ZAGREB, November 22, 2019 - Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek presented the priorities of the Croatian EU presidency relevant to her department at a meeting of the EU Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council in Brussels on Thursday.

Speaking to the Croatian press after the meeting, she said that during its EU presidency in the first half of next year Croatia would organise a conference on risk management in the conservation of cultural heritage.

"It is an important topic in the context of climate change and other risks to heritage. What has been going on in Venice in the last few days shows how important that is," Obuljen Koržinek said, referring to the flood threatening Venice.

Croatia will also organise a conference on media literacy, in late March or early April. "That is a topic for the future, how to teach young generations to use the media and social networks, to behave responsibly and become resilient to fake news," the minister said.

Also discussed during the Croatian EU presidency will be mobility in the cultural and creative sector.

Croatia has prepared a varied cultural programme that will be presented in the EU member states and other countries in the first half of 2020.

"The programme provides a very good overview of our rich heritage as well contemporary artistic content, including music, theatre and exhibitions. I believe we will use these six months well to bring Croatian culture closer to the public across the EU and in Brussels," Obuljen Koržinek said.

More culture news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, November 19, 2019 - Croatian Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek addressed the 40th session of the UNESCO General Assembly in Paris on Monday, saying that on November 18 Croatia was paying tribute to the victims of the Homeland War in Vukovar, Škabrnja and elsewhere in the country and stressing that it was important to promote peace and tolerance as well as all values promoted by UNESCO.

Obuljen Koržinek said that Croatia supported the initiatives launched by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. She cited efforts being invested by Croatia in strategic reform and financial consolidation, adding that she expected progress in implementing measures aimed at ensuring freedom of speech and safety for journalists, the Culture Ministry said in a statement.

Obuljen Koržinek said that Croatia was committed to sharing its experience from the post-war reconstruction of cultural heritage and that it would support UNESCO's efforts in rebuilding the Iraqi city of Mosul.

She said that Croatia continued to promote education on the arts and cultural heritage through UNESCO's World Heritage in Young Hands project. She recalled that as part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the Croatian UNESCO delegation hosted a European youth forum which brought together young professionals to promote education on world heritage.

The minister said that through the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar, Croatia was strongly promoting the ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.

She announced that next year, during its presidency of the Council of the European Union, Croatia would host a conference on risks in the management of world heritage properties, at which initiatives and projects by different organisations, including UNESCO, would be presented.

Obuljen Koržinek is also to attend a forum of culture ministers scheduled for November 19, which will discuss the contribution of culture to achieving sustainable development goals.

More news about Croatia and UNESCO can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, November 1, 2019 - The opera titled "Nikola Šubić Zrinski", written and composed by Ivan Zajc in 1876, which will be performed by the Croatian National Theatre (HNK) in Zagreb on Saturday (2 November), will be live-streamed on the OperaVison platform in parallel to a global audience.

Thus, this opera which the platform describes as "Zajc's patriotic opera" will be available to millions of viewers.

The platform that promotes opera music informs viewers that this Croatian opera "retells the story of Nikola Šubić Zrinjski’s daring leadership and heroic sacrifice during the real-life Siege of Siget."

"Packed with powerful music – including the rousing male chorus ‘U boj, u boj!’ – it has held a treasured place in the Croatian repertoire ever since its wildly successful premiere in 1876."

Saturday's rendition in the HNK will be under the baton of maestro Nikša Bareza.

This opera will be available at this website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBTlXPAfOx300RZfWNw8-qg until May next year.

More culture news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 31, 2019 - The programme for the "Rijeka - European Capital of Culture 2020" project was presented in that Croatian seaport on Wednesday evening, and next year, there will be over 600 cultural events including concerts exhibitions, plays and other activities and 250 artistic projects in that Adriatic city, which is one of the two European capital cities next year.

The official start of the programme that is being held under the slogan "The Port of Diversity" is on 1 February to coincide with the Rijeka Carnival.

Some of the exhibitions will include an exhibition of the works by Gustav Klimt and an exhibition on Rijeka's past.

Opera stars Karita Mattila and Elina Garanča will also give concerts in Rijeka.

