The aim of the conference is to foster the exchange of experiences in this particular region through learning from each other’s examples or mistakes. At the same time it is also pointedly European striving to transcend the static, and occasionally didactic categorisation of what sometimes seems to be an artificial “North-South” and “West-East” devide. Though highlighting a geographical region as based on the map, the conference wants to avoid the separation of the rich and diversely cross-pollinated cultural heritage of these countries from the ideological system of “Europeanness”, distancing itself from all opinions trying to operate with various “ex”-labels or the exoticism of being “eastern”, while not trying to hide behind the fortress of a counter-identity, - that of an "emerging” region. 

Participating delegates will more than likely have anecdotes to tell about an expert from one or other of the old EU countries considering himself well-prepared, yet talking about new member states even years after their integration exclusively within the dual framework of “globalisation will hit you very hard - but you have great potential for development", regardless of the topic being discussed, enriching his lecture with good solutions to be imported from his own country. There have been much fewer instances of experts encouraging cooperation within the region; the “East-East” tender opportunities put out by the Soros Foundation, most active in the region in the 1990s, can be listed as an example.

After the political changes, some countries in the former Eastern Bloc found themselves sadly -  but, according to some analysts, inevitably - in the blind alley of exclusive nationalism, which in fact never stopped those working in the cultural world from thinking in terms of cooperation and/thus co-production. Although politics has tried to influence even the creative sector occasionally, the kind of competition in trying to flirt with the West, which characterised the government strategies of the countries in the region especially in the phase of preparation for integration, has not been typical in the art scene. The world is making use of the bountiful Central and East European artistic heritage, and so is the region, although I would gladly welcome concert programmes that select exclusively from the "home" source …

Gábor Pálfi