The European Parliament announced Year 2008 to be the Year of Intercultural Dialogue. Our Festival has been chosen as one of the projects carried out as a part of EYID celebrations and received additional financing from the EU fund. Thanks to this subsidy, the entrance to all the events of this year’s Festival is free.

The 4th Festival of World’s Cultures „A Window onto the Word” perfrctly reflects the idea and aims of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, which are as follows (quoting materials connected with celebrations):
>to respect and promote cultural diversity
>to assure equality of opportunities for all inhabitants of the EU and to counteract discrimination
>to support the idea of solidarity and social justice
>to build partnership relations with membership countries and countries from outside the Community

This year celebrations of the EYID induced us to include in the Festival’s programme mostly artists coming from the European countries. We decided to penetrate deeper into what is happening close to us, slightly diverting from obvious exoticism.
Every sign of “otherness” is worth being better known it closer and understood. If we take up an effort, we can adjust to this “otherness” and completely accept it; we can be able not to see differences and not to react to them unnaturally.
None of us likes to be commented upon and none of us likes to arouse unhealthy, negative interest ; however sometimes Polish people do react in this way to foreigners, who can be met not only at the Fair, but also in the local shop, tramway or at the dentist’s.
We treat celebrations of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue as an ideal opportunity to encourage inhabitants of Trojmiasto to noncommittal and happy meeting with Europeans of different skin colours, different mentality and different view on what tastes best for breakfast.
Maybe we should all together revise a legend about a unique Polish hospitality…
The World receives us with quite open arms- so let’s try to open a little more to the World.
More info about the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue: www.nck.pl, www.dialog2008.pl.