Mayor Vojko Obersnel said that Rijeka would present itself in the best light, describing Rijeka as a city open to everybody.

The European Capital of Culture is an initiative designed to highlight the richness and diversity of the artistic development of European cities as well as the common cultural features as a way of contributing to bringing European nations closer and enhancing their mutual understanding. Every year a city in two EU countries each is designated the European Capital of Culture and in 2020, along with Rijeka, the title is also be awarded to Galway, Ireland.

More Rijeka news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 25, 2019 - The cultural industry does not exist merely to entertain the public but is an important economic factor and driver of innovations, Belgium's Ambassador to Croatia Nicolaas Buyck said opening the b.creative conference on the creative industries on Friday in Zagreb.

That just goes to show that we are not always aware that the creative industry exists and that cultural and artistic talent are not just to entertain the public but are also an important economic factor that one can live off, he said.

The diplomat said that in Belgium the cultural industry does not only contribute to the economy but is also a driver of innovation and contributes to developing an engaged society.

He added that children are stimulated to be creative, however, when it comes to their future, their parents want them to become lawyers, doctors or managers and if children express a desire for some creative direction, their parents often are not too enthusiastic about that.

President of the Croatian Cluster of the Creative and Cultural Industry (HKKKKI) Ivana Nikolić Popović said that it was exceptionally important to protect human dignity in "today's simply capitalistic wilderness," and that it is exceptionally important to nurture, monitor, develop and stimulate the creative and cultural industry.

The Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) president, Luka Burilović, said that companies and the state can be today divided into those who have realised the importance of creativity and those who rely on mass production and consumerism.

"We want creativity to be the foundation of our economy and to be recognisable in the world as a country of innovation and the creative, cultural industry will certainly have an important role in that," Burilović underscored.

He explained that the creative industry in the European Union comprises as many as 353 industries that created almost 30 percent of all jobs in the EU from 2014 to 2016.

He added that of a total of 216 million people employed, 63 million are employed in the creative industry.

"That industry in Croatia employs more than 124,000 people, mostly highly-educated, qualified people and that is why salaries in those industries are noticeably higher compared to other industries," said Burilović.

More culture news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 16, 2019 - Serbian Culture Days in Croatia opened in Zagreb on Tuesday and will be held until November 2, in Zagreb, Rijeka and Opatija, including lectures, exhibitions, concerts, book launches, theatrical performances and films.

The event, organised by the Prosvjeta Serbian Cultural Society and held under the auspices of Croatia's National Minorities Council, was opened by Council president Aleksandar Tolnauer, who said the Council was backing it also financially as Prosvjeta was a very important Serb organisation in Croatia with a long tradition.

Serb National Council president Boris Milošević said Serbian Culture Days in Croatia helped the visibility of the entire community as well as of Prosvjeta, Serbs' biggest and most important cultural and educational organisation.

"That's especially important today because we often have, in cultural circles as well, attempts to erase Serbs' contribution, and Croatian culture, culture in Croatia, wouldn't be what it is today, wouldn't be right, without this contribution by Serbs in Croatia. That's why I'm glad we have Serbian Culture Days," said Milošević.

Prosvjeta vice president Siniša Tatalovic said Serbian Culture Days in Croatia was the central manifestation not only of Prosvjeta but the Serb community as well.

More news about Serbs in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 15, 2019 - The decision by the Swedish Academy to award the Nobel Prize for Literature for 2019 to Austrian writer Peter Handke is contrary to the original idea of the Nobel Prize, the Croatian P.E.N. Centre said in a statement signed by its president Tomica Bajsić on Tuesday.

The Nobel Prize is awarded to "people who make an exceptional contribution to humanity."

Handke's literature has been intertwined with his consistent support to the Slobodan Milošević regime whose devastating consequences we still feel today, P.E.N. Croatia recalls.

It stresses that Handke's denial of mass crimes, his idolatry of a tyrant and contempt of the victims of the aggression in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are built into his work and can therefore not be viewed as being separate from the award of the Nobel Prize, whose reputation is linked with the nobleness of resistance to repression and commitment to testifying to the truth.

