The meeting of this kind was for the first time attended by the counterparts from Poland with their official centennial celebration programme approved just a fortnight ago.
The meetup started with the presentations of the national centennial celebration programmes and discussions on potential cooperation in joint regional projects. It transpired during the meeting that all the centennial programmes had the shared common aspects: focus on public involvement, the regions, and projects telling about the past, the present and the future of the countries, and the possibilities for international promotion.
The next day, the participants set off to Kaunas to meet with the Vice Mayor of Kaunas Simonas Kairys and the team of “Kaunas – the Capital of the European Culture 2022”, and to see the sights of Kaunas interwar modernistic architecture.
“This kind of meetings have a great value in terms of sharing experience on programme development and implementation as well as launching new regional projects telling the world about the common ages-long Baltic history. I am very happy that the meetup has resulted in a couple of new ideas deliverable next year when we will be celebrating the centennial of the restoration of the state of Lithuania”, said Neringa Vaisbrodė after the meeting.
On 9 April 2018, the Baltic States will hold a joint exhibition in the reputable Paris Musée d'Orsay: “Symbolism in Baltic Art”. The centennial year 2018 will also feature such highlights as the Baltic Art Triennial, the Baltic Music Festival hosted in autumn by Berlin’s Concert Hall, the joint programmes of the National Operas and Symphony Orchestras on February 15-25, joint projects by the national libraries, and the joint programme at the London Book Fair on 10-12 of 2018.
