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25 years since the first great gesture of "soft power". Celebrating Romania's presence in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The event, held in the Aula of the Romanian Academy and complemented by a concert at the Romanian Athenaeum, was organized by the Romanian Academy and "Babeș-Bolyai" University from Cluj-Napoca, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution from the USA.
Ioan Aurel Pop, president of the Romanian Academy: "Augustin Buzura was, a quarter of a century ago, the soul of the event at the Smithsonian Institution. Born somewhere on the outskirts of Maramureş, he was happy to see the wooden church at home piercing the sky near the Capitol. (…) He left as a testament the desire to continue the actions of getting to know Romania in the United States."
Liviu Sebastian Jicman: "I think about the wonderful way in which the Smithsonian Folklife Festival serves cultures around the world, and I am grateful that the opportunity brought to fruition by Romanian culture and heritage is part of this story. (…) In this context, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Professor Eliot Sorel for his invaluable contribution to the promotion of Romanian culture in the United States and throughout the world. His efforts have played an important role in strengthening the cultural ties between our nations as well as those beyond the cultural sector. (…) I should mention on this occasion, the contributions that important personalities, together with cultural institutions in Romania, had for the success of this program, starting with the late Augustin Buzura, the president of the Romanian Cultural Foundation and the first president of the Cultural Institute Romanian, Ramona Mitrică, who gave her wonderful energy to the success of this project and Mihai Oroveanu, who unfortunately left us too soon, Mr. Professor Ioan Opriș, coordinator of the Folklife program and director of the Romanian Cultural Foundation, Mrs. Angela Martin, Mr. Ambassador James Rosapepe and the US embassy in Bucharest, the ASTRA National Museum in Sibiu, the Maramureșian Museum in Sighet, other institutions and many other people who put their heart and effort into Romania's remarkable presence."
George Cristian Maior
Ambassador of Romania to the USA between 2015-2021
In the summer of 1999, the Romanian Cultural Foundation led by the academician Augustin Buzura organized in America one of the most spectacular cultural diplomacy actions of a Romania that was still timidly trying to present itself to the world through its cultural, historical and current values.
The Romanian Folk Festival activity was held for several weeks on the famous Mall in Washington, a spiritual, cultural and political reference space for America's identity. Flanked on one side by the imposing building of the American Congress and on the other by the Lincoln and Washington memorials, the Mall is also the host of the most important museums of America, representing the arts, science, technology or traditions of this powerful nation, but also universal cultural values. However, the mall is also an emblematic space of freedom of expression, only if we consider that there once echoed, in front of hundreds of thousands of Americans, the famous words of Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream", defining words for progress morale of society in a troubled time for its condition. Metaphorically, the Mall is considered the "front garden of the house called America," the iconic place where the nation's most cherished political, cultural, and spiritual values are intertwined and always defended. A trip to the Mall is therefore also a kind of pilgrimage for millions of Americans, who come every year to rediscover a deep part of their identity, but also for all those who want to do an exercise in knowing the special ethos of this society.
To organize a purely Romanian event in this special space, to present precisely there values from our cultural and spiritual history, from our art, from our traditions, is in itself something quite remarkable. But to do this on the scale that Buzura envisioned (including a wooden church brought from the country overseas and installed on the Mall), with all the practical and administrative obstacles encountered in the country, with very few resources – and the hard-earned ones – with political pressures designed to extract fake image capital for characters who are mediocre and anyway indifferent to this monumental effort, is truly a historic achievement. For the first time, after the difficult years of communism, Romania presented itself honestly and with dignity in the capital of the free world, in front of millions of visitors, a fact with strategic relevance, beyond the cultural dimension of things. It is to Augustin Buzura's credit that he understood then that his action should also be the first great gesture of "soft power" made by a country that was struggling to find its trans-Atlantic path to prosperity, dignity and recognition.
Recording of the meeting from the Romanian Academy
Participating: Ioan Aurel Pop, president of the Academy, Cristian David, rector of UBB, university professor Eliot Sorel from George Washington University, ES Kathleen A. Kavalec, ambassador of the United States of America in Romania, Dr. Diana-Loreta Păun, presidential adviser, Liviu Sebastian Jicman, president of the Romanian Cultural Institute, ES Emil Constantinescu, former president of Romania , HE Simona-Mirela Miculescu, Ambassador of Romania to UNESCO, HE Alfred Moses, former US Ambassador to Romania, Dr. Richard Kurin, Ambassador General of the Smithsonian Institution, HE Mircea Geoană, NATO Deputy Secretary General.
source: revistacultura.ro
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