Taking into consideration that Nobel Prize winners are considered worldwide as role models and a kind of the world's conscience, it is disgraceful that the Swedish Academy does not care that the awarded writer described the killing of people in Dubrovnik and the city's siege as the Dubrovnik Summer Games, depicting the victims of the besieged Vukovar and Sarajevo as their own executioners, and that he said untruths about prison camps and was an apologist of the Srebrenica genocide, says P.E.N. Croatia.

The Swedish Academy's decision was also condemned by PEN International and PEN America.

PEN International described Handke as an author who had called into question well-documented war crimes while PEN America said that he had publicly supported perpetrators of genocide - former Serbian president Slobodan Milošević and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić.

"At a moment of rising nationalism, autocratic leadership, and widespread disinformation around the world, the literary community deserves better than this," PEN America said.

More culture news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 13, 2019 - Croatia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday expressed "surprise and dissatisfaction" with the awarding of the Nobel prize for literature to Peter Handke.

"Without going into Handke's literary opus and the quality of his literary work, the Ministry expresses concern about the awarding of the Nobel prize to a person politically engaged in supporting Slobodan Milošević's Greater Serbia policy in the 1990s," a press release said.

"That policy led to wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, grave crimes in Kosovo and the aggression on the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in which many lives were lost, numerous people were driven out and long-term instability was introduced in this part of Europe," the ministry said.

"Milošević was held to account for genocide and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, dying only a few weeks before a verdict was delivered. The European and world public was also taken aback by the fact that Peter Handke gave a eulogy at Milošević's funeral," the ministry said.

It recalled that "the American, British and international PEN, as well as numerous renowned philosophers and authors around the world, assessed as unacceptable this decision by the Swedish Royal Academy because he is an author who denied historical truths and supported advocates of a genocidal policy."

The awarding of the Nobel prize to Handke has undermined the reputation and brought into question the credibility of the prize itself, the press release said.

More culture news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 7, 2019 - The eighth edition of the "Five Days of Sarajevo in Zagreb" festival will be held from October 7 to 11 featuring a series of cultural and artistic events at several venues in the Croatian capital.

The festival will be held in the Mimara Museum, Kinoteka cinema, the Napred Cultural Centre, the Bosniak ethnic community gallery and elsewhere.

The official opening will be held on October 7 at the Mimara Museum with performances by highly esteemed Bosnian guitarist Boško Jović, who will be accompanied by Ante Gelo on the guitar and Bruno Phillipp on the clarinet.

On the evening of the last day of the festival, a film directed by Martin Turk, "A Good Day's Work", will be screened in the Kinoteka cinema. The screening is adapted for people with poor vision.

Admission to almost all the events is free and details of the programme can be found at the 'Ja BiH...Pet dana Sarajeva u Zagrebu' Facebook page.

The festival is being organised by the Association for the promotion of culture and art in cooperation with the Napredak cultural society in Croatia, the Napredak Cultural Centre, the Bosniak ethnic community of Zagreb, the City of Sarajevo and the City of Zagreb authorities.

More news about festivals in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 5, 2019 - An exhibition entitled "The Pejačević family and cultural and historical ties between Croats and Slovaks" opened at the Croatian Centre in Vienna on Friday evening.

The exhibition, open until 20 October 2020, features photographs and inscriptions in Croatian, Slovak and German telling the story of the Croatian noble family and Slovak settlers in the Našice area of eastern Croatia. It provides a cultural, historical and political context for several stages of Slovak settlement, which began in the mid-18th century, and the support settlers received from the Pejačević family. The Slovak settlers contributed to the development of the Našice area by clearing forests and working wood on the land owned by the Pejačević family.

The Pejačević family took an active party in the social, cultural and political life of Croatia for two and a half centuries. Notable members of the family included viceroys Ladislav and Teodor and composer Dora Pejačević.

Croatian Ambassador to Vienna Vesna Cvjetković said that the Slovak minority was one of 22 ethnic minorities in Croatia, nurturing their culture and customs and enriching Croatia.

The director of the Slovak Cultural Centre in Našice, Sandra Kralj Vukšić, said that the exhibition was a token of gratitude to the Pejacević family for everything they had done for the Slovaks in Croatia.

More culture news can be found in the Lifestyle section.