United in Diversity

Being the oldest cultural institute of post-liberation Bulgaria and the largest public library in the country, St. St. Cyril and Methodius National Library is a repository for the culture and history of the nation, an integral part of which is the contribution of cultural and ethnic minorities. Guided by its role of a cultural institute of national value with broad public functions, defined in the Public Libraries Act and the Mandatory Deposit of Printed and Other Works Act, the National Library initiates this project proposal with the ambition to contribute to the social cohesion between ethnic groups in Bulgaria on the basis of interethnic cultural cohesion. The project proposal focuses on the cultural heritage of the Roma ethnic minority, interweaving the participation of other two minority groups within the Bulgarian society - Jews and Armenians, in order to show the "coexistence" of minorities’ cultures, together with the Bulgarian culture. Pursuing these goals, the project includes series of events in the National Library, aimed, on the one hand, at promoting the cultures of the covered minorities (with a focus on Roma) and, on the other hand, at involving their representatives in cultural and educational activities. The project proposal integrates a Bulgarian-Icelandic partnership with the The Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding at the University of Iceland, holding the initiative “Roma in the Centre”, uniting several Romani Studies related projects. Two Bulgarian partners are involved in the project. Sun-1879 Community Center in the town of Ihtiman unites the efforts of a group of students from the local Roma community around an initiative for studying of the Roma cultural presence at local level, and raising the awareness of the local communities on this topic. New Opportunities Association presents the diversity of Roma culture at a three-day Days of Roma Culture festival in a remote, Roma-populated area.